The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 69

Laughs at Death IP 4 1 1 1 1 If 1 1 ff 1 I If Is li -M -f; -yvV "--v Dallett Dolly) Byers, World-Famous Steeplechase Rider of the Widener Stables, I Unafraid of the Risky Jumps in a Thrilling Sport 1 That Has Claimed a Long List of "Killed in Action xi xi PS xt fx. ViJFStsx x- yx-i A xi -J, 4 -X- I'M. 1. faW 5.Sx- itA ri Vx x- Xw jr-j 'xx! A rictim of a recent English steeplechase, in which forty-one started and nly five finished, beini? helped out of the ditch after a fall By C. William Duncan RACETRACK followers call the steeplechase riders the "Suicide Club," but to Dolly Byers that's all foolishness.

Dolly has been jumping for the Joseph E. Widener stables for fourteen years and In that time has sustained numerous broken collarbones, a few fractured ribs and a broken arm or so Often Death has stretched out his hand for Dolly, but the crack r.der is a nimble fellow and so far has always escaped Just in time. Many of his associates have not been so fortunate and the list of jumpers "killed in action" is a long one. I wasn't a bit surprised when Mr. Widener's star rider one of the best in the world told me he couldn't see anything dangerous in his calling.

Ralph de Palm a told me that he had absolutely no lear of hitting 120 miles an hour in an important automobile race. Doc Taylor, when a parachute jumper for the U. S. S. Saratoga, opined that any man was foolish to be a deep-sea diver, but that jumping off airplanes into space, just to test parachutes, was Indeed a safe and splendid calling.

In hundreds of interviews I have found that men of this type have less fear of death than the average business man. admits that another's feat may involve great risks, but refuses to concede that his own work is hazardous. The record of this steeplechase jockey looks like Ty Cobb's in baseball, Bill Til-den's in tennis or Bobby Jones' in golf, lie led the country in 1918, 1921 and 1928 in percentages of victories. He created a national record in 1928 by compiling an average of 50 per cent. Here are the figures: Ye 1 1 Mour.ta 1313 49 1921 43 1928 31 1st 16 15 15 2J 8-3 Cnolace3 9 12 12 11 8 14 4 8 4 p.c .33 .31 .50 Byers' record in 1923 is the best recorded In the American Racing Manual, which contains the official figures since 1905.

That year Dolly rode without a lal). even In schooling a remarkable feat in itself. TT JEFFCOAT led the steeplechase J-X jockeys in percentage ot victories in 1929. but Doily was first in money won. Of the latter the Manual says: "From the standpoint of money won by mounts in 1929, Byers surpasses all others with $43,815.

Byers has been for a long time one of the best steeplechase riders in uie country. me name oi anomer noted steeplechase rider H. Crawford Is missing from the records for 1929." The Temple-Gwathmey Memorial Steeplechase, at Belmont Park, is one of the j-ear's biggest races. Byers won it with MacCarthy Moore in '25. with Falrmount ln '26, '27 and 28 and with Arc Light in '29.

Another important one Is the Manly Memorial, at Pimlico. Byers has come in first there in seven out of eleven years He rode Duettiste in '19 and "20, Lizard in "25. Fairmount in 26, Lizard again in '27 and Arc Light in 28 and "23 Byers' one regret is that he has never placed first in the Grand National. Second is his best record there, and a first place would round out one of the most out- standing careers of any rider in the history of steeplechase races in the United States. I talked to Byers at the beautiful Wide- ncr racing farm, located in Elkint Park, a few miles north of Philadelphia He is a slimiy built chap ot 33 and has the thin face and keen eye so typical of the Jockey "Do you consider yourself as a mem- ber ol a Suicide Club'?" I asked him He laughed No, I don't.

Wny, I never think of death when I'm riding. I never ft! i xi 4JSMMW x. it xx x- $S'Vl XfvC vsrx.i X(xx-x. Xi SS- ftf- xrfxXxi. -x? 'fcx -SZ -x-- turtle with his horse.

