Bill Shoemaker, the 4-foot-11, 98-pound dynamo who was among horse racing's most renowned figures and who rode the winners of 11 Triple Crown races, died yesterday at his home in San Marino, Calif. He was 72.

Shoemaker died in his sleep, Paddy Gallagher, his assistant in his years as a trainer, told The Associated Press.

From his premature birth on a small cotton farm in Texas in 1931 to his tour of 14 racetracks in 8 countries in 1989 before his retirement as a jockey, Bill Shoemaker led a life laced with glory. But he was paralyzed in an auto accident on April 8, 1991, when he was 59, and spent the rest of his life training horses from his electric wheelchair, a feisty and sad figure perhaps, but still a racing legend from his home base at Santa Anita to Belmont Park.

"I was lucky," he reflected at his first news conference after the crash, on Oct. 1, 1991. "I rode for 40 years, in 40,000 races, and had a lot of falls. But I never had any spinal injuries or anything like that. Then an automobile got me. So, you never know."

But long before his Ford Bronco careered down an embankment along a California highway, Shoemaker had ridden to the head of the class of 20th-century jockeys with an even temperament and an even touch on the reins. He passed these milestones on his way to the Racing Hall of Fame:

He rode 40,350 horses, won with 8,833 of them — surpassed by only Laffit Pincay Jr.'s 9,530 winners — ran second 6,136 times and finished third 4,987 times. That meant he won 22 percent of the time, and he was in the money nearly half the time. At Santa Anita alone, he rode 2,544 winners during a career that started in 1949 and ended in February 1990.

Ten times he was America's leading jockey in money won; five times he was the leading jockey in races won.

He rode in the Kentucky Derby 24 times and won it 4 times, aboard Swaps in 1955, Tomy Lee in 1959, Lucky Debonair in 1965 and Ferdinand in 1986. He also won the Preakness twice and the Belmont Stakes five times, giving him 11 trips to the winner's circle in Triple Crown classics. And he rode the winners of more than 1,000 other stakes races.

He rode the champions Swaps, Spectacular Bid, John Henry, Gallant Man, Damascus and Forego; he won in England, Ireland, South Africa and Argentina; and he won purses of more than $123 million.

When he was 21, he won six races in one day at Hollywood Park. And when he was 38, he won six in a day there again.

Yet for all his talent as a rider, he also figured in one of the melodramatic blunders in the history of the Kentucky Derby when he misjudged the finish line at Churchill Downs aboard Gallant Man in 1957. Shoemaker stood in the stirrups for about one stride just before the horses reached the finish, enabling Calumet Farm's Iron Liege, with Bill Hartack riding, to sweep past.

Only twice in 40 years did he sustain disabling injuries.

In January 1968, Bal Brush went down during a race at Santa Anita, and Shoemaker broke his right thigh. The injury took 13 months to heal.

After he returned the next spring, he was aboard the 3-year-old filly Poona's Day in the paddock at Hollywood Park when she reared and fell over him. He sustained a fractured pelvis, a ruptured bladder and a paralyzed left leg. He had surgery and was grounded for four months.

"Shoe showed a lot of courage," said Dr. Robert Kerlan, the orthopedic surgeon who repaired many world-class athletes. "After the second accident, he had the chance to retire gracefully, but at no time did he talk about quitting. He was determined to come back, and he would run a mile every morning in order to get fit again."

One year later, in 1970, when he was 38, Shoemaker staged a typical revival. He won the Santa Anita Derby in April, he won with six of his seven mounts on one tumultuous day in June and he overtook Johnny Longden as racing's leading jockey: 6,032 winners. And he still had nearly two decades to go as a rider.

Age, in fact, did little to slow him down. Before he rode Ferdinand in the Kentucky Derby in 1986, he pondered his age and decided, "If Jack Nicklaus can win the Masters at 46, I can win the Kentucky Derby at 54." He did, becoming the oldest jockey to capture the Derby.

William Lee Shoemaker was born Aug. 19, 1931, on a small cotton farm in Fabens, east of El Paso. The doctor predicted that the premature baby would not survive the night. But his grandmother fashioned a crude incubator out of a shoe box and warmed it in the kitchen stove to keep him alive.

Four years later, his parents separated. So, he went to live with his grandfather Earl Harris on a cattle and sheep ranch near Abilene, Tex. At 7, he rode his first pony.

Three years later, he moved to Los Angeles with his father. He weighed only 90 pounds, close to his riding weight as a jockey, and he later won the Golden Gloves boxing championship in the 95-to-105-pound division. He rode his first horse professionally on March 19, 1949, when he was nearly 18. On April 20, he rode his first winner.

He teamed with the agent Harry Silbert, who stayed at his side booking his mounts for 38 years. In his first full season at the races, in 1950, Shoemaker won 388 races and tied Joe Culmone for the No. 1 ranking in victories.

He rode for Rex Ellsworth and Meshach Tenney at the peak of their days at the track, and he rode the great horses. Tenney, the trainer of Candy Spots, was asked once what he liked about Shoemaker as a rider, and replied, "The way he meets me in the winner's circle."

Shoemaker, who was known for years as Willie, a nickname he did not particularly like, always said that his favorite horse was Swaps.

"I always had a soft spot in my heart for Swaps," he said. "He was the first great horse I ever rode."

His touch was evident, too, when he replaced Ronnie Franklin as the jockey on Spectacular Bid after they lost the Belmont Stakes in 1979. In the final 13 months of Spectacular Bid's memorable career, Shoemaker was in the saddle as the horse won 12 of his last 13 races.

Shoemaker was an athletic-looking though petite man with smooth features and sleek black hair. He did not manhandle a horse. Frequently, as a rider, he would let his horse run his own race.

Shoemaker rode for the final time in 1990. But before he retired, he created some ruffled feelings when he undertook a "farewell tour." Many people felt it was an ego and money trip rather than a graceful retirement trip.

He left for the life of a trainer at Santa Anita, where he had met his greatest success as a rider. But in April 1991, his life took a turn after he had played a round of golf with his riding and golfing partner of 30 years, Don Pierce.

They had, Shoemaker said later, two beers at the Sierra La Verne Golf Club near Arcadia before leaving. Shoemaker recalled that he was alone in his 1990 Ford Bronco II when he reached for his cellphone, lost control of the car and spun down a steep embankment.

When he came to, his spinal cord was severed. He was paralyzed with little or no movement below the armpits and destined to live in a wheelchair. But after months of rehabilitation, he returned to Santa Anita to resume life as a trainer of horses.

Shoemaker filed lawsuits against the Ford Motor Company and the state of California, charging the state was negligent for not installing guard rails on the road where the accident occurred. Shoemaker and his family reached a $1 million settlement with Ford in February 1993, but the suit against the state was dismissed that August.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office had said that Shoemaker's blood-alcohol level was above the legal limit, but it did not bring charges against him.

After the accident, Shoemaker was back where he had started: at the racetrack. And he was training horses from a wheelchair, uncomplaining, unconquered. He retired as a trainer in November 1997, having saddled horses with earnings of nearly $3.7 million.

Shoemaker is survived by a daughter, Amanda.

What was the secret of his success?

"Temperament," the trainer Charlie Whittingham, who teamed with Shoemaker with great success, once remarked. "It is essential to both the good horse and the good rider. Win or lose, in good health or injured, Shoe always has been even of temperament. His talent and his light weight have been assets, but above all his temperament enabled him to do so much over so long a period of time."

William L Shoemaker