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CLEAR Temp: 90 °F Wind: NW at 10 mph Friday, August 29, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine Joy Magazine Tempo A & E RogueValleyAutoFinder RogueValleyHomeFinder Real Estate Showcase Wellness Connection Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Employment Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend July 29, 2003 Former jockey Bob Shults of Medford rode four different horses in the making of the first �Seabiscuit,� a 1950 movie starring Shirley Temple. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Local jockey rode in 1950 ‘Seabiscuit’ Bob Shults was in the right place at the right time to appear in the Shirley Temple version of the film By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Bob Shults was just another young jockey in 1950, a Medford boy who had turned his 95 athletic pounds and a love for animals into a burgeoning career as a rider on California’s popular Santa Anita track. When the Hollywood people asked his boss for some horses to lease for a racetrack movie, Shults was in the right place at the right time. That’s Shults on camera in the black and white jockey silks as the statue of Seabiscuit is unveiled near the end of "The Story of Seabiscuit." The 1950 Warner Bros. picture features Shirley Temple, Barry Fitzgerald, Lon McAllister and images of the real Seabiscuit in action in vintage footage that was old even then. Shults rode four different horses in the picture. Location shooting lasted only a few weeks, but the memories have lasted a lifetime. More than half a century later, a new story about the legendary Depression-era racehorse, "Seabiscuit: An American Legend," is a hot new summer film opening. The new film stars Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks and William H. Macy. Standing with his pet conure (a small parrot), Petey, in the apartment he shares with his wife, Bev, in a Medford retirement home, Shults, 73, says that what impressed him most about his brief fling with Tinseltown was "mostly the pay." Advertisement "If you just stood by it was $24.50 a day," he says. "If you got on a horse it was $50. If you were first out of the gate, you got $75." The reason for the munificent compensation scheme was to motivate jockeys to burst out of the starting gate with maximum possible energy. Cameras were mounted on trucks in the infield to catch the action. "You’d ride a ways, then pull up," Shults says. Although the picture was pretty much a Temple vehicle with a predictable plot (girl loves jockey, will marry him only if he gives up racing), it got good notices for the racing. Shults started his career as a horseman with the Christiansen Brothers of Eugene at age 16, caring for stock and traveling the West Coast rodeo circuit in the rough-and-tumble days just after World War II. Riding for famed cowboy John Bowman in 1947, Shults won a big race, then quickly won two more. That opened eyes. He was hired on the spot by a horseman from Modesto, Calif., where Shults moved to work until he could get his jockey’s license at age 18. He rode for many California owners and trainers, including Ky Willhoit, who in 1950 leased Warners the five horses that played Seabiscuit. His favorite was a little filly named Betsy Linda. "He always had a way with animals," says Bev Shults. Not long after the Seabiscuit picture, Shults was involved in a serious accident that would change his life forever. He was going into a turn neck and neck with another horse when there was a collision. Horses went down, Shults’ pelvis was stepped on by a horse, and he crashed through a 2-by-6 fence leading with his head. "The other jockey didn’t move his horse," he explains. "I remember seeing a black blur." He was out of racing for a year. His back still makes it painful for him to sit, and he sometimes prefers to stand. He’s had two hip replacements. But he rode again professionally. "The first day back I rode five horses," he says. "They had to help me off the last one." Later encounters with bucking broncos persuaded him to retire. He worked for many years as a cold storage foreman and night watchman at a Medford orchard, survived a cancer scare, pneumonia, a minor stroke and the removal of part of a lung. He is up to 110 pounds, and he’s on oxygen 24 hours a day. He liked the 1950 picture well enough, he says. He says the best moment in the movie has nothing to do with Temple and her jockey love interest — it’s when they unveil the statue of the great racehorse. He plans to see the new picture, too, although he’s heard it has rough language in it. "I don’t like movies," he says, "that have a lot of cussing." Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? 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