Pimlico Special

"I want it to be what the World Series is to baseball, what the Rose Bowl is to football." Thus chirped 25-year-old Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt in the fall of 1937, when he invited four of the best race horses of that year to compete in an entry-free, post-season race at Pimlico.

Seasoned turfmen smiled tolerantly. They knew Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt was rich (rumor put his fortune at $20,000,000), was passionately fond of thoroughbreds, and had just bought a sizable interest in the old down-at-heels Pimlico race track outside Baltimore. But the prize he offered for his dream race was only $10,000, mere timothy to big U. S. stables.* Most racing experts did not give the Pimlico Special an outside chance to attain the prestige of a World Series or a Rose Bowl.

By last week, however, the Pimlico Special (a weight-for-age affair at a mile-and-three-sixteenths for three-year-olds and up) was recognized as the annual post-season race that determines the U. S. thoroughbred champion. Some 25,000 turf fans crammed into Pimlico's mid-Victorian stands to see if this year's Special would be as dramatic as the first two./- Contenders for the title were William L. Brann's three-year-old Challedon, Charles S. Howard's four-year-old Kayak II and Townsend B. Martin's four-year-old Cravat (famed Johnstown was retired last month because of a mysterious wheeze). Challedon had won eight out of 14 starts this year; Kayak, seven out of nine; and Cravat had finished in the money in eleven out of 15 races.

Favorite was Challedon. Though a year younger than his rivals, he had already earned more money ($242,000) than either of them, had already broken the world's record for a mile-and-three-sixteenths. More important to sentimental, superstitious racing fans, the big bay colt was bred at nearby Walkersville, had always shown a fondness for the Pimlico track. There he turned his first big trick, when he won the Pimlico Futurity as a two-year-old. There he became the darling of Maryland by beating undefeated Johnstown in the Preakness last spring.

Last week at Pimlico the fans got their money's worth. After the first furlong Cravat was out of the running: it was Challedon and Kayak. Challedon went into the lead; halfway down the backstretch Kayak caught him, poked his brown nose farther & farther ahead as they streaked along against a backdrop of autumn foliage. As they rounded into the homestretch, Jockey Eddie Arcaro flipped his whip and Challedon began to run like a Halloween hooligan. He inched past Kayak and won going away, a half length in front at the wire.

Singing "Challedon, my Challedon" (tune of Maryland, My Maryland) 25,000 hoarse-voiced fans saluted the Horse of the Year, a worthy successor to Seabiscuit and War Admiral. It looked as if young Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt had chirped a mouthful.

* Last week President Matt Winn of Churchill Downs announced that the purse for next year's Kentucky Derby will be upped from $50,000 to $75,000, making it second only to the $100,000 Santa Anita Handicap.

/- In 1937, when the race was for three-year-olds only, famed War Admiral came close to being humiliated by a horse named Masked General; in 1938 gallant Seabiscuit proved his superiority over War Admiral, his longtime rival, in their first get-together.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.