Eddie Arcaro Had Horse Sense Focus On Goals: Jockey used his rapport with mounts in effort to win every race.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)

Byline: MICHAEL RICHMAN

Eddie Arcaro knew there were good, strong jockeys. He knew there were also good, intelligent jockeys. But there weren't many who combined those assets. And none who did so on a regular basis.

So he would.

Arcaro (1916-97) had powerful hand, back and shoulder muscles, intuition and instinct, and an excellent ability to switch the whip from side to side. He also showed a sense of intensity, rhythm and gracefulness in the saddle unparalleled among other jockeys of his time.

Applying those attributes, Arcaro became perhaps the greatest jockey ever. He's the only rider to twice win the Triple Crown, horse racing's premier event that features the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. His 17 victories in Triple Crown races -- five Derbies, six Preaknesses and six Belmonts -- is a record unlikely to be broken, experts say.

He raced 24,092 times from 1931 to 1961, posting 4,779 wins and more than $30 million in earnings. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1958.

"Arcaro came to be known as more than merely the ablest, most resourceful rider to sit on a thoroughbred," Jack McCallum wrote in the Nov. 24, 1997, Sports Illustrated. "Indeed, his name became a synonym for jockey, his career an enduring lesson in the art and craft of race riding. Many of the sport's old-timers still see him as the standard of excellence."