Put in a shoebox on the oven to stay warm, he survived, but remained small, growing to 4 feet 10 inches (1.47 m) and weighing 91 pounds (41 kg).

At the age of 19, he was making so much money (as much as $2,500 each week) the Los Angeles Superior Court appointed attorney Horace Hahn as his guardian, with the consent of his parents.

This caused Gallant Man to briefly lose his stride and slowed his rush for the wire, and he finished second to Iron Liege, ridden by Bill Hartack.

Shoemaker rode the popular California horse Silky Sullivan, about which he is quoted as saying: "You just had to let him run his race ... and if he decided to win it, you'd better hold on because you'd be moving faster than a train.

It culminated with a tremendous charge through the muddy middle-of-the-track stretch run, leading to a victory by a nose over the dead-game Honest Pleasure.

Soon after retiring as a jockey in 1990, Shoemaker returned to the track as a trainer, where he had modest success, training for such clients as Gulfstream magnate Allen Paulson and composer Burt Bacharach.

Shoemaker was involved in a solo drunk-driving car crash on April 8, 1991, in San Dimas, California, when he rolled over the Ford Bronco II he was driving.

Even though a blood sample drawn 98 minutes after he entered the hospital showed his blood-alcohol at .13, above California's legal limit of .08, Shoemaker did not accept blame for the crash.

He sued the California Department of Transportation for not installing guard rails along the highway and Ford Motor Company for faulty vehicle design (as the Bronco II was infamous for it higher rollover risk).