Sport: Inflated Record

There were two hot horses in the Brooklyn Handicap last week, and if either won, Whirlaway’s alltime money-winning record ($561,161) was sure to fall. Texas-born Assault, a chestnut, the swiftest thing on horseshoes in 1947, needed only $22,591 to catch up with Whirlaway. Stymie, another Texas horse —who usually does better when Assault is not around—needed even less.

As the five horses got away at the start, Assault stumbled and almost dug his nose in the dirt. Smart Jockey Eddie Arcaro quickly pulled him together, but Assault was already twelve lengths in the ruck. The only horse behind him was Stymie, a notorious laggard whose specialty is a hair-raising burst of speed at the end. Assault was carrying the top handicap weight in the race (133 lbs.), but on the backstretch, when Arcaro decided to move, Assault began running.

He whizzed by Larky Day, who had set a track record at Atlantic City a week before, then set sail for the pace-setting Windfields. Assault swept by Windfields too, and turned into the stretch. Just to be safe, for six-year-old Stymie was beginning to move up, Arcaro stung Assault’s hide once with the whip. Then, looking over his shoulder, Arcaro saw that there was nothing to worry about and eased up to win, three lengths ahead of gallant old Stymie. The victory, worth $38,100, boosted Assault’s total to $576,670.

Oldtimers could properly say that Assault had overtaken the great Whirlaway with inflated money, for Whirlaway had run in a day when purses were much skimpier than Assault’s. But Assault, winner of the Big Three in 1946 (Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes) and of every race he had entered this year, was still a horse with a future: he is only a four-year-old, and full of run. Before he is retired to stud next year on Robert Kleberg’s King Ranch nursery at Lexington, Ky., he may well have earned more than $750,000 and a secure place in horsedom’s hall of heroes.