Clean Sweep

On Manhattan’s Eighth Avenue the waiter at Andy Murphy’s Bar hauled out his finest Scotches and liqueurs; a nearby news vendor noticed a sudden flurry in the demand for such publications as Rider & Driver and Town & Country. From 48th to 52nd Streets, prizefight and hockey fans were in temporary retreat before the advancing wave of high society which was bravely turned out in sables and silk hats, diamonds and décolletages. The 61st annual National Horse Show was on in Madison Square Garden.

For the second successive year, the U.S. played host while only foreign military teams won glory in the arena. Since the 1948 Olympic Games, the U.S. Army has given up training an equestrian team. For brilliant competitive horsemanship the audience had to look to teams from countries where the military horse still has a function and meaning. Mexico’s famed Colonel Humberto Mariles, who captains the world’s greatest riding team (TIME, Nov. 15, 1948), gallantly announced that “when teams are so equally matched, it is 99% luck.” Then he proceeded to show that it was just about 99% skill. For three afternoons and evenings the Mexican team walked away with every military trophy; six times the band played Mexico’s national anthem in token of another victory for the visitors.

On the fourth night, Carabineros Captain Oscar Cristi of Chile finally broke Mexico’s winning streak. He finished the twisting, eleven-jump course in 37 seconds. 2.9 seconds less than Colonel Mariles’ time, and copped the West Point Challenge Trophy. Two nights later, Captain Michael Tubridy, of the Irish team, picked up another first place. The Mexicans were undisturbed; they were so far ahead of the other teams that they had already taken time out for a graceful gesture.

Their youngest teammate, 18-year-old Lieut. Joaquin D’Harcourt had yet to win an individual victory at the Garden. His chance came in the jump-off for the International Military Special Challenge Trophy, when two Chileans faulted. That left only four competitors for the trophy—all members of the Mexican team. One by one the three veteran riders started on the course, then pulled their horses up sharply for a refusal so that young Lieut. D’Harcourt would be sure to bag his first Garden trophy.