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TOMY LEE BREAKING TIM TAMS RECORD— Mr. and Mrs. Fred Turner Jr.s English importation, Tomy Lee, winning the Stepping Stone Purse at Keeneland April 17. He was timed the 7 furlongs in 1:21%, three-fifths of a second better than Tim Tarns track record. He beat Benbecula by three and one-half lengths under Willie Shoemakers handling. i s A fat JOCKEY WILLIAM SHOEMAKER Shoemaker Is Seeking Second Derby Tomy Lees Rider An All-Time Great Run for the Roses Means A Lot to Little Reinsman From Texas; Explains Why By Staff Correspondent Willie Shoemaker, a 27-year-old, four feet, 11 -inch native of the West Texas border town of Fabens, has proved himself to be one of the great race riders of his generation. Willie is truly a 98-pound wonder who has yet to ride as many winners as the veteran Johnny Longden or win as many stakes as Eddie Arcaro, but virtually every record seems to be in his grasp. Hell be seeking his second Kentucky Derby victory today astride Fred Turner Jr.s Tomy Lee. He won his first on Rex Ellsworths Swaps in 1955. beating Nashua then racing for Belair Stud, by a length and a half. It will be remembered that he missed a second in 1957 when he commited one of the sports great errors? by standing up in the stirrups on Gallant Man at the sixteenth pole and allowing Calumet Farms Iron Liege to score by a nose. The 1957 incident fails to disturb Shoemaker. If there is a close finish today, it is not going to affect him. Wont Change Riding Style "Ive been in lots of races since that Derby," he says, "and plenty of them have been big ones, so I wont change my riding style one bit." Willie, of course is no stranger to Tomy ; Lee. He booted him to five successive vic- I tories in juvenile events at Hollywood Park and Del Mar and a second to First Landing in The Garden State last season. He was up on Fred Turner Jr.s colt in an ! allowance event at Santa Anita this winter i when the colt was injured wtfile losing to ; Ole Fols, and at Keeneland in mid-April when he broke the seven-furlong track record in winning the Stepping Stone Purse | by three and a half lengths in 1:21%. Shoemaker was merely shaking his stick at i Tomy Lee. The time was three-fifths of a second ; faster than Tim Tarns clocking last year. ! Shoemaker, who has been the chief pilot . of such gentlemanly thoroughbreds as j Swaps, Round Table and Gallant Man, i feels that Tomy Lee has been cured of his habit of going wide on turns. The Turner colt was set back to third place after finishing second in the Champagne at Belmont I last fall and went very wide at both the first and last turns in The Garden State and lost a length and a half lead to First Landing in the stretch. The Garden State, incidentally, is one of the very few major events Shoemaker has yet to win. Perhaps no jockey has done as much as fast as Willie. He has only been riding 11 years and is the first man to be the nations top jockey in four different seasons. He tied with Charlie Burr for top honors in 1950 and then led the list in 1953, 1954 and 1958. In 1954, he won 485 races, a record for winners by a rider. It is likely to stand as a tribute to Shoemakers ability and industriousness until someone gets that ambitious — and that good — again, if ever. 4,000 Paycheck for Afternoons Work Columbus Day, 1956 is a particulary happy memory to "Shoe," for that steaming hot afternoon at Belmont Park he piloted Maine Chance Farms Jewels Reward to victory in the Champagne and came back later in the afternoon to ride Gallant Man to victory in the two-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup. His personal paycheck came to a whopping 4,000. Shoemaker maks his home in California and is now a successful businessman with investments in oil, real estate and thoroughbreds. He recently received word that mare, Ria Rica, dropped a colt in Califbrnia. He plans to enter breeding on a serious basis when he finally hangs up his tack. That day, however, seems a long way off. Willie is a magnificent athlete despite his size. He is a par golfer and can hit 200 I yards off the tee despite his weight. His j powerful hands and forearms compensate for his lack in height and weight. Seeing him stripped in the jocks room is a revelation. There is a terrible urge to describe his as, well, petite — hardly the adjective one associates with athletes. He is tiny by even a jockeys standards, but I has the power of complete concentration, the reflexes of a champion and the drive of a winner. There is a feeling that if anyone wanted a 4-11 football player, Willie would be the man. "It means a lot to me to have a mount in this race," he said recently. "It isnt just the money, either. After all, there are a lot of other races which offer a lot to a rider. j But the race that everyone watches. People who only have a slight interest in racing see it and I just like all that glamour and noise. I think everyone likes to compete before a big crowd. The happiest day Ive ever had as a jockey was when I beat Nashua in the Derby with Swaps."