Then we'll see how he rides the next time "It wasn't a question of courage. Tne old-timers all knew that Johnson had plenty of heart. But the spills do something to all of them. One lad can stand them and another one can "Johnson went down later. Riding like a demon, he fell at the fourth jump ot the race.

He arose grinning and said: Tm out of the Suicide Club. No mere for Little "He has kept his word, yet no one questions his courage." Each time there is a steeplechase race at Saratoga, or any of the ether tracks. for that matter, back of the little green trees or behind a board fence is stationed the little white wagon with the golden bell and anseV in it. rt is the ambu- Zncet and the "angel." of course, is the nurse. If vou want a thrill, go to a track the dav of a iumr)ine race when the rain is falling in torrents, the grass is like ice under the colts' feet and the mud is like so much glazed ice, and watch these stars of the saddle take their lives in their hands.

Many of them don't get away with it. In May of this year Alfred Williams, riding as a free lance, was killed at Pimlico. Two of his brothers are still riding. H. R.

Crawford, considered an exceptionally fine prospect, met his death last year. The records of steeplechase races are nplete with fatal accidents. FRED FORD names Specs Crawford, Doily Byers and Nat Kay as the three best steeplechase riders of all time. "I'd like to see them in a race at the same time, one on Brigadier General, one on Fairmount and one on Duettiste." he said. "Thav would make a race that would go in history." At present there seems to be no mad rush among the flat drivers to become steeplechase drivers Followers of the track explain this by saying the jockeys in recent years have come to consider their business from a more sensible standpoint.

They have learned to save and provide for the future. I asked Dolly Byers if there were fewer steeplechase riders now than there were when he started in the game fourteen years ago "There are fewer good ones, I would say," he answered. "A change has come over men all lines of sport, you know. I've read a lot of stories about baseball players saving their money instead of throwing it away as they used to do You read of even prizefighters who have salted it. Well, the Hat riders are doing the same thing.

"When the average fiat rider ot today gets too heavy for his work and either has to quit or take up steeplechase work, ne decides to go out of riding altogether and go in for training, for instance." That was Dolly's explanation of the situation. But another reason lurks in the back 0r the Gat rider's brain. He fears the fate that has befallen so many members of the "Suicide Club" in the past. Foi that club has more members marked "deceased" than any other club of its size in the country. "And good as Byers is." continued Mr.

Vreeland, "he is the result of training and advice. J. Howard Lewis, trainer of a string of steeplechase horses, is responsible for the excellent riding ability of Dolly, whose real name is Dallett, agrees with the writer. Howard Lrwis taneht me all I know," he confirmed. Albert Johnson was a- keen rider.

He won the Kentucky Derby thrice. He rode Morvich the dav that horse won and piloted Exterminator, familiarly called "Old Slim." that classic and came home galloping. Then he whacked Bubbling Over around the oval in from of the best horses in America. JOHNSON is a ciose friend of W. Fred Ford, Philadelphia racing expert, who has this to say aoout him: "I remnmoer one day Johnson won the Preakness when it was divined Into two races.

He won with that great filly, Sallv's Allev, and then with Blossom fj Vx. v'1 ir-x- r-w vH i xr- a XP, 1 1 2 x- 'Aw x-r -tx'SS- Time, another filly. Both paid better than 20 to 1. "That grim ghost, weight, climbed aboard Johnson and, try as he might. he could not shake it off.

Then he joined the 'Suicide Club." "He won his first race as a steeple- chaser gave a brilliant exhibition. 1 was thrilled. Here was a rival for Craw- ford and Byers. He rode laughing at fate with the same desperate courage that stamped his feats as a fiat rider talked with the old-timers I made whoopee' that mght, for my pal was the new sensation of the jumps. The old-timers said: 'Wait until he clips a Jump going forty miles an hour and turns borR I pver mde, and Arc Light third.

