Early Foot

Montana's Jack Westrope had what race-track people call "early foot." He was only twelve years old in 1930 when he rode his first winner on a bush-league track in Lemon, S. Dak. Just three years later the wiry little jock won his first race on a major track, and he went right on to boot home 300 more winners before that racing season ran out--the first of the modern riders to break past the 300 winners mark.

Cocky and supremely self-confident, Jack Westrope rode to win--and let the stewards look out for the horse or rider who got in his way. Set down for a variety of race-track offenses--both afoot and horseback--Jack Westrope talked back to track stewards, fought back in the courts. And sooner or later he always got back on some good mounts. He was never again the country's leading rider, but he won a total of 2,467 races, and he rode his mounts to winnings of $8,226,627.

No one knew better than Jack Westrope the dangers of his profession. His older brother was also a jockey, and he was killed in a spill at Tijuana in 1932. Last week Jack went out to ride the King Ranch's Well Away at Hollywood Park with his old, slashing style. A quarter-mile from the wire the filly began to lug in. Westrope stood up in the stirrups and walloped her on the head to keep her from bolting off the track. Nothing worked. His mount threw him onto the rail, and he died of multiple fractures and internal injuries soon after he reached the hospital.

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