Arcaro, Brilliant Jockey, Dies At 81 -- He's Only Rider To Win Triple Crown Twice

MIAMI - Eddie Arcaro, whose brilliant career as a jockey included winning the Triple Crown aboard Whirlaway and Citation and riding five winners in the Kentucky Derby, died of liver cancer yesterday. He was 81.

Arcaro's health began to decline rapidly in the last 10 days, his son, Bob, said.

Bob Arcaro said his father had hoped to get back in a saddle one more time.

"It was 10 days ago or nine days ago, he and I went out for a bowl of pasta and a salad," he said. "We were talking about the jockeys of today, how great they were, how talented. He said, `I wish I had a shot to ride again soon.' "

Arcaro also is survived by his wife, Vera; daughter, Carolyn Zaslow of Cohasset, Mass.; and sister, Evelyn Maggio of Cincinnati.

Arcaro was born in Cincinnati, the son of an Italian immigrant cab driver. He quit school at 13 to work at the tracks.

Nicknamed "The Master," he came into prominence as a rider in the mid-1930s and was at the top of his profession until his retirement in 1961. Along the way, he rode 4,779 winners, earning purses of $30,309,543.

Arcaro, who became a network television racing analyst after his retirement as a rider, had 24,092 mounts in a career that began in 1931.

The 5-foot-3 Arcaro rode his first winner at Agua Caliente, Mexico, on Jan. 14, 1932. He set the Derby record with five winners, a mark later equaled by Bill Hartack, and won the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes six times each. Those numbers are unchallenged, and Arcaro is the only jockey to ride two Triple Crown winners - Whirlaway in 1941 and Citation in 1948.

Citation gave Arcaro a scare in the Belmont.

Arcaro boasted: "The only way I can lose this race is if I fall off my horse."

Sure enough, Citation stumbled coming out of the gate, nearly unseating Arcaro. They won the 1 1/2-mile race by eight lengths.

"I've been on many of the best horses," he said when asked to sum up his career. "Take the best horse in any race and put any one of a dozen or more riders on him, and he'll come through."

Other jockeys sometimes devised ways of stopping him and his simple riding philosophy: "Never go outside of two or inside of one."

Arcaro could be a tough customer. He had his license revoked for a year after a rough-riding episode in September 1942.

Mrs. Helen Whitney, who owned Greentree Stable, was in ill health when she wrote a letter to William Woodward, then head of The Jockey Club, asking that Arcaro be reinstated in 1943.

"I would like to see Eddie ride again before I die," she said, and Arcaro's license was returned.

In 1950, he won the Longacres Mile aboard Two And Twenty.

In addition to Whirlaway and Citation, Arcaro won the Kentucky Derby with Larwin in 1938, Hoop Jr. in 1945 and Hill Gail in 1952.

He also won the Preakness aboard Hill Prince in 1950; Bold in 1951; Nashua, who also won the Belmont in 1955; and Bold Ruler in 1957.

His other Belmont winners were Shut Out in 1942, Pavot in 1945 and One Count in 1952.

Arcaro rode other great horses as well: Jaipur, Jewel's Reward, Round Table, Sword Dancer, Traffic Judge and Kelso. However, he was partial to Citation and Nashua.

His loss on Nashua in the 1955 Kentucky Derby - to Swaps and Bill Shoemaker - was a stunner. The two jockeys met later that year with the result dramatically reversed in a match race at Chicago's Arlington Park.

Shoemaker said he often spoke with Arcaro.

"He hand-rode a horse better than anyone I ever saw. He was a very strong finisher," Shoemaker said from California's Hollywood Park. "In my opinion, he was one of the very best jockeys ever to ride professionally."