27/11/14
The late Warwick Hobson wrote a story in Turf Monthly in September 1985 entitled “The Shoe has turned the clock back 20 years!” That story, written about one of the most controversial events to happen in Australian thoroughbred racing – jockey Mel Schumacher pulling fellow jockey Tommy Hill’s leg in the 1961 AJC Derby at Randwick – is recalled in detail by Hobson in this wonderful article of historical significance which is reproduced here today – unedited – thanks to two kind people that have gifted Justracing boxes of historically significant racing magazines of three and four decades ago that are in pristine condition, given the age of the magazines. The wonderful riding achievements of Mel Schumacher’s career are also reviewed in this article – and Warwick Hobson looks at other jockey disqualifications over the years and asks “Was ‘The Shoe’ harshly dealt with”.
Unedited – the story reads:
Being first isn’t always in the best interests of a jockey.
Mel Schumacher was the first to be caught-out by the head-on patrol film, and he paid dearly for the privilege.
At Randwick, on September 30, 1961, there was an uproar in the Stewards’ Room when the head-on film of the AJC Derby was viewed.
While everyone in the Stewards’ Room had heard about the rorts and trickery that went on between jockeys – and laughed about the shenanigans of genius horsemen, no one ever expected to watch a real life drama being enacted on the screen.
The “tricks of the trade” went out the window with the introduction of the head-on patrol film.
Jockeys could no longer jam the butt of their whip under the tail of a rider’s horse to make the hapless animal shorten stride.
Or throw a leg across an opponent’s knee – even to the extent of sitting in his lap, to ward off a challenge. Or lash out with the whip at the head of another horse. Or grab at the silks of another jockey, as “Darby” Munro did the day he tore the backside out of “Paddy” Delaney’s riding breeches at Randwick.
Those days were gone. At lease, they should have been.
In the desperately close finish of the 1961 AJC Derby, Mel Schumacher forgot about the race film. “The Shoe’s” only thoughts were of winning. In a rash bid for victory, he reached out and clamped his wrist across the knee of Tommy Hill.
Schumacher was near the rails on Blue Era while Hill, on Summer Fair, was challenging on his outside. Nothing untoward could be seen from the stands when Schumacher threw his arm out at Tommy Hill.
Back in the enclosure, Hill screamed blue murder and Mel Schumacher’s world collapsed around his head.
Schumacher, who had celebrated his 24th birthday only the month before, was outed for life by the AJC Stewards on a charge of foul riding.
The disqualification cut short the career of arguably the most promising jockey in the country.
Schumacher’s sentence was reduced, and he got back into race-riding, but the long term on the outer shot his career to pieces.
When he came out of his time, in 1958, Schumacher was the leading apprentice in both Brisbane and Sydney – a unique double by a young jockey. Then he promptly won the AJC Epsom Handicap on Turkestan and the Melbourne Cup on Baystone.
In 1961 “The Shoe” was riding high on a wave of success. That year he had won the Australian Cup on Dream King, the Golden Slipper Stakes on Magic Knight, and the Rothman’s “100,000” on Aquanita.
Schumacher, however, was a demon jockey. He wore out the carpet during frequent trips to the Stewards’ Room.
When the Derby “blow-up” came about, Mel Schumacher was riding on a probationary licence. He had only just returned to the saddle after a two months suspension for careless riding.
While Schumacher’s riding record wasn’t one to boast about, the jockey’s brushes with the Stewards were invariably for throwing caution aside in his efforts to reach the winning post first.
Schumacher was a punter’s favourite, even if he wasn’t a favourite with officials. When the course broadcaster announced that Schumacher had been disqualified for life, the Randwick crowd stood stunned. Betting on the following event was almost non-existent.
Even in the early days, when he absconded from trainer Kevin Young in Brisbane and was stood down for six months by the Queensland Turf Club, Mel Schumacher was breaking the Rules of Racing.
The life disqualification of the jockey, however, was a stunning penalty.
Many respected Racing men believed the AJC Stewards had overreacted, and Schumacher had done less than what many other jockeys had gotten away with scot-free before the advent of the head-on film.
There was widespread public sympathy for Schumacher. When the jockey appealed the severity of the sentence to the AJC Committee, it was generally believed that the penalty would be dramatically reduced. It was – to 10 years!
Schumacher’s pent-up emotions gave way that afternoon and he held his head in his hands and wept.
