All in the Family

Julian Huxley once suggested that the world would be better off when everybody was a little tea-colored. Interbreeding may still be a radical concept as far as a lot of people are concerned, but it is old stuff to race horses. The field for last week's $150,000 Washington D.C. International at Laurel Race Course included ten horses from seven different countries, and it seemed more like a family reunion than a meeting of strangers.

Russia's Aniline, a strapping bay with a big white blaze, may have suffered through a dialectic childhood on a North Caucasus stud farm, but he was still a third cousin of Canada's George Royal and a second cousin once removed of the U.S.'s Assagai--who could hardly have been more capitalistic, since he is owned by Charles Engelhard, the "Platinum King," and grew up in the Bluegrass of Kentucky. Assagai, for his part, shared an illustrious ancestor (Man o' War) with France's Behistoun and Silver Shark. Silver Shark, in turn, was related to Britain's David Jack, and the U.S.'s Tom Rolfe.

So imagine the handicapper's nightmare. As if the bloodlines weren't confusing enough, there was the problem of form: how many points does a horse get for winning a race in Cologne, Germany, or Maisons-Laffitte, France? U.S. horses usually wind up the favorites, but they generally have little experience running on grass--particularly at the classic European distance of H miles. Going into last week's 15th International, foreign horses had won the race seven times. None of that stopped bettors from pouring $446,699 into Laurel's parimutuel machines, most of it on Assagai.

Foreigners again had the last neigh. Russia's Aniline took the lead at the start, held it all the way around the final turn--with Assagai straining in second place. Then, with only Me mile to go, Jockey Jean DeForge booted France's Behistoun into the lead and drew out to beat Aniline by 2 1/4 lengths. Behistoun was a longshot (at 16-1) and a Gaullist to boot, but that didn't mean a thing among cousins.

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