Word: hartack
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Once he gets a leg up on a horse, a look of fierce and scornful concentration takes over Hartack's features. By then he knows that he is a big factor in the calculations of thousands of bettors, and he is constitutionally unable to give them anything less than the best he has. That best is so good that few trainers bother him with pre-race instructions. "He's like Ben Hogan, concentrating shot by shot," says Trainer Tommy Kelly. "He doesn't look right or left or smile. I tell you, Bill'd get the mostest...
Bachelor Athlete. For Hartack, getting the mostest out of a horse starts with the warmup jog to the starting gate. He seems to examine his mount with the seat of his pants and the toes of his boots. "If a horse has a bad leg I change the stride in the warmup so's the horse will put his weight on both legs. Even if the leg hurts, you can't pity him and let him favor it. A horse's ears give you a lot of tips. If they're pinned back on his head, something's bothering...
...matter of fact, I think that not enough has been made of the frame of mind of the bachelor athlete. The bachelor is without the normal, settling tendencies. The other boys, the married ones, the homebodies, so to speak, have an awareness of people dependent on them. All Hartack has going for him is an extraordinary pride in his standing, which is usually...
...Willie Hartack has been No. 1 long enough now so that he is sure to have his choice of horses for the big races ahead. Some book will not be made until Hartack's choices are made. Come Derby Day, will he ride Calumet's unbeaten Kentucky Pride, on which he has already won some Florida sprints ? Will he stick with Trainer Moody Jolley's favorite Nadir? Will he risk riding Mrs. Charles U. Bay's fast little filly Idun...
Committing himself on the track too soon would be, in Bachelor Hartack's eyes, as simple-minded a mistake as, say, getting into the "married man's position" at home. "Maybe I'll get married in a year," he says somberly, "but there are three girls I'm thinking of. I haven't met 'em yet, but it's all arranged and I'll meet 'em in the next three months. It's the same as it is with racing. No matter how good a horse you're on, you're always looking for a better...