The 10 years disqualification was still as good as a life sentence, and few people ever expected “The Shoe” to attempt a comeback.
And maybe he wouldn’t have – but for a stunning incident at Warwick Farm four years later.
On November 12, 1965 two of the fiercest competitors Australian Racing has ever known, George Moore and Des Lake fought out a sensational finish in the five-furlongs Maltine Handicap.
Des Lake, on Kentucky Gambler, narrowly won the race from Moore’s mount, Golden Tod. Moore then protested.
The Stewards’ Room erupted when the head-on film was shown. It was 1961 all over again. Moore and Lake appeared to be jostling each other with their elbows. At one stage, Moore looked to get right under Lake’s arm.
“You came right underneath him”, Chief Steward Jack Burke accused Moore. “You practically became locked”.
Moore and Lake claimed the incident looked worse on film than it actually was.
However, when Jack Burke asked Lake whether he thought his tactics were fair and proper, the jockey’s famous response was: “No, sir. But it was a tight finish!”
The Stewards then charged Moore and Lake with misconduct, and fined the two jockeys $100.
There was a tremendous hullabaloo in the press at the mild penalty. There were demands that if a fine was adequate for Moore and Lake, then Schumacher would be immediately re-instated.
A groundswell of feeling arose in Racing circles that Mel Schumacher had been harshly treated. A concerted campaign called for the return of the jockey. The campaign was eventually successful, but not until another 18 months had passed. In all, Schumacher was out of Racing for nearly five-and-a-half years.
In retrospect, the disqualification of Mel Schumacher was, as many claimed, an overreaction.
It was almost a parallel to the Frontal Attack case when Mick Denham, brother of Jack, was disqualified for life when the first positive swab was returned after dope-testing was introduced to Sydney Racing.
Dope-testing was a curiosity in 1948 when Mick Denham’s charge, Frontal Attack, returned the first positive swab. Trainers, unsure about swabbing procedures and the accuracy of results, were stunned when Denham was outed for life.
The AJC appeared determined to make an example of Denham, while the NSW Trainers’ Association battled long and hard on Denham’s behalf.
Eventually, with a rash of “positive” tests cropping up, the AJC relented on its stand.
Mick Denham’s licence was returned to him in May, 1951. However, irreparable damage had been done to Denham’s career.
It was an even greater setback for Mel Schumacher. The jockey lost his formative years – the years when he would have added the polish to the immense potential he had already displayed.
Mel Schumacher was disqualified when he was 24. When he returned to race-riding, he was nearly 30. The years he lost were irreplaceable.
Admirers of Schumacher have always claimed that he was harshly dealt with. He was the “first”, and he suffered the severest of all penalties. Life!
Though Schumacher was disqualified for “grabbing” Tommy Hill’s leg, the jockey has always denied the fact.
Mel makes no bones about the claim that he reached out and hindered Hill on Summer Affair, but he did not “grab” his rival.
At the protest hearing, Hill told the Stewards: “As I got a neck in front of Blue Era, Schumacher grabbed me by the right leg with his left hand.
“He held me tightly by the leg. I could feel his fingers exerting pressure.”
When Hill concluded his evidence, an angry Schumacher cried out, “That’s preposterous!”
Blue Era, noted for his erratic running, was near the fence, and Schumacher was wielding the whip in his left hand to keep the colt near the rails.
“It would be impossible for me to grab his leg,” Schumacher told the Stewards. “I was using the whip in my left hand!”
In September, 1984, “The Shoe” related the details of the Derby incident in an interview with Turf Monthly feature writer, Graham Dawson.
“About a half dozen strides off the post, Summer Fair joined me,” said Schumacher. “In a reflex action, I put my hand out. I never grabbed Hill. I had the whip in my left hand so I could not actually grab hold of Tommy.
“I locked him with my wrist. I did not ‘grab’ Tommy Hill. Actually, when he came to me, I put my wrist against Hill’s leg. It just stopped the momentum of his horse, just slowed him down that bit.
“In the last two strides, I pulled the whip on Blue Era and let him have a couple. On the line, he put his head out.”
Mel Schumacher is adamant that he did not put his hand on Tommy Hill, but bent his wrist over Hills’ leg to hold him back.
In the heat of the moment, Tommy Hill may not have been able to differentiate between Schumacher’s hand grabbing him and his arm holding him back.
