view raw text
» i .... JOCKEY STEVE BROOKS i ► — — Steve Brooks Will See Action In Saddle at Balmoral Meeting Hard-Riding Veteran From * Nebraska May Handle Some Calumet, Dixiana Performers HOMEWOOD, HI., May 13.— Hard-riding Steve Brooks, absent from the Chicago, racing scene for several seasons, will be back this spring, beginning with the Balmoral meeting, which opens Monday at Washington Park. The 38-year-old McCook, Nebr., veteran, who flashed fine form last winter in Florida with several heady rides aboard Calumet Farms Bardstown, will join perennial Chicago riding favorites, John Heck-mann, John Sellers, Kenneth Church, and Lois C. Cook in time for the Balmoral phase of the 97-day co-ordinated meeting with Arlington and Washington Parks. Brooks was among Balmorals leading riders in 1955, the year Balmoral linked its operation with that of Arlington and Washington, and again in 1956 before plying his trade elsewhere the past two years. During Brooks brilliant career he won such blue ribbon events as the "Kentucky Derby, with Ponder in 1949; the Arlington Classic of 49, also with Ponder; successive editions of the Arlington Handicap in 1949-50, with Coaltown and Ponder; and the" 1954 Arlington Lassie aboard Delta. 1949 Best Year Brooks greatest season was 1949 when he rode full-time for Mrs. Gene Markeys powerful Calumet Farm, handling such thoroughbreds as Ponder, Coaltown, and Bewitch. Brooks later rode Citation when the Calumet great became the first horse in racing to win a hiillion dollars. In 1949, Brooks piloted over 200 winners, winning 26 stakes events worth 28,335, his mounts earning a total of ,316,817 for the year. He rode Bardstown to victory in last winters 00,000 Widener and is expected to ride some for both Calumet Farm and Dixiana. Jockey William Shoemaker, last years national champion with 300 winners, who will be flying in for stakes engagements aboard Kerr Stables Round Table, will join the jockey colony later this summer after the Hollywood Park season in California. Among other top riders- scheduled for a Balmoral campaign are Wayne Chambers, William Carstens, Larry Gilligan, Ovie . Scurlock, Clarence Meaux, and Larney Hansman. Most riders will be "bedded down" at Washington Parks unique trailer court, most completely furnished of its kind in racing. All comforts and conveniences necessary for comfortable, enjoyable trailer life are available.