"I'd like to nde some horse to victory in the Grand National because I've won pvpry race of importance in the country "xppt the Grand National, the Harbor Hill at Aqueduct and the Governor at Laurel." THE steeplechase season opens in the spring at Pimliro, with Belmont Park and Aqueduct following in succession Thii year the Arlington Park schedule at Chicsco, June 30 to August I. railed for steeplechase races for the PrM, time. The dates for Saratoga Pprines are 30 to August 30; Belmont Park, September 1 to 17; Aqueduct, September 18 to October Laurel, October 7 to November Pimlico, November 4 to November 15; United Hunts, Br-lmont Park, November 8 to November II. The Grand National is run at the September meeting at Belmont Pavk and the Temple-Gwathmey Memorial at uie United Hunts, Belmont Park. That the requisites of a good siteple- -Vv -5- tx XC XXX XX chase jockey are numerous is borne out by the fact that there is a scarcity of topnotchers in the game today.

W. C. Vreeland, New York writer, says: "There would be a greater number of men and women going in for steeplechas-ing as patrons than there are at present if it were not for the dearth of good riders. "I've heard men declare: "I would like to have two or three good jumpers, for I love the game, but where, oh, where can 1 a Jockey to handle them? Joseph E. Widener has the best Jockey, Dolly Byers.

There is not much left. It is practically a one-Jockey game. So what's the v. x-, i xx Jj Xxxv Photo by Carl Uleto Doily Byers, premier American steeplechase jockey, declares that he neer thinks of death when he is riding he hasn't time despite the fact that he has been severely injured a number of times even think of being hurt. My mind on the race at all times and has to be.

II a steeplechase rider forgets to think it- just too bad for him, because things hap pen in a fraction of a second in our sport He has to be looking ahead at all times, thinking about what he's going to do when he reaches the next fence or the fence after that. "I've had falls, plenty of them. I ve had busted collarbones, broken rias and so on ben trampied cn by horses whie lying Qn ground after a spilL ln Can. ada a horse tramped on me and i was laid up a hospital lor a stretch. Buti say when was lving on the groUixd didn.t have time to thinis of being kiiled or anything like that.

Everything hap- pened too quickly. You don't have time think much. You must act Spectators and newspapermen thought Dolly was mortally hurt in 1923 when a dispatch in a New York newspaper said: Byers and C. Kennedy, steeplechase jockeys, were seriously injured in the running of yesterday's steeplechase at Aqueduct and there was reason to believe last night that Byers may have been fatally injured internally. Kennedy suffered a broken' collarbone.

Byers had the leg up on J. E. Widener's Loyterer, which fell at the fifth fence The rider was thrown under the horse, which rolled over his abdomen and legs." "How about that?" I asked, pointing to the newspaper article in his scrapbook "Wasn't that a close call?" "Oh. yes." he answered nonchalantly "But 1 got over that in a hurry." "Is steeplechase riding more difficult than ordinary racing?" I asked, "Certainly." he replied. "It takes more skill more nerve and a quicker brain to be a steeplechase rider than it does for ordinary pony racing.

Figure It our for yourself We not only ran on the levei but jump fences, ditches and everything else. The other kind of riding is a cinch beside ours. An unusual picture of a bad steeplechase spill. illustratinR some of-the hazards of this same, which jockevs refer to as the "Suicide Club" "See that horse over there in the said Dolly, pointing to a field about 300 yards away "Well, that's Duettiste, the greatest horse I ever rode, I rode him against a big field in the Manly, Memorial Handicap, at Pimlico. in 1919 He carried 173 pounds and won the race.

Beat that." A touch of wilfulness came into the star jockey eyes when 1. added: "It's too bad that a great horse like Duettiste has to quit He's down there that field today pensioned by Mr. Widener for life He's taking it easy, and I guess he knows he deserves a rest. What a horse! "I consider Fairmount the second-best "mi mmm.