THE SHOE: REFLECTIONS ON A LEGEND : INSIDER ACCOUNTS

Here are the recollections of some people who have known Bill Shoemaker over the years: Bob Hebert

Hebert, a retired turf writer and handicapper for The Times, laughs when he recalls his first impression of the Shoe.

“I first saw him ride as an apprentice not long after he’d ridden his first winner at Golden Gate,” said Hebert, a turfwriter and handicapper for 39 years before his retirement in 1974. “I remember this one race where he came into the stretch with a two- or three-length lead.

“He reached back to hit the horse and threw himself completely off balance and wound up losing the race. I thought this kid was never going to make it.”

Hebert wasn’t alone with his initial opinion. At Del Mar, habitues of the press box voted Glen Lasswell the most promising apprentice.

More than 40 years and almost 9,000 victories later, Shoemaker will ride for the last time Saturday at Santa Anita. Hebert, along with many others, wouldn’t dare be anywhere else.

“Each season, he got better and better,” Hebert said. “As an all-around rider, you just couldn’t beat him. (Eddie) Arcaro might have been better with the whip and (Johnny) Longden might have been better on a speed horse, but put it all together and Shoe couldn’t be topped. He was in a class by himself.”

Hebert remembers how Shoemaker was cooperative not long after the most embarrassing moment of his career--misjudging the finish line aboard Gallant Man in the 1957 Kentucky Derby.

“He ducked out of the jock’s room because he was hurrying to catch a plane to Texas,” Hebert said. “Everbody in the press box wanted to know what had happened.

“I called the airport in Louisville and had Shoemaker paged. He took the call and said, ‘I messed up.’ He didn’t offer any alibis or excuses. That’s just the way he was.”

Dr. Robert Kerlan

Besides treating them, Kerlan, a sports injury specialist, has gotten to know several prominent, world-class athletes and he doesn’t hestiate to rank his diminutive friend at the top.

“I don’t mind putting that label on Shoe,” he said. “To be able to perform at a superior level and remain at that level for so long is remarkable. I doubt if anyone will have the longevity with the skills remaining for as long as he has.

“His record speaks for itself. He has the same friends he’s always had and that’s something I like very much about him. I’m a little suspicious of people who keep changing their circle of friends. I love to see him and the older riders when they get together. I love to watch him and Longden and Arcaro when they’re together. They love and admire each other and it’s marvelous to see.”

For all of Shoemaker’s accomplishments, Kerlan believes one is particularly noteworthy.

“On Shoe’s way up, Jimmy Jordan rode him on several good horses,” he said. “Later, when Jimmy got a little down on his luck, Shoe never forgot what he had done for him. If Jimmy wanted him to ride a horse, no matter what it was, Shoe would make himself available.

“To me, that’s the cornerstone of why he’s remained the same and why everybody likes him. He’s dependable, fair and has a total knowledge of what a rider is supposed to do.

“He’s become more devious in his practical jokes, but he’s changed less than any guy I’ve ever seen in sports who’s become a huge success and a national figure. He’s changed about as little as one can change. I love him.”

Harry Silbert

Shoemaker and agent Silbert, whose handshake relationship ended when the cigar-chewing Silbert died in 1986, didn’t always agree on the horses the jockey would ride, but their mistakes were few. The better the jockey, the easier the agent’s job, is not an automatic adage. During Shoemaker’s heyday, he could have ridden virtually every contender in almost every race, and it was frequently Silbert’s job to make the call.

One time, Silbert was trying to help a struggling trainer who was a friend, and he put Shoemaker on a 15-1 shot that would have been much longer without the premier jockey aboard. The horse finished last.

Two weeks later, Silbert signed up Shoemaker to ride the horse again. The horse ran last again. In a third race, even with Shoemaker, the horse went off at 50-1 and again didn’t beat any other horses.

“Hey, Harry,” Shoemaker said, laughing. “Is there something you know about that horse that I don’t know?”

Silbert thought that Shoemaker’s ride aboard J. O. Tobin, the time he beat Seattle Slew in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park in 1977, was one of the jockey’s greatest.

“The drama was terrific,” Silbert said. “You could never tell what J. O. Tobin would do, and Bill handled him beautifully, leading all the way, and not letting the Triple Crown champion catch up. I think that was the first time I ever saw Bill raise his hand in the air after a victory.”

