Q & A

"Horses for courses," the old saying goes. It was never truer than last week, when a big bay who fancies Aqueduct Race Track the way most horses fancy sugar cubes, won the Belmont Stakes--thus dashing Northern Dancer's hopes of becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Citation in 1948.

Trainer Elliott Burch worried for a week before he decided to enter Quadrangle in the race. Paul Mellon's handsome colt has the look of a classic horse: at 16.1 hands and 1,100 lbs., he is one of the biggest three-year-olds in the U.S. And he has breeding to match: his sire, Cohoes, won stakes at two, three and four, and his dam, Tap Day, was a daughter of Calumet Farm's great Bull Lea. But in the Kentucky Derby, Quadrangle finished fifth behind Northern Dancer; in the Preakness, the best he could do was fourth. Still, Burch decided to gamble, and the deciding factor might well have been Quadrangle's record at the Big A; four firsts, one second in five starts.

Worst of the Three. But try and tell that to the fans. On race day, 61,215 of them--biggest crowd in the Belmont's 96 years--were in the stands, and Northern Dancer, at 4 to 5, was clearly the people's choice. Why not? The Canadian-bred colt had won the Derby and Preakness with ease. The only thing against him was history. At H mi., the Belmont is the longest of the Triple Crown races, and in the 15 years since Citation, odds-on favorites have lost seven times. Two, like the Dancer, were trying for a triple: Tim Tarn in 1958 (a broken-legged second), and Carry Back in 1961 (a dismal seventh).

At post time, the odds against Quadrangle were 13 to 2. Jockey Manuel Ycaza thought that was pretty funny. "This is a free-running colt," he said. "He can beat any horse in the country." As if to prove it, he urged Quadrangle into the lead at the start, then eased up. Other horses pounded past: California's Hill Rise (2 to 1) and long-shot Orientalist (42 to 1) dueled for the lead; Quadrangle slipped back to fourth, and Northern Dancer was running fifth. Suddenly, Orientalist began to bear out from the rail. "I saw that big hole," said Ycaza, "and I said to myself, 'You can steal this race.' " In a wink, Quadrangle zipped past the leaders and opened up a one-length lead.

Carnations for Two. On the outside, aboard Northern Dancer, Jockey Bill Hartack made his move, closed to within a neck. "I leaned over and talked in the horse's ear," said Ycaza. "I kept saying, 'Let's get the Belmont. Let's get the Belmont.' Then I hit him twice." Quadrangle pulled away like an Atlas leaving the pad. At the wire, he was two lengths ahead of Roman Brother, six ahead of Northern Dancer. Jockey Ycaza plucked two white carnations from the wreath around Quadrangle's neck. "One for my wife," he explained, "and one for little Manuelito." For himself, Ycaza plucked something even sweeter: a 10% slice of the $110,850 winner's purse.

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