Horse Racing: Steel from Damascus

It took only two minutes in the $107,800 Woodward Stakes at New York’s Aqueduct race track to convince the few remaining doubters that Mrs. Edith Bancroft’s Damascus is 1967’s top three-year-old. That became abundantly clear when Damascus flashed under the wire a good 10½lengths ahead of Dr. Fager, who beat him in the Gotham Stakes this April. And that was the least of the triumphs. In their first meeting at the Woodward, Damascus put a quick end to all speculation about whether he was a better—or at least sounder—horse than Ogden Phipps’s four-year-old Buckpasser, winner of 25 of 31 starts and racing’s third-greatest (at $1,462,014) money winner. By the quarter pole, Damascus had opened a five-length lead on Buckpasser; at the finish, the margin was an incredible ten lengths and growing with every stride.

In a sense, it was the coup de grace for mighty Buckpasser. Soon after the race, Trainer Eddie Neloy announced that the strapping horse would run no more, would retire to stud in Kentucky. It seemed a sound decision. Since early last year, Buckpasser has been afflicted by painful cracks in his right forehoof; this year, the condition became chronic, and without making excuses, said Neloy, “it definitely compromised his abilities in the Woodward.”

Testing the Temper. No such ailments seem likely to cut short Damascus’ career. Sired by Sword Dancer, himself a two-time winner of the Woodward, Damascus is as sound as his steely name and just beginning to test his temper. In his first campaign last season, he won three out of four starts and $25,865 in purses. So far in 1967, he has won 11 out of 14, including both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Winnings this year: $723,651, which puts him within easy reach of the one-year record of $752,550 set by Nashua way back in 1955.

If Damascus has any flaws, they are the kind that a shrewd trainer and top jockey can handle. Unlike Kelso, who was practically a pet around the stable, Damascus has a high-strung, rankish personality that sometimes loses races. Favored at 17-10 odds in the Kentucky Derby, he was already sweating before the start, folded in the stretch, and wound up third. To keep him calm in the stable, Trainer Frank Whiteley has now put a radio in his stall; Whiteley also dips the colt’s protective leg bandages in a peppery solution to stop him from chewing on them. And to ease pre-race jitters, Damascus is usually the last to enter the track, parades to the post in the soothing company of an old lead pony called Duffy.

Once out of the gate, says Jockey Willie Shoemaker, Damascus has all the heart anybody could want, is at his best running off the pace, then comes on strong in the stretch. The one problem is to prevent him from loafing a bit once he gets out in front. “You have to keep after Damascus, and when you do, no horse can beat him.” says Shoemaker. “This colt is as good as any I’ve ever ridden.”