Upset Win for an Unknown Colt

In the Belmont, Temperence Hill spoils a showdown

Certain exhortations belong to certain sports. The official starter has always intoned the imperative: "Gentlemen, start your engines." Umpires immemorially have shouted: "Play ball!" Runners have forever been instructed: "On your mark, set, go!" But when the horses reached the starting gate for the 112th running of the Belmont Stakes, Track Caller Marshall Cassidy could have been forgiven if he were tempted to mix phrases.

In gate No. 1 was Genuine Risk, the filly who broke a 65-year tradition to outrun the colts in the Kentucky Derby this year. In gate No. 2 was Codex, the California colt who beat Genuine Risk in the Preakness despite a controversial ride by his jockey that resulted in a foul claim and an almost unheard-of appeal for state authorities to overturn the results of a Triple Crown classic. Given the circumstances, Cassidy might have bypassed the traditional "And they're off!" in favor of a salutation more suitable to the ill will of a horse race turned grudge match: "Shake hands and come out fighting."

Overlooked in the emotional duel between Genuine Risk and Codex was a typical Belmont field: a collection of dangerous colts that had been lightly raced through the spring, lying in wait for the favorites to falter. Among them was Temperence Hill. The Kentucky-bred bay colt had won the Arkansas Derby, then faltered in his final Triple Crown prep races and been returned to his home stable on the Belmont backstretch to recoup. Trainer Joe Cantey decided to test his horse in the Withers Stakes, one week after the Kentucky Derby, but the colt finished second and Temperence Hill's chances of running in the Preakness ended there.

When bettors looked up his credentials for the Belmont, they discovered that Temperence Hill seemed even further off form after the Withers. He ambled home fifth, eleven lengths behind the leader, in the Pennsylvania Derby. The colt had come in third in his last outing, a simple allowance race. It was hardly a flashy showing--or classy company--for a colt bent on winning the most difficult of the Triple Crown classics. Not surprisingly, Temperence Hill went off at 50-to-l odds. But the Belmont, with its withering distance of 1 1/2 miles and its deep, fatiguing track--compounded this day by a rain that turned the surface to mud--has long been a race of upsets.

Since 1940, 27 colts have gone to the post as odds-on favorites; only twelve have come home winners. Last year Coastal blasted out of the field to crush Spectacular Bid's try for the Triple Crown; in 1961, Carry Back was whipped by Sherluck, which paid $130.10 on a $2 bet, the longest upset odds in Triple Crown history. The 1980 Belmont was to prove the same, as Temperence Hill put on a rousing stretch run to sail to the wire two lengths ahead of Genuine Risk. The Loblolly Farm colt returned $108.80.

Ridden brilliantly by Jockey Eddie Maple, Temperence Hill hung just behind the competition through the first turn and backstretch, easing into fourth place as the horses worked their way into the clubhouse turn. Driving around on the outside, Maple moved the colt into third at the head of the stretch, while Genuine Risk fired into the lead. As Maple flailed away with his whip, Temperence Hill closed on the filly, eased ahead by a nose as Genuine Risk tried valiantly to stave off his charge. Finally, the colt was a jump ahead, then stretched his lead to a full two lengths, a convincing showing over a muddy track. The $176,220 Belmont purse nearly equaled Temperence Hill's previous career earnings of $187,004--barely barn money these days.

As for the much touted showdown between Codex and Genuine Risk, it was no contest. Codex, like most California colts unaccustomed to and ineffective on muddy tracks, faded to a dismal seventh-place finish almost nine lengths behind the winner and more than seven lengths, or 22 yds., down the track from the filly. Genuine Risk, the only horse in the field to enter all three of the Crown classics, has run the hardest racing season of any three-year-old in the country. No filly in thoroughbred history has had as difficult a spring. Her showing in the deep mire of the Belmont Stakes validated her claim to a remarkable niche in the history of the turf. Fillies, lighter and less muscular than colts, are supposedly unable to run races as long as the Belmont so early in their careers. Yet she bested all save one. Gallant and dead game, Genuine Risk earned her place in the record books: the first filly to finish in the money in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.

Nonetheless, the day belonged to Temperence Hill. Ironically, Cantey had considered scratching the colt just hours before the race. Temperence Hill had run only one race on a muddy track, performing poorly. Said Cantey: "He's a big gawky colt and he was slipping and sliding a bit." Cantey and Owner John Anthony, a lumberman from Fordyce, Ark., huddled to ponder the possibilities. Temperence Hill, named for a 19th century Arkansas Methodist church that Anthony's ancestors attended, had not originally been nominated for the Belmont, so it would cost $20,000 in late-entry fees for him to go to the post. Figuring that the muddy track would hurt the California entries more than their Eastern colt, Anthony and Cantey decided to go ahead as planned. Temperence Hill had tended to let his mind wander in earlier races, and so required a hard ride from Jockey Maple to keep him in the race. Said Anthony: "He's the laziest, most unconcerned animal you've ever seen. One of the big problems we've always had is getting his attention. He seems to get bored with what he's doing." After a Belmont upset that was far from boring for colt and fans alike, Temperence Hill can now lay claim to the attention of the whole racing world.

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