Sport: Forlorn Hope

At Brussels airport last week, Bayeux, the fastest horse in Belgium, was coaxed into a plane. Two hours later, the plane put down at England’s Bovingdon Airport to pick up another passenger. The Aga Khan’s grey colt Nathoo, winner of the Irish Derby, was taken aboard. The flying horses were U.S.-bound on a forlorn hope: they were going to meet Citation, the greatest race horse of the day.

The transatlantic trip didn’t do them any good. The plane, buffeted by headwinds, had to detour by way of Iceland. Nathoo took the pitching & tossing like a seasoned air traveler (which he isn’t) but Bayeux got panicky and tried to kick his way out of the airplane. Despite all his armor (a helmet, knee guards and heavy leg bandages), by the time he was unloaded in New York Bayeux was bruised and scratched. Four days later, the two horses paraded postward at Belmont Park to take their shot at Citation in the $100,000 Gold Cup.

Bayeux balked in the post parade, wanted no part of a race that day. He got left at the post. He really couldn’t be blamed: in Europe they didn’t have these newfangled starting gates, the horses raced on grass instead of dirt, and most of the tracks ran clockwise instead of counterclockwise. The Aga Khan’s Nathoo did a little better. For a mile and a furlong, he hung on the coattails of the leaders before giving it up as a bad job. He was beaten by 31½ lengths.

Citation ran like a railroad train. When Jockey Eddie Arcaro pushed the throttle, Citation, who runs with great economy, came whistling down the stretch, using just enough steam to stay two lengths ahead of his nearest rival, Phalanx, and pick up $75,600. It put him just behind Stymie ($911,335), the biggest money-winning horse of all time. Citation’s total: $820,250.