#TBT Shoemaker Said....
The Best Horse He Ever Rode
His stats are mind-boggling. in his 41-year jockey career, William Lee Shoemaker (Aug. 19, 1931—Oct. 12, 2003) racked up a 21.89 winning percentage from 40,350 race-rides and partnered at least 25 Hall of Fame champions. In 1993, three years after “The Shoe” retired from riding and became a trainer, turf writer Billy Reed posed a familiar question: who was the best you ever rode?
“That’s a tough question,” Shoe replied. “I suppose I’ve ridden more good horses than any rider who ever rode—Swaps, Spectacular Bid, Round Table, Gallant Man, Forego.” Then he commented as a trainer: “Of all the good horses I rode, I’d like to have one of them right now.”
Back in 1965, the answer hadn’t seemed so tough. Swaps, Shoemaker told Ray Sons of the Chicago Daily News Service. “He had a lot of speed, and he could carry it over the classic distance. He was always as good as first second or third all the way from start to finish.” Shoe named Gallant Man and Round Table as next best, adding, “Gallant Man could beat anybody when he was right.”
Five years later, Gallant Man still ranked especially high. Shoe told ghostwriter Whitney Tower for a 1970 Sports Illustrated autobiographical series: “At times he could beat any horse. Once he beat Bold Ruler going a flat mile, and not many horses could do that.” (Bold Ruler would get the last laugh: Gallant Man’s 2:26 3/5 American record Belmont Stakes time stood from 1957 until 1973 … when Bold Ruler son Secretariat ran 2:24 flat. In 2026, Secretariat’s mark still stands.)
Shoe’s 1970 Sports Illustrated time capsule said his other best mounts were 1967 Horse of the Year Damascus and 1956 Horse of the Year Swaps, with special praise for Swaps as a “truly great” horse: “No question about it. For a colt to have done what he did, with one bad foot throughout most of his career, Swaps was truly great.”
The next big shift occurred in early October 1976, as Shoemaker made room at the top for three-time Horse of the Year Forego. A seemingly impossible stretch rally by Lazy F Ranch’s giant gelding did it. “I’ve ridden a lot of horses but this has got to be the best,” Forego’s passenger told United Press International. On a sloppy track, with 137 pounds up to runner-up Honest Pleasure’s 119, Forego came from nowhere to win by a head.
“It was one of the greatest horse races I’ve ever been in or seen,” said The Shoe. “I didn’t have any real trouble but at the 3-8 pole I didn’t think I’d be in the money.
“But in the stretch he gave me that run and it’s a beaut. That’s a real race horse.”
That impression stuck for awhile. Interviewed by The Los Angeles Times in 1979, Shoe called Swaps and Forego his best ever with Gallant Man close behind. And yet, a gray colt by Bold Bidder—Spectacular, by Promised Land was about to change his mind.
By the end of 1980, Shoemaker had won 11 of his 12 races partnering Spectacular Bid; during Bid’s 1980 campaign, they went 9 for 9. “I’d have to say Bid is the best,” Shoe told Ed Comerford of Newsday. “He was champion at 2 and 3, and much better as a 4-year-old. He did things other horses were not able to sustain throughout their careers. He ran on all different kinds of tracks, under all kinds of conditions, and kept winning. He went from coast to coast and got the job done. He was so versatile that you could move with him any time you wanted to, then move again if you had to. He did everything a great horse should.”
Even so, Forego still came to mind. In April 1981, Shoe told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Larry Stumes: “The day Forego carried 137 pounds and won the Marlboro Cup (1976), I thought he was the best I ever rode. But all-in-all Spectacular Bid was the best. He could do anything—carry weight, run on all kinds of tracks all over the country.” That July, when the Associated Press posed the inevitable question, Bill said: “Of course, Spectacular Bid. Then I’d list Swaps, Gallant Man, Round Table and Ack Ack.” Swaps, Gallant Man, Round Table … his first three, way back in 1965. And for some reason, this time Hall of Fame champion Ack Ack came to mind instead of Hall of Fame champion Forego.
For the next decade, the opinion stayed roughly the same—but also became more nuanced. Shortly before The Shoe’s final race-ride in 1990, Ed Schuyler, Jr., of the Associated Press reported: “Shoemaker calls Spectacular Bid the best purse racehorse he ever rode and says the three most intelligent of his mounts were Swaps, Spectacular Bid and Ferdinand.”
During Shoe’s final years, Spectacular Bid still dominated his responses. “I would say he was the best horse I rode,” Bill told Bob Mieszerski of The Los Angeles Times in March 2000. Yet The Shoe also softened his statement with an undeniable reality: “It’s hard to compare horses of different decades because they have different characteristics and different ways of running.”
If they could comprehend the question, Shoemaker’s other frequent finalists—Swaps, Gallant Man, Forego—might agree.
NOTE: Hall of Fame champions who carried Bill Shoemaker in competition include Ack Ack, Affectionately, Alysheba (at age two), Arts and Letters, Bed o’ Roses, Bowl of Flowers, Buckpasser, Cicada, Cougar II, Dahlia, Damascus, Dr. Fager (at age two), Exceller, Forego, Gallant Man, Gamely, Gun Bow, John Henry, Kelso, Native Diver, Northern Dancer, Round Table, Spectacular Bid, Swaps, Sword Dancer … and anyone I’m forgetting?
I remember seeimg the Shoe ride (albeit on television) in the early 1980s.
Spectacular Bid was indeed spectacular. My friend Cathy and I watched his Derby on TV and he got us hooked on horse racing. Still remember that sinking feeling when Bid finished 3rd to Coastal and Golden Act in the Belmont. Had it not been for a safety pin and a bad ride, he would have won the Triple Crown.