The Spoiler

Rarely in its 101-year history had the Belmont Stakes so thoroughly rated its billing as the "Test of the Champion." Never, in fact, had the classic race hosted the likes of Majestic Prince, the only horse in history to enter the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont undefeated. Going into last week's mile-and-a-half Belmont, the last and longest leg of racing's Triple Crown, the strapping chestnut colt had run and won nine races in a row. Had he won, he would have been the first thoroughbred to take the Triple Crown since Citation turned the trick in 1948.

Unlike Citation, who won in a breeze over a middling field, Majestic Prince was not wanting for competition in the six-horse field. Rokeby Stable's Arts and Letters, the tireless little sprinter who challenged the Prince right down to the wire in the Derby and the Preakness, figured to be an even stronger contender at the longer distance. Then there was Dike, the game, never-quit colt who, with five weeks' rest, was more than up to staging one of his patented come-from-nowhere finishes.

Cripple Crown. Though Majestic Prince went to the post as the 13-to-10 favorite, he was bucking more formidable odds. In the past two decades, only four other horses had come into the Belmont with a chance of taking the Triple Crown. Tim Tarn in 1958, Carry Back in 1961, Northern Dancer in 1964 and Kauai King in 1966 all were defeated.

Sensitive to the demands of what he calls the "Cripple Crown," Trainer Johnny Longden wanted to pull Majestic

Prince out of-the race and give him a rest. He was overruled by the horse's owner, Canadian Oil Millionaire Frank McMahon. Trainer Elliott Burch had no such fears. As if to prove Arts and Letters' stamina, he entered him in the $116,500 Metropolitan at Aqueduct a week before the Belmont. The horse won convincingly and thus, said Burch, went into the Belmont with a distinct "psychological advantage."

The psych worked. The Belmont got off to such a slow start that in the backstretch Dike loped to a five-length lead. With a half-mile to go, Jockey Braulio Baeza eased Arts and Letters through an opening and went to the front. Jockey Bill Hartack, apparently thrown off stride by the slow early pace, made his bid coming into the homestretch. It was too late. Driving for the wire, Arts and Letters held the lead and won going away by 51 lengths over Majestic Prince, with Dike third. The game little colt picked up first-prize money of $104,050 and new status as one of the Belmont's foremost spoilers.

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