The Days Of The Roses

But to me the money isn't the important thing. I would do this on a $2,500 claiming horse if I was going to ride him and if I knew he had a bad habit, and if I knew I could win if I could correct it. The amount of money isn't the important thing. Once you hinge things on money you concentrate on stakes and you get lackadaisical about the claiming horses, and I'll never do that. That's how I got where I am. How can I neglect something that made me successful? I'll never do that.

It's easier to ride a stakes horse than it is to ride an ordinary horse, because you can depend on a good horse. He helps you, because he can run and you don't have to tease it out of him or force it out of him. Not all good horses avoid bad habits, but you have the compensation that they have an abundance of ability. Ridan was an example of a horse who could outrun, or cover, his mistakes. He would make a mistake and still win. You had to be exceptionally careful riding Vital Force, who had a habit of trying to run out real badly. Then there was the filly Smart Deb, who had a habit of bolting.

I have to keep reminding myself to ride a mare right. Mares can't stand the punishment that a colt can. There are some exceptions, but as a rule they're a bit more high-strung, a bit more temperamental and more apt to sulk underneath you or refuse to run if you abuse them. I have to keep it in mind when I'm on a filly so that I don't hit her too hard and hurt her chances. In general, I find fillies harder to ride because I'm a hustle-bustle rider and I use strength and I use punishment, and you just can't do that on fillies. Still, I've been on some good ones, including Idun, Royal Native and Princess Turia.

Of course, there's a category of horse that docs practically everything right. Pet Bully was exceptionally easy to ride. Bardstown was the same way. They knew what to do. They had good nervous systems and weren't spooky. Gen. Duke had as much potential, if not more, than any of these horses, but he never had a chance to prove himself because he was injured before the Kentucky Derby. He beat Bold Ruler in the Florida Derby and would have beaten him in the Flamingo if the other half of our entry, Iron Liege, hadn't bothered us.

As far as the relative importance of races goes, I consider them all equal. The only difference is that there is more publicity and talk about the Kentucky Derby. It has come to people's attention more, and, of course, it's an important race, but there is no special emotion or feeling that comes over me going to the post in the Derby. As far as fame is concerned, sure, I would have to say winning the Derby has given me as much satisfaction as practically anything else in my career. I've won the Derby four times in seven tries and no other rider has won more than four Derbies, with the exception of Arcaro, who has five wins in 21 chances.

I'll tell you one thing: I try to be very careful and pick what I consider a live horse for the Derby. I didn't ride in the Derby in '61 and '63 because I didn't think the horses that were open were that caliber and I just didn't want to waste my time.

My first Derby was in 1956, and I was riding for Calumet Farm. Their first hope, and my choice, was a colt named Pintor Lea, but they ran Fabius as an entry with him. In a race before the Derby, Pintor Lea came down with a quarter crack, I think, and they had to put a bar shoe on him. They were going to use Fabius as a pacemaker to run down all the speed in the race for Pintor Lea. But when it was a question of whether or not Pintor Lea could even run, Trainer Jimmy Jones gave me my choice of riding whichever one I wanted. And although Pintor Lea was the best, the fact that he was not the soundest horse in the race and that they were taking a chance on even running him at all made me switch from him to Fabius. Fabius was second, beaten three-quarters of a length by Needles. If Pintor Lea had been sound, I would have ridden him, and I think he would have beaten Needles. I know he had beaten Fabius practically every time they met.

The following year, 1957, the Derby was very much of a surprise. Again Calumet was going to run an entry, Gen. Duke and Iron Liege. The morning of the race Jimmy Jones scratched Gen. Duke, and it made all of them pretty sick that he couldn't start in the Derby. Iron Liege had kind of a spotty record. He had ability, but he wouldn't show it every time he raced. I was going to ride Gen. Duke, but now I rode Iron Liege, only because I was there. The main thing was that we went out and won, beating Shoemaker and Gallant Man a nose. Iron Liege ran the best race he ever ran in his life in that Derby. He really tried hard—he absolutely wanted to win.

They talk a lot about Shoemaker pulling up on Gallant Man before the finish, and I don't know whether Shoemaker standing up meant the difference between him getting beat or not, because I don't know Gallant Man. There are two kinds of horses that race. When you raise up at the finish line, they'll do one of two things. They'll either keep going at the same speed for the next sixteenth of a mile or so, or they'll automatically relax. So the only way I would know whether Gallant Man should have won was if I had ridden him, which I never did. If he was the kind of horse that would relax as soon as you raised up on him, then it could have cost him the race. But if he was the kind of horse that was putting out even after you raised up past the wire, then I don't think it made any difference. Of course, they'll be arguing that point for a long time.

In 1958 I was supposed to ride another Calumet horse, the favorite, Tim Tam, who won. But a week before the race I broke my leg and missed the mount on him in both the Derby and Preakness, which he also won. So my next Derby was in 1959, and I was 13th in a 17-horse field on Easy Spur, who was sore in that race. In the Florida Derby that spring Easy Spur had beaten Sword Dancer, who then got beat only a nose in the Kentucky Derby by Tomy Lee. Easy Spur, I thought, was a much better horse than Sword Dancer, but in a prep race before the Derby he pulled up practically lame. The only reason they ran the horse in the Derby was because I was already there and the horse was already there and they took a chance and they just hoped. But, as I say, he was sore and I didn't abuse him.