Shoemaker Left Partially Paralyzed : Horse racing: All-time winningest jockey, now a trainer, suffers a broken neck, head gash in an auto crash.

Bill Shoemaker, horse racing’s all-time winningest jockey, was left partially paralyzed after his car rolled almost 50 feet down a steep embankment in San Dimas Monday night. There were no passengers in the single-car accident, and police suspect Shoemaker was under the influence of alcohol.

Shoemaker, 59, was listed in critical condition at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Ingelwood on Tuesday because of “paralysis of the extremities (arms and legs),” probably the result of a broken neck.

A friend of the family, who asked not to be identified, said that Shoemaker has no movement from the neck down, except for slight movement in the arms.

Doctors at Centinela, as well as Glendora Community Hospital and Inter-Community Medical Center in Covina, all of which treated Shoemaker, would not comment further about his condition. No prognosis was given, although there was a period late Monday night and early Tuesday when Shoemaker’s life was thought to be in danger. Injuries similar to Shoemaker’s usually result in temporary, if not permanent, paralysis.

Shoemaker, who retired as a jockey last year and currently trains horses, played golf at Sierra La Verne Country Club Monday with Don Pierce, also a jockey-turned-trainer. Shoemaker and Pierce, both members of the club, played in a fivesome. After completing the round, they stayed at the club for about 90 minutes playing liar’s poker (a bluffing game played with dollar bills.) Pierce said that Shoemaker had a couple of beers before they left the club and that they were planning to have dinner at a restaurant in Monrovia.

The accident occured about 8 p.m. Monday when Shoemaker’s westbound 1990 Ford Bronco II veered off the road to the right on Highway 30 in San Dimas, hit a berm on the side of the road and rolled the equivalent of the height of a five-story building down an embankment. The car rolled over several times and came to rest on its wheels in the fast lane of a transition road that eventually leads to the Orange Freeway.

Authorities said the car was a total wreck.

Shoemaker’s vehicle was traveling at an estimated 55 m.p.h. on Highway 30, which eventually turns into the Foothill Freeway. This stretch of road is elevated and parallel to a busy transition road that curves into the Orange Freeway. A witness in a car behind Shoemaker’s vehicle said that it suddenly veered to the right from the slow lane and went over the embankment. The witness, whom police would not identify, said there was nothing in the road to cause him to swerve.

Police said another motorist driving westbound on the transition road below had to swerve to avoid hitting Shoemaker’s vehicle. The motorist then stopped and was the first to reach Shoemaker. The witness told police that Shoemaker had his seat belt on and was slumped unconscious over the wheel. Paramedics arrived a few minutes later.

Clancy Mitchell, an investigator with the California Highway Patrol, arrived at 8:25 p.m. Mitchell said that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol and that Shoemaker’s eyes were red and watery. Shoemaker was still unconscious, so no field sobriety test was administered.

“Based on these objective symptoms and the manner in which the collision occured, investigating officer Clancy Mitchell charged Mr. Shoemaker with a misdemeanor of driving under the influence of alcohol,” said Joe Flores, a CHP public affairs officer. Shoemaker was also charged with an unsafe turning move.

The official police report will not be released until today. Authorities said that the circumstances surrounding the accident are consistent with someone who has fallen asleep at the wheel.

Shoemaker normally arrives at the barn at 5 a.m. and frequently exercises horses in addition to training them. He arrived at the golf course in the early afternoon and didn’t leave until shortly before 8 p.m.

Shoemaker was taken to Glendora Community Hospital, the closest facility with neuro-injury equipment, where blood was drawn. Police say a blood alcohol count will not be available for two weeks. At that time the district attorney will decide whether to press charges. In California, those with a blood-alcohol level of .08 are considered legally drunk.

Shoemaker has had no alcohol-related violations in the past 10 years, according to the most recent Department of Motor Vehicle records.

Sources have told The Times that Shoemaker lost a large amount of blood internally and that the primary damage was to the upper part of the spinal cord, which is considered more serious. Shoemaker also suffered a gash on the top of his head.

According to Phillip Hatch, an L.A. County Fire Dept. captain, Shoemaker did not regain consciousness until he was in the emergency room. Surgery was performed on Shoemaker shortly after he arrived.

Pierce, Mike Marten of the Daily Racing Form, and Marje Everett, former chief executive at Hollywood Park, were among the first to arrive at Glendora Hospital a couple hours after the accident. Everett helped to arrange for a private plane to bring Shoemaker’s wife, Cindy, back from Kentucky, where she was showing horses.

Robert Kerlan, an orthopedic specialist with the Kerlan-Jobe Clinic at Centinela and longtime friend of Shoemaker’s, wanted him moved to Inter-Community Hospital in Covina. Kerlan, who formerly worked at Inter-Community, needed to use some testing equipment that wasn’t available at Glendora.

Shoemaker was taken Tuesday afternoon by ambulance to Centinela, where, according to sources, he was in a Halo Fixation, a device that keeps the head and neck stable. Patients often remain in the device for several weeks.

No doctor involved in treating Shoemaker would talk to The Times. However, Dr. John Frazee, an associate clinical professor of neurosurgery at UCLA, said that Shoemaker has many factors against him.

“His age might be a little bit against him because people, as they get older, often develop bone spurs in the neck,” Frazee said. “It’s especially true if you have previous injuries such as falling from a horse. . . . He may or may not have been aware of the bone spurs. They are like little bumps that can bang against the spinal cord when you have a big jolt. Suddenly you get an injury and that impacts the spur against the spinal cord and it produces substantial damage.”

Shoemaker had few racing injuries despite riding in more than 40,000 races. The most serious injury occurred at Hollywood Park April 30, 1969, when a horse flipped over backward in the walking ring. Shoemaker suffered a crushed pelvis, torn bladder and nerve damage.

The incident occurred only months after he returned from a 13-month layoff from a broken leg. In 1955, he was trampled at Golden Gate Fields, suffering a damaged knee.

Shoemaker won 8,833 races in a career that spanned 41 years. He won 1,009 stakes races and purses totaling more than $123 million.

In 1987, he was racing in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga, N.Y., and visited Ron Turcotte, Secretariat’s jockey, who was paralyzed in a racing accident.

“I saw Ron in a wheelchair,” Shoemaker said at the time. “He was smiling and you would have never known that he had been in a wheelchair for many years. Jockeys have guts.”

At the 1990 Hall of Fame inductions at Saratoga he had his picture taken sitting in Turcotte’s lap in a wheelchair.

Reflecting upon Shoemaker’s condition, Everett said Tuesday: “I just think we all have to say our prayers, lots of them.”

Also contributing to this story were Times staff writers Bill Christine and Bob Mieszerski and Times Sports Editor Bill Dwyre.