The Man Who Blew A Derby

Clem McCarthy, who died in 1962 at the age of 79, is a big item in the current wave of nostalgia inundating the country. His famous, growling "R-r-r-racing fans" pops up on records and in imitations, and inevitably someone recalls the time Clem called the wrong horse the winner in a radio broadcast of the Kentucky Derby. McCarthy got a lot of flak about the incident in his later years, with perfect strangers accosting him and asking, "Hey, how come you called the wrong horse in the Derby?" McCarthy, a proud but genial man, would answer pleasantly, "First of all, it wasn't the Derby. And second, you can't lateral a racehorse."

It wasn't the Derby, of course. It was the Preakness, the one run 24 years ago this week. As for the line about lateraling racehorses, that was McCarthy's gentle way of defending his professionalism. It was a reference to the peculiar broadcasting style of the late Harry Wismer, probably the most inept sports announcer of all times. When Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard were running wild for West Point a quarter of a century ago, Wismer's report of one Army play went something like this: "Army in the T. The ball goes to Davis. He cuts to his right, breaks into the secondary and he's away! He's to the 30, the 40, mid-field, the 40, the 30, the 20, the 10...and... Davis laterals to Blanchard who goes over for the touchdown!"

Blanchard had the ball the whole time, but Wismer had not realized it until Doc was in the end zone. Thus, the improvised lateral. After all, it was radio. Who could see? Except, as McCarthy would point out with a degree of professional pride, even on radio you can't lateral a horse.

Despite the Preakness goof and his slip in the 1950 Derby—when he called the winner Middleburg instead of Middleground—McCarthy was a superb race caller and one of the best sportscasters. He was also a gentleman. Several years ago, when he was dying of Parkinson's disease, I began to put together an album called The Best of Clem McCarthy. The proceeds were to help pay his hospital expenses. One day I asked if he would mind if I used the Preakness thing. Without hesitation he smilingly agreed. "Maybe now I'll know what happened." he said.

McCarthy died before the record was finished, and we never talked about the incident at length. But in editing the album I listened to his broadcast over and over, and afterward a phrase in it kept nagging at me. At one point Clem said, "And the crowd blocks me for a moment."

This year I finally decided to check into it and see if it could be established where he went wrong. I transferred the recorded transcription of the radio broadcast from disc to tape, obtained a film of the race from Fox Movietone News and dug out the official chart. The broadcast was put into synchronization with the film, making certain that Clem's "They're off!" hit a split second after the horses broke from the starting gate.

The result was eerie. It was like taking the event out of a time capsule. Obsessed now with the idea of finding how Clem had made his mistake, I went over the 119 seconds of the race frame by frame, word by word.

There were 11 horses in the Preakness that year, but only four mattered. They were Jet Pilot, Phalanx, Faultless and On Trust, who had finished one-two-three-four in the Kentucky Derby the week before and were to be the first four—in different order—this time. Phalanx, who had finished strongly in the Derby, was the betting favorite.

As the field moved into the first turn, McCarthy dutifully reported Jet Pilot on the lead, followed by King Bay, a long shot, and On Trust. Then, good reporter that he was, he said, "Now you want to know about Phalanx. Well, he's next to last." It was obvious Clem was going to keep an eye on Phalanx throughout.

As the horses went down the back-stretch, McCarthy accurately described On Trust's move as he surged past Jet Pilot to take a 2�-length lead. "King Bay is third," he intoned, "a-nnn-d Secnav is fourth. Cosmic Bomb is fifth, and on the outside is Faultless in sixth place. Phalanx is next to last and now moving, moving very fast on the outside of horses! He is now seventh and making his drive."