Native Dancer (27 page)

Although the merits of a victory in a three-horse race are debatable, there was no doubting the quality of the performance.
The Dancer’s time of 1:36⅕ for a mile wasn’t eye-popping, but his finish had been devastating, and the horse he pulled away
from had finished third in the Kentucky Derby. “What a pleasure it is to watch a really good thoroughbred!” Evan Shipman wrote
in the
Morning Telegraph
. “So sure is the Dancer’s attack, so deadly in execution. The decision, when it comes, is a matter of a few strides at the
most.”

As he waited to receive a trophy in the winner’s enclosure, Vanderbilt told reporters the Dancer would train lightly at Belmont
on Monday and van down to Pimlico on Tuesday, arriving four days before the Preakness. Six other horses were set to run against
him in Baltimore, including Dark Star, the surprising Derby winner; Royal Bay Gem, the stretch-running colt who had finished
fourth in the Derby; Correspondent, the colt who had stalled badly in the Derby stretch after going to the post as the second
betting choice; and Tahi-tian King. Filling out the field were Ram o’ War, who had run ninth in the Derby and was owned by
a Baltimore businessman; and a rangy bay colt named Jamie K., winner of just three of nineteen career starts.

Much had transpired on the Triple Crown trail since the Derby. In a stunning move, Correspondent’s trainer, Wally Dunn, had
changed jockeys, replacing the peerless Arcaro with Bob Summers, Correspondent’s California jockey, who had never ridden in
the Preakness. Evidently, Dunn wasn’t happy with Arcaro’s Derby ride and was turning to a jockey more familiar with the colt.
Arcaro, a four-time Preakness winner, picked up the mount on Jamie K., who had recently won two allowance races in New York
and, despite his poor overall record, appeared to be improving. “He might be able to beat Correspondent,” Arcaro told the
Baltimore Sun
.

Five days before the Preakness, Dark Star, Royal Bay Gem, and Correspondent—with Summers riding him—went to the post at Pimlico
in the Preakness Prep, a one-mile event often used by Preakness horses as a tune-up. It was Dark Star’s first race since the
Derby, and he swaggered in the post parade with his ears pricked as the crowd cheered the only horse to beat Native Dancer.
He was the favorite, carrying four more pounds than the other two Triple Crown horses and also Ram o’ War and a pair of long
shots, Country Gossip and Lord Jeffrey.

The race was a surprise, run far differently than expected. After two straight front-running victories in Kentucky, Dark Star
was outfooted to the lead by Country Gossip and Lord Jeffrey as jockey Henry Moreno settled the brown colt in third going
around the turn. Jimmy Combest, Royal Bay Gem’s jockey, also tried a new tactic, keeping his colt closer to the lead in the
early going. When Country Gossip and Lord Jeffrey predictably faltered, Dark Star, Royal Bay Gem, and Correspondent went to
the front, running evenly as they turned for home. The crowd expected Dark Star to pull away, but Moreno went easy on the
colt through the stretch instead of pushing him to go faster, and Royal Bay Gem nosed in front and stayed there, hitting the
finish line three-quarters of a length ahead of the Derby winner. Ram o’ War was third, Correspondent fourth.

To Native Dancer’s legion of supporters, the surprising finish underlined the notion that Dark Star’s Derby victory had been
a fluke ordained by racing luck. “Native Dancer lies over anything this generation of three-year-olds has to offer, and as
long as he remains racing sound, we are certain he will continue to dominate the division,”
Morning Telegraph
columnist Evan Shipman wrote. “We’re expecting the grey to win the Preakness with the same authority he showed in the Withers.”

Dark Star’s supporters argued that it was silly to ascribe any meaning to the results of the Preakness Prep, because Moreno
hadn’t gone to the whip in the stretch, obviously preferring to save the colt’s best effort for his rematch with the Dancer
in the Preakness. Either way, Charles Hatton of the
Morning Telegraph
wrote that the Preakness, “one of the most interesting in memory,” would settle the argument.

The Grey Ghost arrived at Pimlico Tuesday afternoon, greeted by the usual hordes of newsmen and curious horsemen. Still known
as Old Hilltop even though Vanderbilt had razed its infield hill in the 1930s, Maryland’s premier track was struggling through
the postwar racing boom, with crowds and betting down. But Preakness week was always a high time regardless of Pimlico’s circumstances;
with the nation’s top three-year-olds on the grounds, the anticipation of Saturday’s crowd, and spring blooming on the Chesapeake
Bay, the track’s humdrum daily existence was forgotten, however briefly.

