Bill Shoemaker, 72; his gentleness, skill led horses to winning circle for 41 years
WASHINGTON -- Bill "The Shoe" Shoemaker, one of the greatest jockeys of all time, died yesterday at his home in San Marino, Calif., near the Santa Anita racetrack where he began and ended his career. No cause of death was reported; he had been paralyzed from the neck down since a 1991 auto accident. He was 72.
One of sport's dominant figures since the 1950s, the 4-foot-11 athlete won the Kentucky Derby four times, the Preakness Stakes twice, and the Belmont Stakes five times. His horses won purses totaling more than $120 million. At 27, he was inducted into the national Racing Hall of Fame.
His 8,833 wins are the second-most in thoroughbred-racing history.
"He was one of the greatest human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing in my life," Dorchester native Chris McCarron, a retired jockey who is now general manager of Santa Anita, said yesterday. "Forget about his ability to communicate with horses, his compassion for people was second to none."
"For a man his size, wearing a size 2 1/2 shoe, he was a giant," retired Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye said.
With a trademark gentleness toward his horses and a soft-spoken public demeanor, Mr. Shoemaker distinguished himself by his steady hands and a nonaggressive use of the whip.
Because of the longevity of his vocation, he was both among the youngest and oldest riders to win the Kentucky Derby. His stamina and drive, after several life-threatening riding accidents, made him a legend in the sport.
His 1986 Derby triumph, coming more than two decades after his previous win at Churchill Downs, was one of the most remembered moments in racing history. Mr. Shoemaker was considered too old to be a viable contender, and his horse, Ferdinand, was an 18-to-1 long shot.
After early setbacks on the course, he methodically drove the colt past other horses in the backstretch, waiting for the perfect moment to take a key position.
"I saw a little spot," he said, "and decided to take a chance on getting through. One, two, three, boom! I made it."
Mr. Shoemaker never won the Triple Crown -- a sweep of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes -- but he all but defined the sport for legions of fans awed by his grace and poise.
"No one ever rode a running horse the way Willie Lee Showmaker does," the sportswriter Jim Murray once wrote. "Not Geronimo, the James brothers, the Pony Expressers, the Buffalo hunters, the Lone Ranger, Paul Revere, or the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. He is history's all-time cavalryman."
William Lee Shoemaker was born in Fabens, Texas, southeast of El Paso. He weighed less than 2 pounds at birth, and the doctor told his parents he would not live.
He said his grandmother wrapped him in a blanket, stuck him in a shoebox and placed him on the lid of a warm oven -- a makeshift incubator -- to show the doctor the child would survive its first night.
He learned to ride on his grandfather's ranch, retrieving the mail. After his parents' divorce, he moved with his father to El Monte, Calif. In high school, he excelled in wrestling and boxing -- and never lost a match.
When he was 15, he left school to work at the Suzy Q ranch in Puente, Calif., simply for the money. He cleaned stalls and did other grunt work, slowly realizing that his size, small even for a jockey, would give him great advantage as a professional horse racer.
His natural athleticism came to the attention of trainer George Reeves and the jockey agent Harry Silbert, who helped guide him.
He won his first race in 1949 and shot to the top.
Throughout the early 1950s, he continued to rack up records for sheer volume of wins. He once won four races in a single day, overcoming massive swelling in his foot from having stepped on a stingray at a beach.
He won his first Kentucky Derby race in 1955 on the horse Swaps. But during the 1957 Derby, while riding Gallant Man, Mr. Shoemaker mistook the 16th pole, a 16th of a mile from the end, for the finish line. He eased up and rose from the saddle as if he had won. Realizing his mistake, he resumed racing but lost by a nose to Iron Liege, ridden by Bill Hartack.
Shoemaker was suspended for 15 days for "gross carelessness in misjudging the point of finish." Derby officials painted a big bull's-eye at the finish line.
Weeks later, Mr. Shoemaker rode Gallant Man to first place at the Belmont Stakes.
Mr. Shoemaker won the 1959 Derby with Tomy Lee. That same year, he won the Belmont on Sword Dancer.
Riding Jaipur, he won the 1962 Belmont in a rail-thin margin against Admiral's Voyage and Crimson Satan. The next year, on Candy Spots, he won the Preakness for the first time.
He had another Derby win in 1965, riding Lucky Debonair.
In the late 1960s, he suffered a series of severe racetrack injuries, but said he felt so restless away from the track that he knew he had to continue his career.
So he returned, determined to beat jockey John Longden's all-time win record of 6,032. He did that in September 1970. (Laffit Pincay Jr. broke Mr. Shoemaker's mark in 1999.)
Mr. Shoemaker won the Belmont again in 1975, on Avatar, and in 1981 he became the first jockey to win a $1 million purse, aboard John Henry in the first Arlington Million near Chicago.
His 1986 Derby win was a highlight in the twilight of his career, and he attracted more than 64,000 spectators for his last racing appearance, in 1990 at Santa Anita.
Shoemaker's horse finished fourth.
His postracing life changed after his devastating car accident. Returning home from a golf game April 8, 1991, he lost control of his Ford Bronco on a California highway. The vehicle rolled 50 feet into an embankment.
He was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving -- his blood-alcohol level was reportedly above the legal limit -- but he was never prosecuted.
After extensive rehabilitation, he needed attendants to administer 24-hour care. He continued to visit racetracks and occasionally worked as a trainer at Santa Anita, using a mouth-controlled wheelchair.
Mr. Shoemaker leaves his former wife, Cindy, and daughter, Amanda.