Dan Smith

Smith, Del Mar publicist and collaborator on a book with Shoemaker, has no trouble remembering the details of a certain 1957 race.

“I didn’t know the Shoe, but I was aware of his reputation and how dominant he was,” said Smith, then a 20-year-old staff member of The Times. “I was in the press box once when he was on Prince Leuker, a well-bred horse owned by Travis Kerr. Shoe was on the lead and some horse came to him and it looked like he was beaten.

“But Shoe switched to a left-handed whip and came back and won. I was really impressed. I was raving about him to Bob Hebert and he wound up writing a story with a fresh viewpoint of Shoemaker.

“I got to know him a lot better when I went to work at (Santa Anita) in 1963. He was a great guy to work with, very accommodating and very patient.”

Smith says the rider hasn’t changed much through the years.

“He’s still pretty much silent Shoe,” he said. “He’s still a very reserved person, basically shy. He’s grown a lot as a person. Not just on the track, but off as well. You couldn’t find a more professional person in his approach to what he does. (Longtime agent) Harry Silbert brought him up the right way. He was sort of like a surrogate father.

“Shoe’s a very strong-minded, very competitive person who wanted to win and wanted to excel. He’s the last link to the era of Longden, Westrope, Arcaro and Johnny Adams. He’s the last of the Mohicans.”

Oscar Otis

Otis, a longtime turf writer, remembers a scoop, of sorts, he got during the 1949 Del Mar season.

“Shoemaker was silent,” said Otis. “He didn’t talk to anybody. He was impassive. He never seemed to blink or anything. Harry Silbert came to me and said, ‘He may not say anything, but he’s following orders (from trainers).’

“One morning in the stable area, Shoemaker said good morning to a trainer. Well, the news flashed around the track. I put something in the Racing Form because that was real news on the backstretch.

“It took about a year before he said much of anything. I asked him later why he was so damn silent and he laughed, ‘It’s better to keep your mouth shut and let everybody think you’re a fool, than open it and let everybody know it.’

“He didn’t have the confidence, but he sure had the desire from the start. He was a great, natural talent right from the beginning. He didn’t need a lot of practice. He was as good a rider on a $5,000 claimer as he was in a $100,000 stakes.

“He had a natural ability, which is hard to come by. Arcaro and (George) Woolf had it, but few riders do. He didn’t have to think things over or plan a race. Shoemaker just acted.”

Don Pierce

Pierce, longtime friend and former jockey, knows that Saturday marks the end of Bill Shoemaker’s riding career, but he doesn’t think the skills have diminished.

“In my opinion, if I had a good horse, he’d be the first one I’d go to,” said Pierce, who maintains a small stable at Santa Anita.

“Nobody taught him. He just had (the talent) from the start. He did a lot of amazing things over the years. What impressed me was his finesse with horses, how he would get them to relax and rate (run at a controlled pace) for him without taking a hold of them.

“It was just a knack he had. He was able to do that, year in and year out, day in and day out.”

Shoemaker won the San Juan Capistrano five times, but his second triumph in the 14-furlong grass marathon is the one most remembered--a wire-to-wire victory aboard Olden Times, a horse who really didn’t want to run that far.

“He thinks that’s the best race he ever rode and I agree,” said Pierce. “That was a super performance. He never had a hold of Olden Times. He was just sitting there, the reins kind of loose. He relaxed and galloped along and when they came to him, he was a fresh horse and he just cut out. I think that’s probably as good a race as I saw him or anybody else ride.”

Charlie Whittingham

Nobody can blame Whittingham if he has a hard time recalling some of the memorable races Bill Shoemaker has ridden for him.

After all, they’ve combined for 117 stakes wins at Santa Anita alone since 1957.

“We’ve done well together,” Whittingham understated. “Bill’s a good rider who suited my type of horses and my style a little bit better than a lot of them.

“He’s a natural lightweight, which is a big help, and he has a good disposition. Success never went to his head and it doesn’t worry him too much.

“He hasn’t really changed. He’s gotten gray and there’s a few more wrinkles, but he’s still the same. He’s always been a great credit to racing. He was just a natural and little things worked for him.”

Times staff writer Bill Christine contributed to this story.