Sport: Pat & Mike at the Races

After two miles the field remained a moving mass of color, half a dozen horses still in contention coming up to the final hedges of the $50,000 Temple Gwathmey, the richest steeplechase in the world. Then, as if he were tired of company, a steel-muscled brute named Neji shouldered his all-but-impossible impost of 173 lbs., sailed over the last jump like a larking colt, sprinted down the Belmont stretch and won by seven lengths.

The performance was no surprise to anyone−not to the chalk players who had watched Neji win Belmont’s Grand National just the week before, nor to Alfred Patrick Smithwick, who is the chestnut champion’s pilot, nor to his brother Daniel Michael Smithwick, who nursed Neji into shape for the race of his life. These days the only steeplechase surprise is when a horse handled by Pat and Mike Smithwick is shut out of a big purse.

The brother act was bred to the sport in the fox-hunting country around Monkton, Md. Like their father, who came from the green Irish horse county of Kilkenny, they were earning their living as show-horse trainers while in their teens. In 1950 some friends bought them an Irish mare that showed signs of speed, and they took their stable to the races. To eke out their small winnings. Pat, the smaller of the two (he carries a solid 160 lbs. on a 5-ft.-11-in. frame), peeled off poundage and learned the rough art of the jumping jockey. Mike sharpened his skills as trainer. Both of them did so well that last season Pat was the country’s leading steeplechase jock, and Mike was chosen by Mrs. Ogden Phipps to take over from her retiring trainer, Pete Bostwick.

Among other horses, the Phipps stable had Neji. But the top jumper of 1955 had pulled up lame after the Midsummer Hurdle Handicap of 1956 and seemed to be through with racing. It took all Mike’s talents to make the horse whole. This year his perseverance, combined with Paddy’s skill in the jockey’s irons, has paid off handsomely. Neji, who made his first start last month, is already steeplechase horse of the year. Barring injury, the big chestnut has a long career ahead in which to build on his earnings of $233,625−only $1,600 less than Elkridge, alltime steeplechase champion.