Best in the World

The program called it the $125,000 Washington, D.C. International, and 13 thoroughbreds from nine nations pranced to the post at Maryland's Laurel Race Course. But to the fans, it was strictly a domestic affair, a test between the three top U.S. horses: Jack Dreyfus' sprinter, Beau Purple; Mrs. Richard C. duPont's great gelding. Kelso; and Jack Price's millionaire colt, Carry Back. Ill-mannered catcalls greeted the Russian and Japanese entries, and Britain's Pardao went off at 108-to-1 odds.

The only foreign horse with a following was France's Match II. Beau Purple's trainer, Allen Jerkens, said he was worried: "That French colt--he's a brute." Racing exclusively in Europe, where stakes horses get fewer chances to run and purses are generally smaller than in the U.S., the muscular bay had already earned $283,000 for French Hotelman Franc,ois Dupre, who owns Paris' Plaza-Athenee, Montreal's Ritz-Carlton, a breeding farm in Normandy and a string of 60 race horses. Dupre's jockey for the International: Yves Saint-Martin, France's top rider, a vise-handed craftsman who, at 21, already ranks with the world's best. Even so, Match II went out as a 6-to-1 long shot.

More respect was due. Beau Purple ran his race at the start, then folded. Kelso and Carry Back staged a killing duel for the lead until Carry Back ran out of gas. and the victory chant "Kelso! Kelso!" started through the stands. But it was not the Americans' day. Biding his time back in the pack, Saint-Martin deftly drove Match II past the winded field, coming through on the rail, gaining on Kelso with every long stride. "I saw him coming," said Kelso's jockey Ismael Valenzuela, "but I just couldn't do anything about it." At the finish, Match II was 1 1/2 lengths ahead and going away. Kelso's second-place finish will probably earn him Horse of the Year honors in the U.S. Match II went home with $70,000 winner's purse and a higher title: best race horse in the world.

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