By a Head

In eleven years of racing, canny, Canadian-born Jockey Ted ("Slasher") Atkinson had whipped his way home with the winner almost more times than he could remember; had won more than $6,000,000 in purses for his employers. But unlike his rival, banana-nosed Jockey Eddie Arcaro, Ted Atkinson had never been first at the finish in a big race like the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness.

Fortnight ago, aboard Capot in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, Ted figured out just how to beat Eddie Arcaro (up on Olympia). He did, but Ben Jones's Ponder came up on the outside and beat them both (TIME, May 16).

At Pimlico last week, when Jockey Atkinson mounted Capot again for the $75,000 Preakness, the track was lightning fast as the nine horses shot from the starting gate. Noble Impulse, the pacemaker, chopped a second off the track record for the half-mile, 2 4/5 seconds off the seven-furlong mark (with a sizzling 1:23 1/5). In the stretch, Slasher Atkinson went to the whip and drove into the lead. Atkinson no longer had to worry about groggy Noble Impulse, but Eddie Arcaro, aboard Palestinian, had slipped through a hole on the bend. For the last 100 yards, the two were "on their bellies" with whips slashing in a photo finish.

When the film came out of the darkroom, it was Capot by a short head. It was also a track record (1:56) for the mile and three-sixteenths and Jockey Atkinson's first Preakness victory. Said he, grinning: "I didn't know I'd won until I saw the board."

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