Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Shoemaker and Silbert Make Quite a Pair

Harry Silbert, the only jockey agent Bill Shoemaker has ever had, is not well. But at least Silbert is back home, after six agonizing weeks in the hospital, and he’s reading the Daily Racing Form again.

Silbert is 75 and Shoemaker is 55 and they’ve been together on a handshake since 1949. No other agent-jockey relationship has ever lasted that long, and neither do many marriages, including Shoemaker’s. He’s had three wives, but only one Harry Silbert.

“It’s been like a father-son relationship, only better,” said Rita Robbins, Silbert’s daughter. “Sons can sometimes wind up falling out with their fathers, but dad and Bill never have.”

Here, where race track executives from around the country have gathered this week for the Thoroughbred Racing Assns. convention, they remember a story from the early Shoemaker-Silbert years. Stories that go back as far as 1955 are not to be trusted, but Shoemaker says that this one doesn’t need embellishing. It’s good enough in the raw.

It has to do with one of Shoemaker’s knees, the same knee that was repaired by arthroscopic surgery two days ago.

The knee was sore before Shoemaker got to be 55. In late April of 1955, at Golden Gate Fields near here, Shoemaker was thrown by a horse leaving the gate, then was kicked. The young rider was sent to the hospital, where that night a doctor told Silbert: “He won’t be able to ride for a month.”

Said Silbert: “We’ll see about that.” The Kentucky Derby was only a couple of weeks away, and Shoemaker, who hadn’t yet won that race, had the mount on Swaps, the West Coast’s best representative.

There was a prep scheduled for Swaps at Churchill Downs in a few days, and Silbert knew that Mesh Tenney, the colt’s trainer, would want the same rider for both that race and the Derby.

The same night the doctor told Silbert that his jockey would need a month to recuperate, the agent sneaked Shoemaker out of the hospital. Hours later, they were on a plane for Louisville.

Shoemaker remembers the flight taking about 10 hours, and says that the knee had ballooned to three times its normal size by the time they arrived. Silbert had to practically carry Shoemaker off the plane.

At a Louisville health club where Shoemaker went for a whirlpool treatment, he met the trainer for the University of Louisville and was invited to use the school’s facilities. At the college, Shoemaker met the Cardinals’ quarterback and promised him tickets to the Derby. His name was Johnny Unitas.

Swaps and Shoemaker won the prep race by 8 1/2 lengths. The second choice to favored Nashua in the Derby, they pulled away from the hope from the East in the stretch and won by 1 1/2 lengths.

Shoemaker has since won three more Derbies, the last with Ferdinand last year. But he wouldn’t have even been there for the first one if it hadn’t been for Harry Silbert.

Concluding the TRA convention will be the Eclipse Awards dinner at the Fairmont Hotel Friday night, when the top horses, owners, trainers and jockeys from last year will be honored.

Close to 1,000 people will be attending the black-tie, $200-a-plate dinner. Four years ago, when the dinner was last held in San Francisco, master of ceremonies John Forsythe commented on the extravagance of Nob Hill.

“I know why they call this hotel the Fairmont,” he said. “You wind up paying a fair amount before you leave here.”

Wayne Lukas will accept the Eclipse for being voted best trainer in 1986, a year marked by two champions--horse of the year Lady’s Secret and Capote, who was the top 2-year-old colt.

But another trainer, Mel Stute, also trained two champions--Snow Chief, the best 3-year-old colt, and Brave Raj, the top 2-year-old filly.

“Have you ever seen a guy with a stable like Mel’s?” asked Jerry Ingordo, the jockey agent for Pat Valenzuela. “He’s either got claimers or stakes horses, and nothing in between. No allowance horses, no grass horses--just cheap ones and real good ones. It’s amazing.”

Pat Day, who will receive the Eclipse for being last year’s top jockey, will be in San Francisco without missing any riding engagements, compliments of the stewards at Hialeah.

Day is serving a 10-day suspension, which was assessed after two of his horses were disqualified on the same program at Hialeah last Saturday.

When Gene Klein bought Lady’s Secret in a three-horse package, he got more than just a future horse of the year.

Also in the purchase was Gene’s Lady, who runs even more than the durable Lady’s Secret. Gene’s Lady won the Interborough Handicap at Aqueduct Jan. 1 and has a record of 13 wins, 15 seconds and 21 thirds in 73 starts, with earnings of more than $800,000.

Horse Racing Notes With Bill Shoemaker sidelined, Eddie Delahoussaye will have the mount Sunday on Ferdinand in the $500,000 Charles H. Strub Stakes at Santa Anita. The first five finishers in the San Fernando Jan. 19--Variety Road, Broad Brush, Snow Chief, Ferdinand and Late Request--may be joined by Grand Exchange, Vilzak and Don B. Blue in the Strub. . . . Trainer Joe Manzi isn’t ready to compare Masterful Advocate with Roving Boy yet. “Roving Boy was a champion (best 2-year-old colt of 1982),” Manzi said. “Masterful Advocate has a lot of potential, and he might be on the verge of being great, but let’s look at some more races.” Masterful Advocate won the $250,000 El Camino Real Derby at Bay Meadows last Saturday and will run in either the San Rafael Stakes March 7 or the San Felipe Handicap March 22 before the Santa Anita Derby April 4. . . . The Kyne Handicap at Bay Meadows has made a Bedside Promise believer out of trainer Dick Mandella. Mandella’s Hopeful Word finished second in the race. “I knew that race (at a mile) was too short for my horse,” Mandella said. “But I thought he would still be too good for Bedside Promise. Now I know. Bedside Promise is plenty good.” Bedside Promise is scheduled to run in the Potrero Grande Handicap at Santa Anita next Wednesday, then the San Antonio Handicap Feb. 22. . . . Qualify, winner of last year’s Del Mar Futurity and considered one of the top Kentucky Derby candidates this year, died Monday night after undergoing emergency stomach surgery last week.