Horse Racing: Cinderella v. Old Moneybags

Which was the better horse—Gun Bow or Kelso? In July’s Brooklyn Handicap, Gun Bow, the Cinderella colt, breezed to an easy twelve-length victory. But in last month’s Aqueduct Stakes, it was Old Moneybags Kelso, spotting his younger rival a five-length lead, catching him in the stretch, and drawing out by three-quarters of a length. Last week at Aqueduct they met again, and the stakes were higher than ever: the winner surely would be Horse of the Year. The loot was nothing to sneer at either. With $1,711,132 already in the bank, Kelso needed only $38,737 to break Round Table’s all-time money-winning record—and first place in the 1¼-mile Woodward Stakes would be worth $70,330.

At post time Kelso was the 4-5 favorite. The odds on Gun Bow: even money. The bell rang, the gates snapped open, and Gun Bow leaped into a one-length lead. For seven furlongs, the two horses stayed just that way—loping along with huge, ground-devouring strides, saving their strength for the stretch. Rounding the final turn, a quarter of a mile from home, Jockey Milo Valenzuela clucked to Kelso: aboard Gun Bow, Walter Blum waved his whip —and the battle was on. As if glued together, the two great thoroughbreds raced down the stretch. At the eighth pole, Kelso drew out by a head. At the 16th pole, Gun Bow caught him and stuck his nose in front. Kelso came again—grace and courage in every stride. And so they flashed past the finish line—nose to nose, tail to tail.

A minute dragged by—two minutes —three. Still the numbers were not up on the board. “Who won?” somebody yelled at the jockeys aboard their lathered champions. They didn’t know. “Dead heat! Dead heat!” the cry raced through the stands. Four minutes passed, then five. Suddenly, lights blinked on the tote board, and the photo-finish picture flashed on ground-glass screens around the track. The crowd gasped. By the slimmest of margins, a bare sixteenth of an inch, Gun Bow had beaten Kelso in the horse race of the year.