The Shoe : Winningest Jockey in History Will Be Honored Today at Track Where He Surpassed Johnny Longden’s Record

DEL MAR —  He broke the record here on Labor Day 19 years ago, and not even Father Time has been able to catch him.

Bill Shoemaker remembers little about victory No. 6,033 at Del Mar, the one that broke a tie with Johnny Longden and made him the winningest jockey of all time. Through a 41-year career in which he has won everything of consequence except the Triple Crown, he hasn’t paid much attention to details.

“I rode a horse named Dares J., and she was just a mediocre claiming filly,” said Shoemaker, who has been a member of the Horse Racing Hall of Fame since 1958. “It was a claiming race, and we led all the way. There isn’t much to tell. It was just a race.”

Actually, it was an allowance race for 2-year-old fillies, the fourth race of the day--Sept. 7, 1970--at six furlongs. Dares J. won by 2 1/2 lengths over I Wanna Win and earned $2,750 of the $5,000 purse.

Shoemaker has since boosted his record victory total to 8,819, including a record 1,003 in stakes races, and his career earnings to $122,998,689, third highest behind Laffit Pincay Jr. and Angel Cordero. He once won six races in one day. He has finished second 6,127 times and third 4,974 times.

Shoemaker, 58, has never been accused of being talkative, and he answered questions with typically few words as he played a card game called race-track rummy in the jockeys’ quarters at Del Mar. He vowed to be every bit as brief in his acceptance speech today when he is honored by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club as part of a farewell tour that has taken him all over North America and Europe and will end at Santa Anita Feb. 4.

“All I’ll do is give a ‘thank you’ speech,” Shoemaker said. “As for speaking, I don’t really go for that.”

Shoemaker will ride in as many as three races today, and the ceremony in his honor will be held after the fourth race.

A day before Shoemaker broke Longden’s record in 1970, he tied it aboard Esquimal. He remembers even less about that race.

“I had a decent horse, but I can’t recall how we won it,” he said.

This one was a claiming race, the ninth and final race of the day, at a distance of 1 1/16 miles on grass. Esquimal led wire to wire and finished 3 1/2 lengths in front of Decorator King. The purse was $5,500, of which $3,025 went to Esquimal.

What Shoemaker does remember about Del Mar is the pleasure it has given him both on and off the track, ever since he first rode here as a 17-year-old apprentice in 1949.

“I love it down here,” he said. “It’s one of my all-time favorite tracks. Sometimes I go to the beach, and sometimes I play golf. In the old days, I used to take horses down to the beach every morning. It was a nice, informal place, and it still is.”

You might think a man as small as Shoemaker--4-feet-11 and 98 pounds--would be overmatched on a golf course. You would be wrong. He is a remarkably long hitter for his size and used to shoot in the 70s consistently.

Asked if he had ever talked to Bing Crosby, who founded the Del Mar track in 1937, Shoemaker said, “No, he was before my time. But I did know Betty Grable and Harry James, and Lucy and Desi (Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz). They were nice people.”

Shoemaker was an immediate hit at Del Mar. Even as an apprentice, he outdid all the veterans, winning the jockey championship with 52 victories. He went on to win six more Del Mar titles and in 1954 set a track record that still stands--94 victories in 41 days.

In his first Del Mar race, on July 26, 1949, Shoemaker finished seventh on a 7-1 shot named Major J.S. But he came back to win with a 16-1 shot named Gale Force and now has 888 victories here, including 92 in stakes races. He has won the Del Mar Futurity six times.

As much as he has always liked Del Mar, Shoemaker seldom appeared here from 1955 through 1969. He concentrated on the meetings at Arlington Park, near Chicago, which had dates that conflicted with Del Mar.

But he was back in 1970, just in time to break the victory record, and he considers this a source of special satisfaction.

“I’m glad it happened here,” he said.

Shoemaker reached another major milestone at Del Mar in 1984, winning his 900th stakes race aboard Salt Spring in the Las Osunitas.

For much of his career, Shoemaker was known strictly as Willie. Somewhere along the line, he came to be called Bill, but he denied that the switch was by design.

“I didn’t decide to change anything,” he said. “It’s been Willie and Bill and Shoe for a long time. I don’t mind. If that’s the biggest thing I have to worry about, I’ll be all right.”

One thing that has never worried Shoemaker is making the weight. While most jockeys struggle to stay around 115 pounds, he has stood firm at or about 98.

Shoemaker has done so much with so little that the late Red Smith once wrote in the New York Times, “If Bill Shoemaker were 6 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds, he could beat anybody in any sport. . . . Pound for pound, he’s got to be the greatest living athlete.”

Smith also noted that Shoemaker is tops when it comes to sportsmanship.

Although Shoemaker’s 8,819 victories include four in the Kentucky Derby, two in the Preakness and five in the Belmont, some are quick to point out that he would have won five Derbies if he hadn’t goofed aboard Gallant Man in 1957.