In the upheaval of the Stewards’ Room, the finer points of the incident were lost. Until Mel put the record straight in Turf Monthly. However, considering the mood of the Stewards, it is not likely that the penalty would have been any less.
When Moore and Lake fought out their famous finish at Warwick Farm four years later – and were fined $100 for misconduct, Mel Schumacher must have felt that he was the “guinea pig” in the head-on film controversy.
Schumacher was hit with everything bar the kitchen sink.
“I lost the year in which I would have normally been expected to learn, to become the best,” Schumacher later recalled. “Facing 10 years on the outside, I lost any chance I had of reaching the top”.
Despite the heavy hand dealt to him by Racing’s justice, Mel Schumacher did not become embittered with Racing. It might be expected that he would have become one of the scathing critics of the Sport. Instead, in the 1980s, Schumacher is one of Racing’s finest ambassadors, welcome wherever he rides.
Even more importantly, Schumacher has turned back the clock 20 years to take on the big-time racing again in Sydney and Melbourne. His riding performances of late only underline what a loss his skills were to Racing. While he was on the outer in the 1960’s, Schumacher worked in the Brisbane Markets to keep himself fit and applied every six months to the AJC to renew his licence.
His application was turned down with monotonous regularity. Until 1966. The tide of public sympathy, and a vigorous press campaign, finally forced the AJC to review the case.
Though the AJC would not admit to being “forced” to do anything, the “bad guy” image that was being painted of the club in the press placed the Committee under considerable pressure.
Late in 1966, the AJC announced that Mel Schumacher’s disqualification had been reduced to a suspension, from January 1, 1967, and the jockey’s licence would be renewed on March 1.
Schumacher, his wife Valerie, and their three children, Karen, Dalals and Melanie, were watching television when they heard the AJC’s decision. “This is great news,” said ‘The Shoe’. “I couldn’t have had a better Christmas present. It’s been a long, long time”. Then the jockey added: “I don’t bear any grudges against anyone in Sydney. They had a job to do, and they did it”.
Schumacher’s return came at an opportune moment. George Moore had accepted an offer to ride for leading English trainer Noel Murless, and “The Shoe” stepped in as Moore’s replacement with the Tommy Smith stable.
It was an important post for any jockey. It was a feather in Schumacher’s cap but the jockey, so long out of racing, struggled for a time to find form.
Mel Schumacher resumed his career on March 1, 1967, at a midweek meeting at Canterbury. It was no fairytale comeback. “The Shoe” failed to land a winner.
He went to Perth to ride at an Invitation Meeting, but had no luck. Then in Melbourne he was beaten in a photo-finish on the odds-on favourite from the Smith stable, Garcon, when everyone thought he would finally break through.
In fact, it was at his 21st ride back when Schumacher finally cracked it for a win, on Redcap, at Flemington. Those 21 rides resulted in 11 minor placings.
Redcap, who was the medium of a heavy plunge, got up to defeat the favourite Tobalina in the Moomba Handicap – and the crowd went wild.
“The Shoe” was given a reception normally reserved for Melbourne Cup winners. One excited fan jumped the enclosure fence and waved his hat at the jockey. Which frightened the wits out of Redcap. The horse turned on a buck-jumping exhibition and almost unseated Schumacher.
There was no more popular person in Australian Racing that day. And none happier than the delighted Mel Schumacher.
Winners came regularly in following months for Schumacher but the jockey never had the opportunity to get on top in Sydney racing because George Moore was soon back from England while “The Shoe” ran into trouble with Melbourne Stewards.
Schumacher got away to a great start to the 1967-68 season, and booted home 22 winners before he headed south to ride at the Melbourne Carnivals.
In the Caulfield Cup, however, “the Shoe” was in strife aboard Garcon, who finished third to Tobin Bronze, and was suspended for two months. That left the gate open for Moore, who quickly assumed his customary role as Sydney’s No 1 jockey, and went on to win the Premiership by 74 wins to Schumacher’s 55.
In 1968-69, Schumacher was pushed down the “pecking order” at the Smith stables, with too many of the good rides going to Moore.
Not content with being a stop-gap jockey, Schumacher quit Sydney at the end of the season and returned to his home town, Brisbane.
For 15 years, Mel Schumacher was happy to ride in Brisbane, seldom venturing to other States. However, in 1984, the jockey suddenly decided to have one last fling at riding in the South. It was an unexpected gamble by a horseman who was now considered a veteran of his profession.
