The Man With The One Track Mind

Eddie Arcaro dreamed of becoming the world’s greatest jockey but after
watching him ride a horse for five minutes, reality reflected a harsh
contradiction. He was awkward and clumsy, and in his early years in the
saddle he couldn’t do one thing right. He was left behind at the post,
he got trapped in traffic jams, he got bumped and boxed in. In his first
100 races he never even came close to winning. Still, he got right back
on and tried again.

Even as a schoolboy, Arcaro had set his own track in life. Because he
was only a little over five feet tall and weighed barely 80 pounds, the
other students shunned him. So he played hooky instead, hanging out at
the local race track where a trainer let him gallop the horses. His
father reluctantly agreed to let him pursue a career as a jockey, even
though he knew it was a long shot. The trainer had told him so. “Send
him back to school,” he said. “He’ll never be a rider.”

No one was betting on little Eddie Arcaro, no one that is except Arcaro.
He was determined not just to ride, but to become the world’s greatest
jockey. But first someone would have to give him a chance. He pleaded
and persisted until he finally got to ride in a real race. Before it was
over, he’d lost his whip and his cap and had almost fallen off the
saddle. By the time he finished the race, the other horses were on their
way back to the stables. He’d come in dead last.

After that, Arcaro went from track to track, looking for any opportunity
to ride. Finally, an owner who felt pity took him in and gave him his
next chance. One hundred trophy-less races later, he was still giving
him a chance. The trainers saw something in this unlucky jockey,
something they couldn’t define. Perhaps it was potential, perhaps it was
resilience, perhaps it was sheer obstinacy, but no one was willing to
send him home. And Arcaro was certainly not going to quit.

There were long years when he was broke, homesick, and almost without
friends. There were also many brushes with death and several broken
bones. Every time his delicate 63 inch body was trammeled by hoofs he
would get patched up and return to the saddle.

Then it happened. Arcaro began to win…and win…and win…Now, instead
of leaving a path of destruction, he was leaving a path of devastated
opponents. In thirty years of riding, he won 4,779 races, becoming the
only jockey in history to win the Kentucky Derby five times. By the time
he retired in 1962 he was a millionaire and a legend in his own
lifetime.

From the moment he walked out of school and onto a track, Eddie Arcaro
had his mind on a finish line. And although the race took thirty years,
he never quit until that line was crossed.

Cynthia Kersey

Cynthia Kersey is the author of Unstoppable and Unstoppable Women
Copyright 1998 by Cynthia Kersey
Visit Cynthia’s web site at: www.unstoppable.net