Dancer's Luck

The Big Grey was in bad trouble. After a brisk nine-furlong workout at Belmont one morning last week, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt's Native Dancer (TIME, May 31) pulled up with a sore right forefoot. Trainer Bill Winfrey could feel a suspicious warmth just above the hoof, but X rays showed no internal injury. Two days later, the colt galloped a couple of miles on the training track and snorted home with no sign of pain. Relieved, Winfrey began to step up the Dancer's training, but after a three-furlong breeze, the Big Grey came back in such distress that Owner Vanderbilt promptly withdrew him from this week's Suburban Handicap.

New X rays were no help. By week's end the Dancer's troubles were still a mystery. Until luck outran him last week, the Dancer had never looked better. Last year's stone bruises were healed; the big, bony ankles were strong enough to satisfy both the veterinarians and the two-dollar bettors. Now even the Dancer's next start was doubtful. As for Vanderbilt's hope of entering him in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at England's Ascot, the odds were clearly against it.

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