Jock Synopsis

Mary Bacon and Cheryl White both rode for me and my father, D.C. Armstrong, when they were first starting. Pete Maxwell held Mary's bug, and he sent her to my Father at Pocono Downs racetrack at Wilkes Berry, Pa. because she could not ride in the same race with her husband Johnny (Pug) Bacon. Johnny was Pete's regular rider. Mary was a very good gate girl, she could leave there running with the best of them. This came from all the schooling she got a Pete's farm in Elk City, OK. Many times on Saturday and Sunday, it was not unusual for all of us, including Mary, to get on 20 gate horses or more each day. We had a lot of fun bumping her around, and putting her in tight, but the laugh was on us, she came out of it, a very skilled rider.  Mary rode 11 horses one week for my Father, at Pocono Downs, and won 10, and a second.
She was aboard Tigers Tune at Pitt Park in Pa. when she went down, and she was taken to the hospital unconscious. It was a Catholic hospital, and when she did come to, she lit up the room with racetrack language. When one nun asked her why a beautiful girl like her would do something so dangerous, she replied " for the f-----money".. That was on the elevator, and only people there were me, Mary, and the Nun. The nun did not ask anything else. I did wonder if I could get away with putting a pillow over Mary's head, and finishing the job Tiger started.
I was walking back to the jocks room at Pocono Downs beside her after a disappointing ride on one of my horses. It was muddy, and she had finished way back and the horse was a favorite. A mad gambler leaned over the fence, and said "Bacon, I could ride better than you, all I need is some tack." Mary looked at me, and pulled her muddy goggles off and threw them straight into his face. She stared him down, and said" I think so too, let me give you some tack to get you started" That was Mary Bacon as I knew her.
I have lots of win pictures with Mary aboard, same with Cheryl White, and other girl riders that have ridden for me.   Mary Ellen Longdon, Jeannie Maxwell, Violet (Pinky) Smith,  Dian King, Cindy Herman Kris Sparks, Valerie Thompson, Jane Magrell, Heidi Harper, Desiree Kieser, Donna Skolrud, Shannon Glen, Tammy Koonce, and Nena Matz,( married to my Son, Zack Armstrong) to name a few.
Cheryl White won 5 races in a row on Tigers Tune, and was named on him in a race a Pit Park in Pa, and she went down in the race before his. The attendent on the ambulance told her to stay down until she could be examined, and when she did not get up quickly, the stewards took her off Tiger in the next race. She ran into the jocks room and took the Armstrong colors, and would not give them up. Tiger won with a different rider and a different set of colors. Cheryl was mad at me because I did not scratch him, so she could win the 6th in a row. Cheryl's father died on the racetrack at Thistledown in Cleveland Ohio. He died on the track while galloping a horse early one morning. He had a heart attack. The last time I heard about Cheryl, she was a Steward at the California fairs.
Mary Bacon died in a motel in Texas. It was called a suicide. I never believed that. Mary was a very good friend of mine, and I knew her pretty well. She was very vain. Everything had to be just right. She was a beautiful woman, and I find it very hard to believe she put a gun in her mouth and destroyed her face. She was stalked by a man who thought he was her father for years and years. I think if the police find him, they will find out who really killed Mary.
Dannie B. Armstrong (retired trainer)