Editing Bill Shoemaker (section)

==Jockey career==
Shoemaker's career as a [[jockey]] began in his teenage years, with his first professional ride on March 19, 1949. The first of his eventual 8,833 career victories came a month later, on April 20, aboard Shafter V, at [[Golden Gate Fields]] in [[Albany, California]].<ref>[http://www.goldengatefields.com/about/about-golden-gate-fields "About Golden Gate Fields"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101124421/http://www.goldengatefields.com/about/about-golden-gate-fields |date=2012-01-01 }} ''Golden Gate Fields''. Retrieved February 7, 2012</ref> In 1951, he won the [[George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award]].

At the age of 19, he was making so much money (as much as $2,500 each week) the Los Angeles Superior Court appointed attorney [[Horace Hahn]] as his guardian, with the consent of his parents.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]]| date=June 2, 1951| page=11| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109454667/pittsburgh-post-gazette/| title=Shoemaker Makes Too Much Money}}</ref>

Thirty years later, he won the [[Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey]] in the United States.
  
Shoemaker won eleven [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|Triple Crown]] races during his career, spanning four different decades, but the Crown itself eluded him. The breakdown of these wins is as follows:
* [[Kentucky Derby]]: [[Swaps (horse)|Swaps]] (1955), [[Tomy Lee]] (1959), [[Lucky Debonair]] (1965) and [[Ferdinand (horse)|Ferdinand]] (1986)
* [[Preakness Stakes]]: [[Candy Spots]] (1963) and [[Damascus (horse)|Damascus]] (1967)
* [[Belmont Stakes]]: [[Gallant Man]] (1957), [[Sword Dancer]] (1959), [[Jaipur (horse)|Jaipur]] (1962), Damascus (1967) and [[Avatar (horse)|Avatar]] (1975)

Two of Shoemaker's most noted rides were in the [[Kentucky Derby]]. He lost the 1957 [[Kentucky Derby]] aboard [[Gallant Man]], when he stood up in the stirrups too soon, having misjudged the finish line. This caused Gallant Man to briefly lose his stride and slowed his rush for the wire, and he finished second to [[Iron Liege]], ridden by [[Bill Hartack]]. At the 1986 [[Kentucky Derby]], Shoemaker became the oldest [[jockey]] ever to win the race (at age 54) aboard the 18-1 outsider Ferdinand. The following year, he rode Ferdinand to a victory over [[Alysheba]] in the [[Breeders' Cup]] Classic; Ferdinand later captured Horse of the Year honors.

Shoemaker rode the popular [[California]] horse [[Silky Sullivan]], about which he is quoted as saying: "You just had to let him run his race ... and if he decided to win it, you'd better hold on because you'd be moving faster than a train."<ref>{{cite web| title=Silky Sullivan didn't come from behind in the 1958 Kentucky Derby| url=https://kentuckyderbytours.com/silky-sullivan-didnt-come-from-behind-in-the-1958-kentucky-derby/| date=April 28, 2014| website=Kentucky Derby Tours| agency=[[Associated Press]]| access-date=September 12, 2022}}</ref>

When Shoemaker earned his 6,033rd victory in September 1970, he broke [[jockey]] [[Johnny Longden]]'s record.<ref>{{cite news| title=Shoemaker Breaks Record| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/08/archives/shoemaker-breaks-record-jockey-registers-victory-no-6033-triumph-in.html| date=September 8, 1970| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| access-date=September 12, 2022| url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 1999, Shoemaker's own record of 8,833 career victories was broken by Panamanian-born [[Laffit Pincay Jr.]]; in 2006 [[Russell Baze]] tied Pincay's record.<ref>{{cite news| title=Pincay Breaks Shoemaker's Record| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/horse/daily/dec99/11/pincay11.htm| first=Beth| last=Harris|
agency=Associated Press| date=December 10, 1999| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| access-date=September 12, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title=Russell Baze ties Pincay's record| url=https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/Russell-Baze-ties-Pincay-s-record-1221217.php| date=November 30, 2006| first=Beth| last=Harris| agency=Associated Press| newspaper=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]| access-date=September 12, 2022}}</ref>

Win number 8,833, Shoemaker's last, came at [[Gulfstream Park]] in [[Hallandale, Florida]], on January 20, 1990, aboard [[Beau Genius]]. Two weeks later, on February 3, Shoemaker rode his last race on Patchy Groundfog, at [[Santa Anita Park]] in [[Arcadia, California]]. He finished fourth, in front of a record crowd, to [[Eddie Delahoussaye]], on Exemplary Leader. All told, Bill Shoemaker rode in a record 40,350 races. In 1990, he was voted the [[Mike Venezia Memorial Award]] for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship".

The [[Marlboro Cup]] of 1976 at [[Belmont Park]] proved to be maybe his greatest racing achievement, and it was upon the mighty [[Forego]]. Forego's drive started from eighth position out of eleven horses on the backstretch. It culminated with a tremendous charge through the muddy middle-of-the-track stretch run, leading to a victory by a nose over the dead-game [[Honest Pleasure]]. Shoemaker was quoted as saying that Forego was the best horse he had ever ridden.

Shoemaker rode three-time champion [[Spectacular Bid]] in the horse's final 13 races from 1979 to 1980 losing only once during that stretch. This included Spectacular Bid's perfect nine for nine 1980 season, culminating in a walkover in the [[Woodward Stakes]]. In his autobiography ''Shoemaker'' (1988) he called Spectacular Bid the greatest horse he rode in his storied career.