Shoemaker Twice Played Spoiler

Bill Shoemaker never rode Seattle Slew, but the jockey played key roles in three of the Triple Crown winner’s races and two of his defeats.

Seattle Slew might not even have won the Triple Crown but for the sportsmanship of Shoemaker in the 1977 Kentucky Derby. Undefeated in six starts, Seattle Slew went into the Derby at top-heavy 1-2 odds. Shoemaker was riding Get The Axe, who was on a seven-race losing streak and went off at 27-1.

Seattle Slew drew the No. 4 post, just inside Shoemaker’s mount. When the gate opened, Seattle Slew was leaning to the right. He brushed the side of the stall coming out, almost dislodging jockey Jean Cruguet.

Get The Axe broke promptly, leaving Seattle Slew wedged between horses and appearing to take Cruguet out of his game plan. Seattle Slew had won all six of his races on the lead.

Talking on the phone Tuesday, after he was told that Seattle Slew had died earlier in the day, Shoemaker remembered his 20th Derby. He had already won three and, at 54, would win a fourth with Ferdinand in 1986.

“Cruguet hollered something at me,” Shoemaker said. “He wanted me to get out of his way. So I eased my horse out a little. About [a horse width and a half]. Just enough to give Seattle Slew some breathing room. But if I don’t do that, who knows? Maybe he doesn’t get into the race and maybe he doesn’t win. We’ll never know, will we?”

After Seattle Slew had won the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes to wrap up the Triple Crown, he was shipped to California to run in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park. Marje Everett, who ran the track then, had increased the purse by $100,000 to $300,000 and, in anticipation of another victory by Seattle Slew, asked her friend, Cary Grant, to present the trophy in the winner’s circle.

Seattle Slew, coming back only three weeks after the Belmont, had six horses to beat, one of them J.O. Tobin, who would be ridden by Shoemaker. J.O. Tobin hadn’t run in the Derby, had finished a troubled fifth in the Preakness, then had set a course record for 11/8 miles on grass in his prep for the Swaps.

“I was telling people that he was good enough to win,” Shoemaker said, “but I don’t think anybody believed me. Even then they thought I was old and senile. But I was confident against Seattle Slew.”

Shoemaker didn’t believe that J.O. Tobin’s Preakness was a true bill.

“We got stopped every which way that day,” he said. “He didn’t break well, and then when he took off, he ran up on other horses. Then on the far turn, he ran into trouble again, and we had trouble getting clear going into the stretch. He still finished fifth, got beat by less than five lengths and had 10 lengths’ worth of trouble.”

Seattle Slew never reached contention in the Swaps. The tone of track announcer Harry Henson’s call dismissed him early. At 1-5, the Triple Crown champion struggled home fourth, beaten by 16 lengths. His handlers had asked him to do too much.

J.O. Tobin won by eight lengths, running 11/4 miles in 1:583/5. Down the stretch, the crowd of 68,132, which had probably been prepared to shout, “Slew! Slew! Slew!”, instead shouted, “Shoe! Shoe! Shoe!”

Johnny Adams, the Hall of Fame former jockey, was training J.O. Tobin.

“Johnny did a hell of a job with that horse,” Shoemaker said. “He worked and worked with him in the mornings, and got him to relax. Later, the horse was turned over to Laz Barrera, and became a speed-crazy horse. He didn’t do much after that.”

Seattle Slew was given the rest of the year off. He began 1978 with two allowance wins, then was upset by Dr. Patches in the Paterson Handicap at the Meadowlands. The fall series of races was much anticipated, because Affirmed, who had just won the Triple Crown, was going to be banging heads with Seattle Slew--Triple Crown champions had never met before--and California trainer Charlie Whittingham was bringing the highly regarded Exceller, with Shoemaker riding, to Belmont Park.

In the Marlboro Cup, Seattle Slew was a powerful three-length winner. Affirmed finished second. Affirmed skipped the Woodward, and Seattle Slew won again, beating Exceller by four lengths.

Then came the Jockey Club Gold Cup, at 11/2 miles, with all three horses running.

Affirmed’s saddle slipped, jockey Steve Cauthen was fortunate to stay aboard and they finished fifth. Cruguet had been fired after the Paterson and Angel Cordero was riding Seattle Slew. Their sustained battle to the wire with Exceller was one for the ages.

“We went by in the stretch, and I thought it was all over,” Shoemaker said. “But Seattle Slew came back on and almost got us. This was his best race.”

The finish was so close that the naked eye couldn’t separate the horses. The photo-finish camera showed that Exceller had won by the shortest of noses. Shoemaker had bested the Triple Crown champion again.