With Odd Tail, Whirlaway Was a Tough Act to Follow

By BILL CHRISTINE

May 31, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Bob Baffert, Real Quiet’s trainer, is somewhat of a tail freak, and he would have loved Whirlaway. Mr. Longtail, as they called him, had a flowing tail that stood at a 90-degree angle when he made his winning run.

Ben Jones, who trained Whirlaway, had a theory that rivals wouldn’t run close behind a horse with an intimidating tail. Of Whirlaway’s tail, Jones said: “The Lord hung it there. He must have had a purpose.”

The Horse With the Long Tail also became The Horse With the One-Eyed Blinker just before the 1941 Kentucky Derby. In his two previous races, the Blue Grass Stakes and the Derby Trial, Whirlaway was beaten because he bolted on the stretch turn. Jones constructed a blinker that shielded the colt’s right eye.

Jones also hired Eddie Arcaro to ride in the Derby, replacing Wendell Eads, the contract rider for Calumet Farm. Arcaro had won the Derby for Jones with Lawrin in 1938.

Two days before the Derby, Jones worked Whirlaway with the unique blinker and conducted an experiment with Arcaro. On his stable pony, Jones stationed himself about 10 feet from the inner rail, at the head of the stretch. Arcaro was told to guide Whirlaway through the opening between the rail and the trainer’s horse.

“I could see that old man just sitting there on his pony,” Arcaro said. “I was bearing down on him full tilt, and I was scared to death we’d have a collision that would kill the both of us. But B.A. [Jones] never moved a muscle, and Whirlaway slipped through there as pretty as you please. Then I knew we had a hell of a chance in the Derby.”

Once 14 lengths behind, Whirlaway won by eight, a record margin he still shares with three other horses, and his time of 2:01 2/5 was a record that stood for 21 years.

On an off track, Whirlaway won by 5 1/2 lengths in the Preakness, another come-from-behind performance. “Hand me a towel,” Arcaro said. “I want to wipe the jam off my lips. This is too easy.”

The Belmont drew only four starters, Whirlaway going off at 25 cents on the dollar. The victory margin was 2 1/2 lengths.

Whirlaway ran 60 times, at 17 tracks, before he was retired in 1943. He ran in races to benefit the Emergency Relief Fund during World War II, those appearances netting an estimated $5 million.

Whirlaway was voted horse of the year in 1941 and 1942. He suffered a tendon injury late in 1942, and when he ran fifth in the Equipoise Mile at Arlington Park in June of 1943, that ended a 48-race streak of in-the-money finishes.

At a relatively young age of 15, Whirlaway died of a heart attack in 1953. He was buried in Normandy, not far from one of the war’s famous battlegrounds. “There may be better horses,” Ben Jones said, “but there can be only one Whirlaway.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

1941: THE BREAKDOWN

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Date Race Distance (Time, Margin, Odds, Purse) May 3 Derby 1 1/4 miles (2:01 2/5, 8 lengths, 5-2, $61,275) May 10 Preakness 1 3/16 miles (1:58 4/5, 5 1/2 lengths, 1-1, $49,365) June 7 Belmont 1 1/2 miles

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(2:31, 2 1/2 lengths, 1-5, $39,770)

THE CHALLENGERS

The top three finishers in the races in 1941 and the $2 mutuel payoffs:

KENTUCKY DERBY

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Whirlaway $7.80 $5.00 $4.40 Staretor $35.20 17.00 Market Wise $10.80 PREAKNESS Whirlaway $4.30 $4.40 3.30 King Cole $16.30 $7.80 Our Boots $3.60 BELMONT Whirlaway $2.50 2.10 Out Robert Morris $2.40 Out Yankee Chance Out

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WHIRLAWAY’S RECORD

(1940-43) *--*

Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Purses 60 32 15 9 $561,161

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TRIPLE CROWN WINNERS

May 26, Sir Barton: 1919

May 28, Gallant Fox: 1930

May 29, Omaha: 1935

May 30, War Admiral: 1937

Today, Whirlaway: 1941

Monday, Count Fleet: 1943