A memorable ride

SOMETIMES it’s what you don’t do that brings the millions, the trophies, the ladies. Bill Shoemaker didn’t try to turn a horse to butter with his riding whip.

He didn't rattle the reins or frantically flap his legs, even if he was behind a wall of horseflesh as he entered the home stretch.

Shoemaker sat so still on a moving thoroughbred that when he first came on the scene in California in 1949, track officials worried about the impression he gave: This kid, they said, looks like he's stiffing his horses.