By Carol McIntire
Editor
September 8, 2009
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| Trainer Bob Baffert (left) and Eddie Maple were inducted into the National Musemum of Racing and Hall of Fame Aug. 14. |
Jockey Eddie Maple has a new title to add to his name - Hall of Famer Eddie Maple.
The Carroll County native is s a member of the newest class of inductees into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Maple was one of six inducted during a ceremony Aug. 14 at the Saratoga Springs, NY, museum.
Maple’s racing career began on the George Stribling Farm near Mechanicstown and spanned 34 years. During that time, he accumulated 4,398 wins and more than $105 million in purse money, captured riding titles at Saratoga and Aqueduct and became a hometown hero. He rode such Thoroughbred greats as Devil’s Bag, Eastern Fleet, Foolish Pleasure, Swale, Conquistador Cielo Crème Fresh, Forty Niner and 1973 Triple Crown Winner Secretariat.
In the early 1960s he began working at the Stribling Thoroughbred Farm. It didn’t take long for people to realize the talent of this young man and within a couple years, he was riding at tracks in Ohio and West Virginia. His first race was at Charles Town in 1965 and his first win was at the former Ascot Race Track (in Ohio) aboard a Stribling-owned horse named Swami. He announced his retirement in 1988 after being named the winner of the Venezia Award, which honors riders who “exemplify extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship.”
Although Maple’s riding career led him away from Carroll County, many people have fond memories of him as a young man.
Kathy Hawk, who lives near Mechanicstown, remembers Maple during his years at the Stribling farm.
“We went to work for George (Stribling) in 1965,” she recalled during a recent phone conversation. “We took care of the horses that were at home when George was racing. Eddie was there for about a year before he went on the racing circuit. I remember he broke his maiden (won his first race) at Ascot in Akron.”
She remembered Maple as a cheerful, agreeable young man. “He was fun to be around and was never angry,” she recalled. “He was the friendliest, most polite young man and he had the whitest teeth! He also had a good appetite. My children were small at the time and Eddie treated them like they were his younger brothers. He was always so nice to be around.”
Danny McDonald, who was also a jockey during Maple’s early years of riding, had many memories of Maple.
“I started riding about a year before Eddie did,” he said from his home in Streetsboro. “I gave him a few pointers when he was starting out. Even as a youngster when he started riding, he was always a professional - whether he was on the ground or on a horse. He was extremely smart when he was on a horse.”
McDonald also began his riding career on the George Stribling Farm, said he rode with Maple in 1965 and 1966 before he was drafted into the military.
“I was five feet, seven and a half inches tall, so they took me into the military,” he recalled. “I served two years and then began riding again in 1969. As I remember, they didn’t take Eddie into the military.”
Tom Barnett of Mechanicstown verified the military wasn’t interested in Maple.
“The last time I saw Ed was in March 1968 when we boarded the bus in Carrollton going to Cleveland for Army induction physicals,” Barnett told the Free Press.
“He came in from somewhere to answer the call up by the Carroll County Draft Board. Ed and I sat together up and back on the bus. Ed was on the May 68 draft call, but the MD’s in Cleveland flunked him, thus he did not have to go to the army. He lucked out. He told me on the way back they decided he was too small for military service.”
Rose Ann Newbold - Dewitz, from Mechanicstown, was also a jockey, although she was younger than Maple.
“My first memories of Eddie are when he worked at the quarter mile covered track at George Stribling’s,” she told the FPS. “ I remember him working at the farm and driving a tractor to Mechanicstown for lunch. He parked in front of the general store. He and my older brother, Jim, were the same age. I remember him being very small at the time.
She laughed when she recalled a conversation between Maple and her brother.
“Eddie told Jim to come down to the farm (Stribling’s farm). I spoke up and told him I’d come down. He told me to come down when I was 18.”
“I admired him and the fact that he was a jockey,” she said. “In fact, I wrote him a letter years later telling him he was my idol.”
She said when Maple came to Ohio to ride at Thistledown, she went to the track to support him. “He came from a small town just like I did and I wanted to show him I supported him,” she said.
Newbold-Dewitz rode horses at Waterford Park (now Mountaineer Park) and Thistledown Race Track.
How does Maple describe his induction and racing career?
“I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” he said from his home in Bluffton, SC, where he and his wife, Kate, manager a horse boarding and teaching facility.
“It takes a lot of backing to keep a career going and I had that. I rode for people like Woody Stephens and Joe Cantey, both of whom boosted my career. I rode some great horses for Woody. Joe was one of the top trainers in the country at that time. I won the Belmont on his horse.”
Cantey’s ex-wife, Charlsie Cantey, a longtime friend of Maple’s and a TV broadcaster during his racing years, introduced him at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
When asked about his years in Carroll County, Maple said they were steps along the way.
“There were a lot of steps in my career,” he said. “When I look back and wonder about things, can I say that going to Bell-Herron Junior High for a year or St. Edwards High School or moving to Mechanicstown and riding for George Stribling changed my life, no, but they were stepping stones along the way. There were a lot of stepping stones.”
He gave a lot of the credit for his success to his parents. “Mom and dad did a great job,” he said. “I had the makeup to work hard, which is what you have to do in this business.”
Maple rode Secretariat in his final race, the Canadian International Stakes, in 1973. “I rode a lot of good horses, but Secretariat was probably the most popular,” he admitted.
“I have good memories of Ohio. Although I didn’t ride my first race in Ohio, I won my first race there, at Ascot Park, on an Ohio-bred horse. It was a George Stribling horse named Swami. I will never forget it. During the next three weeks I won 15 races and then fell on my head,” he said with a laugh.
Today, his days are busy managing the large Rose Hill Plantation Equestrian Boarding and Teaching Center. The facility has two large boarding barns and several turnout paddocks and riding arenas. He was asked to judge a horse audition session in Kentucky for the upcoming movie on Secretariat’s life, but had to turn it down.
“We have a clinician coming in from New York that weekend and I can’t get away,” he said, “but it would have been a great opportunity.”
In fact, he is so busy these days he had to cut his trip to Saratoga for the induction one day short. “I had to go pick a horse up from the vet hospital that was recovering from colic surgery, so we had to go one day later than we planned,” he said.
When the conversation turned to his retirement from racing 11 years ago, Maple said it was time to quit. “When I quit, I was ready to quit.”
Does he miss racing? “ I enjoy watching it on TV,” he replied quickly when asked the question.
It may have taken the Hall of Fame Committee 11 years to formally recognize the accomplishments of this Carroll County native, but the people who knew him growing up say he was destined for greatness.
“He is one person who really deserves it,” said McDonald. “He was one of the most patient riders I ever saw.”
“I am so happy for him. He was destined for greatness,” said Hawk.
Although Maple has not have called Carroll County home for many years, he remains a hometown hero and a household name in the community. Residents who knew him growing up cannot only brag that they knew Jockey Eddie Maple, they can add the title of Hall of Famer to his name during the conversation. |
