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JOCKEY WILLIAM HARTACK — Aims for Derby No. 2 with Easy Spur. Hartacks Derby Luck Good and Bad Holds Several Riding Records Won With Iron Liege When Gen. Duke Failed, but Broke Leg, Lost Mount on Tim Tarn By JOE HIRSCH CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 1. — Stormy petrel of the American turf, Bill Hartack is recognized as one of the great riders to be developed in this country over the past 50 years. In an unprecedented achievement, he was national riding champion three consecutive years — 1955, 1956 and 1957 — and is the only jockey ever to win over ,000,000 in purses during a single season 1957. Hartacks Derby experienced have been tinged with both tragedy and triumph. In 1956, his first appearance at Churchill Downs, he was to ride Calumets brilliant i Pin tor Lea, but that one wasnt right though he started. So Hartack rode Fabius for Jimmy Jones, leading all the way until Needles caught him in the final sixteenth of a mile. The following year, Hartack was to ride Calumets Gen. Duke, whom Jones has called the best three -year-old the stable has had since Citation. But Gen. Duke broke a bone in his leg and never started. So Hartack rode Iron Liege and won the Derby as Bill Shoemaker rose in the irons aboard Gallant Man. Valenzuela Fell Heir to Winner Last year, Hartack appeared to have a lock on the Derby with Calumets Tim Tam, who swept the Flamingo and Florida Derby. But on the first Saturday of the meeting, Hartack and pinned in the gate by a two-year-old, breaking his leg, and missing the Derby. Ismael Valenzuela deputized for him and won the "Roses" and the money. The 26-year-old Pennsylvanian is known throughout racing for his independent manner, and hit the headlines this winter when he refused to ride a horse at Hialeah he believed was unfit to race. Developed in West Virginia by Norman Corbin, Hartacks contract was sold to Mrs. Ada L. Rice shortly after his debut in 1952, and it was for the Illinois sportswoman he registered many fine victories aboard the game but gimpy Pet Bully. Later Hartack gave first call to Calumet, but split with that stable last summer and has been free-lancing in the East ever since. Last fall Hartack scored his 2,000th winner and has adverage over 300 wins a season during the six full years he has been active. Unmarried, he owns a 175-acre farm in Charles Town, W. Va. and a home in Miami Springs, Fla.
