Pace & a Mousetrap

Jockey Ted Atkinson knew Capot's peculiarities like a book: "If some other horse cuts out a dizzy pace, he is bull-headed enough to want to run him down. If you take a hold on him, trying to save something for the end, he gets ornery and won't run at all." At the start of last week's long Belmont Stakes, toughest test of U.S. racing's "Triple Crown," Atkinson hustled Capot into the lead and prayed that nobody would press him.

Nobody did for the first half mile. But straightening out on the backstretch, Eddie Arcaro let Palestinian move up alongside Capot. It was not a real challenge; both riders had their horses under wraps. Lagging behind them was Calumet Farm's stretch-running Ponder.

When Capot and Palestinian headed into the stretch five lengths in front of the field, Atkinson gave Capot the whip and pulled clear. He had Palestinian beaten. But where was Ponder? Atkinson would never forget the way Ponder charged by him when he thought he had the Kentucky Derby won last month. As sometimes happens to slow beginners, Ponder had gotten mousetrapped down on the rail. When he worked free he put on a run that brought the crowd of 40,421 up on tiptoe. But 20 yards from the finish, Atkinson "turned his stick" and relaxed; Capot nailed the $60,900 prize by half a length. Added to his victory in the Preakness, the Belmont copper-riveted his claim to 1949's three-year-old championship.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.