Shoemaker Retires as a Trainer

Ending a career that was hamstrung when an automobile accident left him paralyzed from the neck down in 1991, Bill Shoemaker announced Friday that he is retiring as a trainer.

Shoemaker, who retired as a jockey in 1990 after riding a record 8,833 winners, said that after Monday most of the 24 horses in his Santa Anita barn would be turned over to Paddy Gallagher, his assistant for seven years.

“It’s just too much for me to do,” Shoemaker said. “It’s tough to do the therapy I need and train at the same time. The therapy takes two to three hours a day, and training is a seven-day-a-week job that also requires a lot of time.”

Before his accident, Shoemaker had started a promising career as a trainer and appeared to be one of those rare ex-jockeys who would successfully make the transition.

In 1990 and 1991, Shoemaker’s horses won 46 races and earned $2.4 million. His purse totals dropped after that, and going into the weekend his career total is 158 wins and purses of more than $7 million.

Shoemaker won 16 stakes, including the 1994 Strub with Diazo, the 1991 Beverly D with Fire The Groom and several with Glen Kate. In 1993, Shoemaker finished fifth with Diazo in the Kentucky Derby, a race he won four times as a jockey.

Shoemaker, 66, said he is hopeful more therapy will eventually give him some movement of his hands. He would like to graduate from his sip-and-puff wheelchair to one that is sensitive to touch.

“Even before the accident, I learned that training was going to be a lot harder than riding,” Shoemaker said. “Riding was easy by comparison. When you’re a trainer, you’re always there. There are a lot of little things to tend to.”

Shoemaker said he thought about retiring earlier this year and made up his mind a couple of weeks ago.

Legally over the blood-alcohol limit for driving at the time of his single-car accident, Shoemaker filed a $50-million lawsuit against a hospital and several doctors. There was an out-of-court settlement last March, with the hospital and doctors paying nothing. The Ford Motor Co., which manufactured the vehicle Shoemaker was driving, dropped out of any litigation after agreeing to pay $2.5 million.

The accident took away Shoemaker’s big edge as a trainer, the ability to get on the horses he trained.

“I was able to feel how the horses were first-hand,” Shoemaker said. “I didn’t have to take anybody else’s word for it.”

Gallagher, 40, is a former amateur jockey from Ireland who has worked in California since 1981, joining Shoemaker in 1990 after working for trainer John Sullivan.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity,” Gallagher said. “This is a very good chance for me. The Boss [Shoemaker] says he’ll still be around some, but he won’t be around as much as he should.”

Horse Race Notes

Santa Anita will honor Bill Shoemaker in the winner’s circle after Sunday’s fourth race at Santa Anita. . . . Dance Design--the Irish filly who’s still a possibility for next Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff--is one of seven entered in Sunday’s $500,000 Yellow Ribbon.