Pointing out how well Shoemaker accepted the flak he took for his mistake, which gave the race to Iron Liege, Smith wrote:

“He goes along quietly doing his thing and if he kicks one for an error, as we all do, he cops no plea.

“It can’t give him any pleasure to remember the 1957 Kentucky Derby that he lost with Gallant Man because he misjudged the finish line and eased his horse too soon. Yet because Ralph Lowe, who owned Gallant Man, took defeat like a gentleman, Shoe endowed a Ralph Lowe Trophy to be presented annually to a racing man distinguished for sportsmanship.

“Instead of hiding out and hoping people would forget his mistake, Shoe puts up his own money to remind people of it every year. The word for that is class.”

Recalling the most bitter experience of his career, Shoemaker said, “It bothered me, naturally. But when something like that happens, you have to tell yourself to go ahead and don’t do it over again.”

Lowe stuck with Shoemaker despite the Derby disaster, and Shoe rewarded him by riding Gallant Man to victory in the Belmont.

“Gallant Man was the best mile-and-a-half horse I ever rode--by far,” Shoemaker said.

The closest Shoemaker came to winning the Triple Crown was in 1967, when he finished third aboard Damascus in the Kentucky Derby and then rode him to victory in the Preakness and Belmont.

“Damascus was a good horse,” he said. “A very good horse.”

Shoemaker actually bettered that feat in 1959, winning two of the three races and running second in the other, but he did it on two horses.

After winning the Derby on Tomy Lee, Shoemaker switched to Sword Dancer, which had placed second in the Derby with Bill Boland riding. Shoe brought Sword Dancer home second in the Preakness and won the Belmont.

Another near-miss was in 1985, when Shoemaker at 54 became the oldest Derby winner ever by riding Ferdinand to victory. He followed by finishing second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont.

Asked if winning the Derby at such an advanced age was his most significant accomplishment, Shoemaker said, “You bet. Ferdinand got pinched back on the rail at the start, but that was probably the best thing that could have happened to him. I let him move up gradually, and he had a great trip.”

Shoemaker’s two other Derby winners were Swaps in 1955 and Lucky Debonair in 1965. Besides Damascus, he won the Preakness with Candy Spots in 1963. Besides Gallant Man, Sword Dancer and Damascus, he won the Belmont with Jaipur in 1962 and Avatar in 1975. He also ran second on Avatar in the Derby.

Swaps was probably Shoemaker’s best mount ever, and he said, “If I had that great horse today, I might not retire.”

Among the other highlights on Shoemaker’s bulging list of credits were his victory aboard John Henry in the inaugural Arlington Million in 1981, and his uncontested ride on Spectacular Bid in the 1980 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park.

“Another race I’ll never forget was the one I won on Silky Sullivan from 45 lengths back at Santa Anita,” Shoemaker said. “For a 6 1/2-furlong race, that was quite unusual.”

The Shoemaker legend began on March 19, 1949, at Golden Gate Fields. His first mount was a colt named Waxahacie. It took him a month to ride his first winner, a filly named Shafter V, but before the year was over, he had won 219 races and finished second to Gordon Glisson in the national jockey standings.

In an amazing total of 40,286 races, Shoemaker has been seriously hurt only twice, at Santa Anita in 1968 (broken right thigh bone) and Hollywood Park in 1969 (broken pelvis and other injuries).

“My greatest day was coming back from a broken leg and winning three out of three at Hollywood Park,” Shoemaker said. “I had a rod in my leg and thought about not riding anymore, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

As Shoemaker’s career blossomed, his blend of class and ability made him a role model. Gary Stevens and Eddie Delahoussaye, the leading jockeys in the Del Mar meeting that will end Wednesday, spoke about the man as well as the athlete.

Stevens, 26, said, “I think Shoe is every young rider’s idol. Wherever horse racing is mentioned, his is the first name that pops into mind. When I met him, I was in awe of him, but he put me at ease right away. The lessons I’ve learned from him have been from his temperament off the race track.”

Delahoussaye, 38, a 21-year veteran with more than 4,000 victories, said, “Winning the Derby at his age on Ferdinand was fantastic. He showed that it’s not how old you are if you have the touch. And as great as he is, success hasn’t spoiled him. He’s a fine human being, and everybody likes him.”

Shoemaker was asked why he chose to retire at 58. Why not 60, or 65?

“I’m running out of gas,” he said. “I’ve had a great career, a wonderful career, but how far can a guy go? When I started, I thought maybe I’d ride five years and be happy. I went further than I probably should have.

“The only thing I’ll miss is kibitzing with the jocks and playing cards.”

As for a second career, Shoemaker plans to stay in racing as a trainer.

“I’ve already got some owners lined up,” he said. “If I don’t like it, I’ll try something else.

“One thing I’m sure of is that I’ll come back to Del Mar after I retire. I’ll rent a place on the beach and really enjoy life.”