But “The Shoe” knew what he was about. He wanted one last taste of those big-time victories of his youth – and found his skills and ability were still able to match the best riders in the country.
Watching Mel Schumacher today – 48 in September 1985, booting home winners like Goleen in the $100,000 AJC Flight Stakes and $120,000 VATC Thousand Guineas, and Mr Illusion in the $100,000 VATC Oakleigh Plate, makes you wonder just what “The Shoe” might have achieved but for that fateful Spring day at Randwick in 1961.
WAS “THE SHOE” HARSHLY DEALT WITH…..by Warwick Hobson
On September 30, 1961, Mel Schumacher was outed for life at Randwick when, in a reflex action, he threw out his arm to impede the progress of Tommy Hill’s mount Summer Fair in the AJC Derby.
Schumacher was initially disqualified for life but the sentence was reduced to 10 years on appeal to the AJC Committee. Schumacher was finally reinstated as a jockey on March 1, 1967, after five-and-a-half years on the outer.
In November, 1965, George Moore and Des Lake appeared to jostle at each other with their elbows in the head-on film of the sensational finish to the Maltine Handicap at Warwick Farm – and were fined $100 on a charge of misconduct!
On March 2, 1968, Brisbane jockey Graham Cook struck race rival Kerry Smith with his whip after claiming that Smith had crowded his mount. Cook was suspended for six months.
In an episode that is almost a repetition of the Schumacher-Hill incident, Neville Voigt, at Canterbury on September 20,1978, claimed Malcolm Johnston had “grabbed” his elbow.
In the Sydney Telegraph, Voigt was quoted as stating: “Johnston caught my elbow and pulled me back, and Romantic Cedar (Voigt’s mount) stopped.”
Johnston was also quoted: “I thought to myself after the finishing post, ‘What a stupid thing to do.’ But you do silly things on the spur of the moment”. Malcolm Johnston was charged with improper practice and suspended for one month by AJC Stewards.
A few weeks later, on October 14, 1978, Gary Willetts was charged with foul riding – the same charge Mel Schumacher faced, after winning the Caulfield Guineas on Manikato.
VRC Stewards alleged that Willetts, trying to extricate the favourite from a pocket, deliberately rode Manikato into Gary Murphy’s mount Karaman. Willetts, who still vigorously disputes the foul riding charge, was outed for three months.
Attitudes have changed in Racing. Mel Schumacher suffered greatly for being the “first” jockey caught out by the head-on camera.
“THE SHOE’S” RIDING RECORD……by Warwick Hobson
Born at Boondah (sic), Queensland, on September 15, 1937, Melvyn Schumacher was apprenticed in Brisbane to trainer Kevin Young and rode his first winner, Coucajohn, at Laidley.
In August, 1954, Schumacher won his first interstate race, at Rosehill aboard Wirrilla, and in January, 1955, won the Australia Day Handicap at Randwick on Rickaday.
The same year, Schumacher absconded from the stables of Kevin Young and was stood down for six months by the Queensland Turf Club. His papers were later transferred to Dick Roden and Schumacher quickly rose to become Brisbane’s leading apprentice.
In 1957, Roden moved his stables to Sydney and Schumacher accompanied the trainer. At the Sydney Spring Carnival “The Shoe” won the Colin Stephen Stakes on Baron Boissier, and the AJC Shorts Handicap on Reign.
Many big wins followed for Mel Schumacher. The most important successes of his career have been the Melbourne Cup (Baystone), Rothman’s “100,000” (Aquanita and Charlton Boy), VATC Oakleigh Plate (Gold Stakes and Mr Illusion), AJC Epsom Handicap (Turkestan), AJC Derby (Skyline), VATC Thousand Guineas (Goleen), Australian Cup (Dream King), VRC Sires’ Product Stakes (Flying Fable), AJC George Main Stakes (Second Earl, and Regal Rhythm, twice). VRC Hotham Handicap (Baron Boissier and Baystone), QTC Sires’ Produce Stakes (Prince Gauntlet), VRC Maribyrnong Plate (Fine and Dandy), AJC Challenge Stakes (Gay Gauntlet), Queensland Cup (General Fox), QTC Grand Prix Stakes (Lord Randolph), and the STC Golden Slipper (Magic Night).