The local sports public was in an expansive mood. Baltimore, a gritty port city that had long languished in the shadow of
nearby Washington, D.C., was bustling with growth and optimism. A new, image-enhancing airport had opened, and a modern sports
stadium had already lured a National Football League franchise, the Colts, to town, with major league baseball also reportedly
on the way back after a fifty-year hiatus. (The St. Louis Browns would morph into the Baltimore Orioles by the end of the
year.) The Dancer was claimed as a native son coming home, even though he had been foaled in Kentucky and raced out of New
York. “The grey colt is a tremendous favorite with Marylanders,” the
Baltimore Sun’s
Snowden Carter wrote, “not only because of his ability and the hard luck he encountered during the rough-run Derby, but because
he will be retired to Sagamore Farm.”

The colt made his first appearance on the racing strip Wednesday morning, galloping twice around a track left muddy from overnight
rains. The trainers of several other Preakness horses were also out. “Look at that big horse! There oughta be a law making
a horse like that give weight to my little one,” said Clyde Troutt, the trainer of Royal Bay Gem, within earshot of an Associated
Press reporter.

Troutt was still shaking his head about the Derby. “It was a shame for a horse like that to be beaten—just one of those unlucky
breaks,” the trainer said. “But he looks fitter now than at the Derby. He appeared a little drawn in Louisville.”

Shortly after the Dancer’s arrival, Jamie K.’s trainer, John Partridge, led his colt onto the track for the first time. Eddie
Hayward,

the trainer of Dark Star, called out to Partridge, “Hey, John, the grey horse is out.”

“You mean his horse [Jamie K.] might get an inferiority complex?” a reporter asked.

“Sure—I got my horse on and off for that reason,” Hayward said with a smile.

A thick fog hung over the track Thursday morning as the Dancer and Jamie K. went through their final workouts before Saturday’s
race. The Dancer covered six furlongs in 1:11⅗, an impressive time, especially with Bernie Everson never asking him to exert
himself. As the colt was leaving the track, Jamie K. was just finishing a five-furlong work in 1:01⅖—not bad, either. The
colt Arcaro would ride in the Preakness was a long shot, but he was tall and light-waisted and had recently exhibited a strong
finishing kick; Partridge had figured out that he gave his best effort when allowed to settle gradually out of the starting
gate. Teamed with Arcaro, who could provide the subtle handling required, Jamie K. might be a threat.

More rain soaked the city Thursday, but the clouds gave way to sunshine by Saturday. Although the forecast still included
the possibility of rain, the Preakness, like the Derby, would be run in fine weather, on a perfect track. Winfrey arrived
at the barn early and hopped on a chestnut stable horse to oversee the Dancer’s morning exercise. Lester Murray removed the
heavy cotton “standing bandage” from each of the colt’s legs and put on lighter elastic wrappings for the gallop. Everson
took him out and jogged him around the oval, asking for a harder run over the final fifty yards. The colt was then returned
to the barn, and his wrappings changed again.

“How did he feel?” a reporter asked Everson.

“Real nice,” the exercise rider replied.

Baltimoreans had many options to choose from in deciding what to do that Saturday. They could take in a movie, choosing among
such films as
Titanic
, starring Clifton Webb and Barbara Stanwyck, and
Moulin Rouge
, starring JosÉ Ferrer. They could take a car trip to the Eastern Shore, crossing the Chesapeake Bay on the glistening Bay
Bridge, which had opened the year before. They could go for a swim at Carlin’s amusement park, eat a club steak for fifty-one
cents at the Oriole Cafeteria, dance to the music of Lou Mellon and his orchestra, or stay home and watch CBS’s telecast of
the Preakness, with Bryan Field calling the race and Red Smith, the newspaper columnist, handling the interviews.

Sunny weather and the Dancer lured more than 30,000 to Pimlico, the crowd filling the grandstand and spilling over into the
infield. Politicians and lions of society mingled in the Old Clubhouse, with the dignitaries including J. Edgar Hoover, four
members of President Eisenhower’s cabinet, and numerous senators and congressman such as the infamous Senator Joe McCarthy
of Wisconsin, who refused to pose for photographers.

