Right here’s a query to ponder: Suppose that you just’re an up-and-coming younger jockey, not but 25 years previous and fewer than a decade into your profession. Out of the blue, you’re known as upon to trip arguably the best horse of all time within the last begin of his illustrious profession. May you deal with the strain?
It appears like one thing out of a film, however for jockey Edward “Eddie” Maple, this chance was actual. And for the document, Maple did deal with the strain, which was arguably the turning level in what would grow to be a legendary Corridor of Fame driving profession.
Maple was born on Nov. 8, 1948, in Carrollton, Ohio, and grew up as one among 9 kids on his household’s farm. From an early age, he had the construct to achieve success as a jockey – author Jim McCulley notes within the July 13, 1972, version of the New York Each day Information that Maple “was ‘quickly outgrown’ by his neighborhood buddies and classmates, who grew as much as be basketball and soccer gamers.”
However Maple quickly put his measurement to good use. “It wasn’t straightforward to be left behind at first,” Maple informed McCulley, “however I assume it turned out to be a blessing for me. I bought a job with George Stribling, cooking and caring for horses after I was 14 and I liked it. And it’s nonetheless horses.”
Earlier than lengthy, Maple was driving horses for Stribling and picked up his first victory aboard a horse named Swami when he was simply 17 years previous. Swami could be the primary of many winners that Maple rode in the course of the ensuing years; after beginning out of the smaller racing circuits in Ohio, West Virginia, and New Jersey, a victory within the 1971 Florida Derby aboard Calumet Farm’s Japanese Fleet supplied Maple with two new alternatives. For one, it gave him his first trip within the Kentucky Derby – he completed fourth. Extra importantly, it gave Maple a possibility to trip for Calumet Farm in New York, the place he would have an opportunity to show himself towards a few of the finest jockeys within the nation.
Success got here steadily. A horse named Droll Function gave Maple a string of main wins throughout the nation in 1972 as he prevailed within the Gray Lag Handicap at Aqueduct, the Hawthorne Gold Cup at Hawthorne, and the Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs. Maple was additionally the common rider of King’s Bishop, the winner of 5 stakes races in 1972 and 1973.
However Maple’s breakthrough second got here late in 1973 when he was supplied the chance to trip the record-breaking Triple Crown winner Secretariat within the Canadian Worldwide at Woodbine, a prestigious 1 5/8-mile turf race that may mark the finale of Secretariat’s profession. Secretariat’s common rider, Ron Turcotte, was serving a suspension, and Maple – who had ridden for Secretariat’s staff previously – was a last-minute substitute.
Secretariat was already a legend in his personal time, and Maple should have felt some strain to ship the proper trip and produce Secretariat house a winner. Fortuitously, Secretariat was able to roll within the Canadian Worldwide, and Maple –profiting from the colt’s seemingly bottomless stamina – allowed Secretariat to open up an enormous 12 size lead partway by way of the race earlier than cruising house in entrance by 6 ½ lengths.
“Up till that point, Secretariat was definitely the very best horse I had ever ridden, and after that, I don’t suppose I rode one which was higher,” Maple informed author Deirdre B. Biles in an article for the Aug. 15, 2009, version of BloodHorse. “He was huge and highly effective, and he carried his head the correct manner. He did every part good beside the horse, and when he went to the beginning gate, he broke like a shot, and mainly that was it; I simply held on.”
That victory seemingly put Maple on the map, and from that time on his profession was a gentle ascent to stardom. By 1976, he was driving a few of the finest horses within the nation, together with the Grade 1 winners Silly Pleasure (who upset three-time Horse of the 12 months Forego within the Suburban Handicap) and Optimistic Gal. Even higher, Maple was forging an alliance with the Corridor of Fame coach Woody Stephens, for whom Maple guided the younger filly Mrs. Warren to a pair of Grade 1 wins.
The Maple/Stephens partnership could be among the many strongest in racing over the subsequent decade. The pair teamed as much as win the 1978 Kentucky Oaks with White Star Line, whereas De La Rose, Conquistador Cielo, Swale, Satan’s Bag, Sabin, Miss Oceana, I’m Sweets, and Forty Niner had been only a few of the opposite Grade 1 winners they raced collectively. Maple and Stephens loved a very good streak of success with Crème Frache, who rattled off Grade 1 wins within the 1985 Belmont Stakes, American Derby, Jerome Handicap, Tremendous Derby, and 1986 Donn Handicap.
However by the Nineteen Nineties, Stephens’ coaching profession was winding down, and Maple, in search of new alternatives, shook issues up by agreeing to trip in Italy for the profitable secure of Antonio Balzarini. Whereas Maple did get pleasure from success, successful the 1991 Premio Regina Elena (Italian 1,000 Guineas) aboard Arranvanna, proprietor and jockey parted methods after only a few months and Maple returned to the U.S. to rebuild his profession on house soil, a activity simpler mentioned than completed.
In September 1991, Maple resumed driving at Belmont Park, however was gradual to construct momentum. “Within the wintertime, I used to be as little as I may have gotten from a rider’s standpoint,” Maple informed author Invoice Finley for an article within the July 30, 1992, version of the New York Each day Information.
However perseverance paid off, and by 1992, Maple was driving as if he had by no means left, successful Grade 1 races aboard Missy’s Mirage and Sky Magnificence. He now not rode with the frequency that he had earlier than his foray to Italy, however he didn’t must. At age 43, Maple was a veteran jockey favoring high quality over amount, and the graded stakes wins stored on coming.
“How are you going to have faith that issues could be this good?” Maple informed Finley. “I believed I may claw my manner again, however I believed it might be gradual … I feel my confidence began to develop and I began driving higher horses.”
Maple rode his last races on Could 25, 1998, successful with one among his three mounts earlier than saying his shock retirement whereas receiving the Mike Venezia Memorial Award for his “extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship.” Maple left the game with a document few jockeys can match – in North America, he rode 4,398 winners and gained $105,338,573 in purse cash, totals that at present rank him 51st and 50th, respectively, among the many sport’s all-time main jockeys.
In fact, you possibly can take the jockey out of horse racing, however you possibly can’t take horses out of the jockey. After hanging up his tack for good, Maple and his spouse, Kate, managed the Rose Hill Equestrian Heart at Rose Hill Plantation in South Carolina they usually had been additionally lively in breeding Thoroughbreds for a time. He now could be having fun with retirement in Bluffton, S.C.
However though Maple is now not concerned in racing, his achievements haven’t been forgotten. In 2009, Maple acquired the game’s highest honor when he was inducted into the Nationwide Museum of Racing’s Corridor of Fame, becoming a member of his former associates Secretariat and Woody Stephens.
It’s solely becoming, don’t you suppose?
Word: This story was initially printed in 2018 and has been up to date.
Enjoyable Information
- Among the finest horses that Maple rode was Temperence Hill, winner of the 1980 Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, and Jockey Membership Gold Cup.
- Maple by no means gained the Kentucky Derby, although he did end second in 1982 aboard longshot Laser Gentle and third in 1978 aboard Imagine It.
- The final Grade 1 winner that Maple rode was Awad, who set a still-standing course document when successful the 1995 1 ¼-mile Arlington Million Stakes in 1:58.69 seconds.
- Maple’s first profession win got here at Charles City in West Virginia, and in 2012 he was inducted into the observe’s Racing Corridor of Fame.
- In 1995, Maple was honored with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.
- Maple’s youthful brother Sam Maple was additionally a really profitable jockey, along with his prime mounts together with the Grade 1 winners Sensible Angle, Jatski, and Heatherten.
