Shoemaker Won Four Derbies
First to Earn Career $100 Million, The Shoe Won Three Eclipse Awards
Although one Kentucky Derby win shy of Hartack and Arcaro, Bill "Willie" Shoemaker was the first jockey to earn $100 million, and collected more Eclipse Awards.
Elected to racing's Hall of Fame in 1958, three years after his first Kentucky Derby win, Bill "Willie" Shoemaker won three more Derbies after his election year, became the first jockey to earn $100 million, and won the riding Eclipse Award in 1981, and two other special Eclipse Awards.
He was a giant in the sadddle in the 1950s and the 1960s and continued to ride into the 1980s, when he had mounts in six Derbies, including the 1986 Derby winner, Ferdinand. In 1951 he won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. From 1958 to 1964, Shoemaker was the leading jockey in earnings.
In 1976 he won a Special Eclipse Award for his lifetime achievements, and in 1981 he won an Eclipse Award of Merit in addition to being named the year's top jockey. In 1990, he won the Mike Venezia Award, again in recognition of his stellar and long career.
Shoemaker's First Derby Champ, 1955, Swaps
Swaps, a chestnut colt from a pairing of Khaled and Iron Reward out of Beau Pere, put Willie Shoemaker into the Kentucky Derby winner's circle for the first time. Swaps' grandsire was Hyperion.
Shoemaker left a hospital bed in California, barely healed from a leg injury, to ride Swaps in Louisville on the first Saturday in May. Swaps carried the ill-prepared jockey to Derby glory, beating his major competitor, Nashua, by 1-1/2 lengths. Swaps won $418,550 that season, eight out of nine posts in all, while finished second once.
As a well thought of two-year-old, Swaps went three of six in wins, collected two third place showings, and $20,950 in earnings. He raced at four, winning eight of ten starts, one second and $409,400 in purses.
1959, Willie Again, With Tomy Lee
Shoemaker's second Derby champ, Tomy Lee, a bay colt foaled by Auld Alliance by Brantome, and sired by Tudor Minstrel, had a long racing career. He went to post 31 times, won 14, and earned $405,014.
Shoemaker again had a complicated situation. He had ridden Sword Dancer, a favorite to win the Derby, but his manager had promised Tomy Lee's trainer that The Shoe would take Tomy Lee in the Derby. Shoemaker, convinced that Sword Dancer would be the horse to beat, nonetheless honored the commitment his manager had made and agreed to ride Tomy Lee. Sword Dancer and Tomy Lee battled, but the better jockey got his horse to the finish line first.
As a two-year-old, Tomy Lee took six out of eight races, finished second once and third once, while earning $213,460. At four, he posted a 2-0-0-0 record, earning just $5,000. He didn't race at five, but returned to the track at the age of six, winning his only post and $4,125. At seven, he was good again, scoring three times from 13 posts, and taking one second and two thirds. He earned $18,772.
Lucky Debonair Has the Luck, And The Shoe, 1965
In 1965 a fellow named Dapper Dan blitzed through the Derby's last quarter mile in 23-1/5, two fifths of a second faster than Whirlaway's time in 1941 and Hill Rise's time in 1964, to establish a track record at Churchill Downs that stood until Secretariat's blistering :23 flat. But Dapper Dan didn't have The Shoe. Some said Lucky Debonair was lucky at the end not to be overtaken by Dapper Dan. However, the experience of Willie Shoemaker may have been the difference. The Shoe didn't let Lucky Debonair get lazy at the end, nor did he stand up in the stirrups, a la 1957 and Gallant Man.
As a two-year-old Lucky Debonair posted once unplaced with no earnings. At four, he went three of five in victories and garnered $113,750. In his Derby year he snagged $257,210, winning six of 10 starts and placing second three times.
Lucky Debonair's breeding included Vertex as his sire. The bay colt's dam, Fresh as Fresh, was by Triple Crown Champion Count Fleet (1943).
Willie's Best, Ferdinand, 1986
Shoemaker's last Derby champ, Ferdinand, came along late in his career and was not a favorite for the Run for the Roses. The jockey was fifty-four years old. But Ferdinand's trainer, Charles Wittingham, thought the chestnut colt, sired by Nijinsky II (who was sired by Northern Dancer), was special, and he wanted The Shoe for the Derby. Willie came through. He guided Ferdinand from last to first to the wire, and he later said Ferdinand was one of the great rides he was privileged to have had in his long career.
Ferdinand started five races at age two. He won once, placed once and was third twice, winning $178,650. At four he had a banner year, going four of 10 posts in wins, finishing second twice and third once, and earning $2,185,150. He raced at five without winning in six starts, placed three times and finished third once while earning $432,500.
Ferdinand's Derby year was also an excellent one. He won three of eight starts, placed three times and took third twice. His earnings were $981,678.
The Shoe Guided The Guild, Too
From 1975 to 1990, Shoemaker served as president of the Jockey's Guild, an organization that Eddie Arcaro also strongly led and promoted. The Guild undertakes funding for jockeys injured on the job and considers the welfare of their families. Shoemaker himself was paralyzed in a car accident in April of 1991. He passed away in 2003.