The gates to the track opened at 11 A.M., and long lines formed at the betting windows before the first race at 2
P.M
. After the race, the Preakness band, dressed in red coats, white caps, and blue trousers, paraded through the stretch playing
a Sousa march, with five police horses high-stepping in front. The band settled in the infield and spent the afternoon playing
“Dixie,” Gene Autry’s “Boots and Saddles,” and other songs traditionally heard on race day. Favorites dominated the early
races, and the betting was heated. Even though the crowd was far smaller than the record Preakness crowd of 42,000, it would
wager, by the end of the day, almost $2.28 million, the most in Maryland history for a single day of racing.

The Dancer was listed in the program as a 4-5 choice, but he was 1–9 when Pimlico’s new tote board blinked on before the Preakness,
with Dark Star next at 2-1 and the rest of the field in double digits. The support for the Dancer would continue right up
until post time: almost $700,000 was bet on the race, shattering by more than $200,000 the prior record for wagering on a
single race in Maryland, and remarkably, 78 percent was on the Dancer. Surprisingly, Dark Star wasn’t even the second choice,
going to the post at odds of 11.3-1, slightly behind Royal Bay Gem at 11.2–1. So much was wagered on the Dancer that the tote
board ran out of room to reflect the totals. In the eyes of the public, the colt was virtually a lock to win.

Guerin admitted later that the Derby was still haunting him, and he felt a sizable burden. The Dancer couldn’t lose again
with the public so clearly announcing it believed Dark Star’s victory had been a fluke. The Grey Ghost had to win the Preakness,
and for that to happen, Guerin had to furnish a smart ride over the race’s mile and three-sixteenths—a sixteenth shorter than
the Derby. He was operating with no margin for error.

Winfrey mentioned none of that in the paddock before the race. He had watched Guerin win dozens of races, large and small,
and he still had confidence in Vanderbilt’s contract jockey. The trainer pointedly offered no instructions as he helped Guerin
up and onto the horse’s back. Vanderbilt remained quiet as well. This was no time to imply that the jockey needed help.

Cheers rippled through the crowd as Guerin and the Dancer promenaded past the grandstand in the post parade. The band played
“Maryland, My Maryland,” and last-minute gamblers fought at the windows to get their bets down. Seldom had any racing crowd’s
allegiance been so clearly stated.

At 5:46
P.M.
, Eddie Blind, Pimlico’s starter, pushed the button that opened the starting gate, and out came the seven horses to a roar
from the crowd. Tahitian King jumped into the lead from the far outside post, with Dark Star close behind, then Correspondent
and the Dancer. The first furlongs were a sprint, with Tahitian King covering the first quarter mile in 22⅘ seconds, but Guerin
kept the Dancer near the front. He was determined to stay closer to the leaders than in the Derby, and not let Dark Star,
in particular, get away again.

It quickly became clear that Moreno was employing the same strategy he had used in Louisville: take the lead early, control
the pace from the front, and dare the field to catch him. He moved Dark Star past Tahitian King and into the lead as they
cleared the first turn and headed up the backstretch. Tahitian King held on to second, with the Dancer close behind, running
easily and near the rail, in perfect position to strike. Correspondent was close behind, in fourth, and Royal Bay Gem and
Jamie K. were much farther to the rear.

The horses held their positions up the backstretch and into the second turn, where Royal Bay Gem and Jamie K. began to move
up and Correspondent abruptly faded; he would finish last, more than twenty lengths behind the winner, and never again display
the form that had helped make him the second betting choice in the Derby.

Tahitian King also gave way on the turn, lacking the necessary stamina. Royal Bay Gem, the second betting choice, was caught
in a familiar trap: he had again raced too far to the rear and now had too much ground to make up. He would finish third,
no factor in the stretch.

Dark Star’s lead over Tahitian King was a length and a half after three-quarters of a mile. The Derby winner was in control
of the Preakness as he moved through the second turn. When Guerin began creeping the Dancer closer, jockey Hedley Woodhouse
swung Tahitian King wide and tried to block the onrushing grey colt, but Guerin avoided the roadblock and maneuvered into
second coming out of the turn, a length behind Dark Star. Suddenly, the Preakness crystallized as a replay of the Derby. The
Dancer was chasing Dark Star down the stretch. The public inhaled. Moreno, in a reprise of his brilliant Derby ride, had taken
the lead with an early burst and seemingly slowed the pace just enough to leave Dark Star with a finishing kick. He would
again be difficult to catch.