By a Neck

In the first dash for the rail at Pimlico's Preakness last week, Kentucky Derby Winner Dark Star shot into the lead. Dark Star had beaten Alfred Vanderbilt's Native Dancer in the Derby by following a simple script: get in front, out of trouble, and stay in front. But this time the Dancer, Jockey Guerin up, was not playing his part of the Derby script. Instead of getting banged early and boxed later, as he had in the Derby, Jockey Guerin kept the smooth-moving grey colt close on the pace, well out of trouble.

As the horses passed the half-mile mark, it was still Dark Star in the lead, with Native Dancer running along easily in third place. The Pimlico crowd, which had backed the Dancer down to 1-5, expectantly awaited the big grey's characteristic move, the rushing finish that had won twelve of the Dancer's 13 starts. Lost in the field at this stage, some 14 lengths behind, was a 17-1 shot named Jamie K., owned by the International Boxing Club's President Jim Norris. Jamie K. rated much of what backing he had simply because Jockey Eddie Arcaro was in the saddle.

Going into the far turn, the Dancer began his move, slipping inside along the rail to pass one horse, then closing in fast on Dark Star. At the mile mark--with only three-sixteenths to go--Dark Star and Native Dancer were almost head & head, just like the Kentucky Derby script. This time, though, Dark Star dropped out of the running and left it to Jamie K. to measure the Dancer's heart.

Down the stretch they pounded, with Jamie K. closing the gap under a whipping ride. A furlong from home, the Dancer, who races best when he's behind, began to lag. Guerin, for the second time in the Dancer's career, went to the whip for three smart whacks. The whacks were enough. Under the finish wire it was the Dancer by a neck. The time: 1:57 4/5, sixth fastest in the 77-year history of the Preakness.

The victory was worth $65,200, bringing the Dancer's total earnings in two years of racing up to $440,245. For his age, he was already well ahead of racing's only millionaire horse, Citation.

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