Sert Whyte's

SPORTLIGHT

]
usual

there

better joc riding log

than Willie Marsh.

I like Marsh because he rides
his mounts, in the manner of
Shoemaker. That is, he sits still
and doesn’t tire the horse out
with a lot of meaningless mo-
tions.

‘Tve watched Marsh closely

him going. If the horse
Yt got any sprint in him,
llie doesn’t punish him, but
rides him cool to the wire.

Now, some fans don’t like
this type of jockey. /They pre-
fer a guy who whips a horse
alk down the stretch,
though the horse doesn’t res-
pond. “At least he _ tried,”
they say of such jockeys.

even |

Not for my money. Give me
a smart lad like Marsh, who
knows when to punish a horse
(when he has a chance of win-
ning) and when to save him
(when he hasn’t a hope, any-
way).

this year, and noticed several
things about him. One is that
he saves all p ble ground. If

his horse is fast away he takes

Marsh showed his ability in
bringing home Royal Kid (not
much horse) in the second at
Hastings last Saturday. He had
the Number One post position,
and the trick lay in beating
speedsters like Island Hawk
and Little T.R. to the club-
house turn. So Willie used his
whip away from the gate and
all through the first furlong,
kept the rail and forced the
sprinters to run outside all
around the bend. On the back-
stretch he gave his nag a
breather, stepped on the gas
again every time Williams and
Frey challenged with their
steeds and won driving by a
neck. The payoff, $15.10.

5 Os Bo se

WILLIE MARSH

it to the front and hugs the
rail. If he’s on a slow starter he
Yt beat it uselessly trying
to keep up with the speedsters
to the first turn, but drops back to wire Saturday over a mile
to the rail at omce, saves and 70 yards for a $21 win pay-
ground to the stretch, then off.

takes the rail or the overland
route and calls on his mount

for a fast finish.

st week we gave you Na-
tional Valor (“Due for win-
ner’s circle”) which went wire

Some horses*to watch: Geliy-
wood, Captain Van, Ab’s Girl,
Bonnie Lass, Wardee, Grentex,
Moodyville, Kellsboro Sue,
Pekstream, Camilla’ B.

If the horse responds, Willie
sing the whip

yk “Tell you what, friend, let’s cross up the bettors this way.
Vm an even mony shot, so ’ll sprint away from the gate,
lead until we’come into the stretch turn, then Pll run wide
and you slip through on the rail and beat me by a nose.”
“Okay, buddy, we’ll teach these humans to bet on-us. You’d
never catch a horse dumb enough to bet on the human race.”
(Conversation at the barn picked up by a PT recorder.)

* Barney Ross, former welterweight champion of the world, takes a look at Cameron
Mitchell’s makeup on the set of Monkey on My .Back. Ross agrees he looked like this

after losing his title to Henry Armstrong in 1938:

Dramatic story of Barney Ross

told in film, Monkey on My Back

In the 1930's a tough kid came out of Chicago’s South Side with lightning in
his legs and thunder in both fists.

The film, telling the dramatic life story

Inside of a couple of years brash Barney Ross parlayed these formidable as-
sets into three world boxing championships. At one time, Ross held the lightweight,
junior welterweight and welterweight titles.

‘Following his loss of the
welterweight championship to
the incomparable Henry Arm-
strong in 1938, following a
merciless beating, Ross quit
the ring.

Three years later, right after
Pearl Harbor, Barney was in
there fighting again — against
a bigger enemy. During the
fierce fighting on Guadalcanal,
Barney was wounded and pick-
ed up a severe case of malaria.
To ease his pain at Navy hos-
pitals, he was given shots of
morphine.

Barney was given a medical
discharge early in 1942 and
sent home bearing a Silver

Star, awarded him by the
Navy, plus the dread drug
habit. When he returned to

civilian life he couldn’t shake
the habit and by 1946 was:a
confirmed drug addict.

By 1946, Ross, then at the
end of the trail with his health

and personal life destroyed, -

committed himself voluntarily
to the Federal hospital at Lex-
ington. Five months later he
was discharged, cured of the
habit for life

Ross’ life story — a story of
amazing ‘highs’ and agoninz-
ing, incredible ‘lows’ — has

been put together in a better-
than-average movie called
Monkey on My Back. Barney
now 47, served as technical
director for the Edward Small
preduction starring Cameron
Mitchell.

Barney told Andre de Toth,
director of the picture, to “pull
no punches in making the pic-
ture. I want people to see what
happens when you get on the
dope. It nearly ruined my life,
but I was able to ‘kick’ it. I
hope my example will give
hope to others.”

Barney added “during my
ring career, I took quite a few
beatings. But they were child's
play compared to the first few
days without narcotics at Lex-
ington when I was trying to
shake the habit.

“T won’t go into the physiolo-
gical details because they’re
too harsh to put into -print.
But you suffer as man was
never made to suffer.”

Ross told Los Angeles news-
men at a sports luncheon prior
to a special showing of the
picture:

“T thought I had a bad time
of it during the war but that
was kid stuff compared to do-
ing without narcotics when

your entire system is scream-
ing for them. It’s the most hor-
rible experience any human
being can go through.

“That’s the message I would
like to get across to those who
are ‘hooked.’ Turn yourself in.
It is possible to be cured, if
you have the will power and
the incentive, such, as the love
of your family and friends.

“[’m a living example of a
man who has gone through the
hell of adiction and beaten it.
If I can do it, anyone can.”

Motion Picture Producers
Association has denied its seal
of approval to the United Art-
ists Corp., releasing agency
for.the picture, because the pic-
ture violates the MPAA code.
The code, relaxed somewhat
last fall, still prohibits the
showing of “details of drug
procurement or the taking of
drugs in any manner.”

Ross, when informed of the
MPAA action, declared that
‘nothing should be done to
keep the film, in its entirety,
from the public. This is an
honest portrayal of what hap-
pened to me. If it can save one
person from the drug habit, it
will have been worth all the
pain and sorrow I suffered.”

JUNE 14, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNK—PAGE 14

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