The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt (17 page)

Jimmy didn't look at Alec while he spoke, but the boy was aware of his disappointment. Jimmy was trying hard not to disclose his true feelings. He talked all the way down the paddock and through the roped aisle to the track gate. Alec listened to him but said nothing. What he and Bonfire did on the track was all that mattered now. Only actions, not words, could change things from the way they were.

The colts were brought to a stop at the track gate, and there they awaited the bugle call to the post. Jimmy left Alec to go to Henry, who was at Bonfire's head. He talked to him a moment, his small, sad eyes searching Henry's for some sign of encouragement.

Henry couldn't give Jimmy the assurance he wanted, for he wasn't certain of anything himself. “We got a fast colt,” he finally told Jimmy because his old friend expected him to say something. “He's as fast as anything goin' out there, maybe faster … but we don't know. A lot depends on the kind of breaks we get this time.”

“You're right, Henry,” Jimmy said. “I know I've got a Hambletonian colt. As you say, what happens depends on the breaks we get. I got to look at it that way.”

His eyes remained on Bonfire until the post call came over the public-address system. The track gate was opened and the marshals astride their palominos took charge of the colts.

Jimmy began stroking Bonfire's sleek neck. Suddenly he stopped. “Look, Henry,” he cried, “the cord's not fastened to the catch!” He held Bonfire back while the five colts ahead of him went through the gate. The marshals waited impatiently for Bonfire to follow.

Sitting in the sulky seat, Alec watched Henry while Jimmy tied the cord to the spring catch. Finally Henry turned to him and their gazes met. Each knew the other was aware that the oversight had been intentional. Alec's eyes glittered with anger, while Henry's were clouded with disappointment.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said, “the horses are now coming onto the track for the second heat of the Hambletonian.”

Alec drove Bonfire through the gate without a word to Henry.

Alec found that his anger was only making Bonfire uneasy during the post parade. He tried to forget Henry and his foolhardy act at this stage of the Hambletonian. He steadied his hands and concentrated on the race to come. They must win. This was their last chance.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer said as the colts filed past the grandstand, “the starting positions for the second heat of the Hambletonian will be those which the horses earned in the first heat.” He paused, waiting for the track marshals to pass the judges' stand. “Number one is Silver Knight, driven by Paco DeBlois, who finished third in the previous heat and will therefore be starting from the third post position in this heat.

“Number two is King Midas, driven by John Neville, who finished fifth in the first heat and will now start from the fifth position.

“Number three …”

Alec glanced at the great stands. Somewhere in the boxes near the front were Tom and Jimmy and George.
They were no doubt wondering, as he was, if he could get Bonfire clear of the big field from his bad starting position.

The announcer was saying, “Number five is Princess Guy, driven by Frank Lutz, who finished second in the first heat and will start from the second post position.

“Number six is Bonfire, driven by Alec Ramsay, who finished seventeenth and will start from that position in the second heat.”

Away back in the second tier. Not good. Not good at all
. Would they get a chance even to race? “Follow Bear Cat,” Henry had said. “—Bauder will be finding holes for his colt this time, and you can go through with him.” Could he?

“Number seven is Bear Cat, driven by Silas Bauder, who finished seventh in the first heat and will start from that position.”

The announcer didn't give the crowd a chance to applaud very long for Bauder, and went on with the introductions. Only when he'd reached the sixteenth colt in the post parade did the loud clapping from the stands prevent him from continuing after he'd said, “… Lively Man, driven by Fred Ringo, winner of the first heat and starting from the pole position.”

Ringo touched his cap and smiled in acknowledgment of the long outburst from the crowd. Yet his face held none of the enthusiasm he had shown in the paddock. He knew he had to take this heat too in order to win the Hambletonian.

The track marshals turned the colts and their
drivers loose at the top of the homestretch. Alec continued around the far turn, going the short quarter-mile jog that Henry had ordered. He waited until the others had completed their second warm-up score past the stands and then turned his red colt around. Bonfire's ears pricked forward and his strides quickened when he faced the right way of the track. But he didn't fight Alec going slowly down the homestretch. He knew what was to come. He awaited the barrier wings. He knew they would soon be in front of him. Alec didn't have to tell him.

The Hambletonian colts came back up the stretch in two separate columns, just as they had done before the previous heat. But this time they took their earned starting positions. Alec took Bonfire behind the sixteenth horse, Big Venture. Across the track from him were the colts starting in the first tier. Lively Man led the way.

They filed on both sides of the mobile starting gate and then turned behind it. It moved away from them and the colts in the first tier went faster.

Alec started Bonfire slowly, making no attempt to pull up behind Bear Cat in a hurry. The other colts in the second tier were already in position.

“Bring up your colt, Ramsay!” the starter called.

Alec moved Bonfire a little faster going past the bleachers. The colt wanted more line and his demands became more insistent. Alec didn't give in to him. He didn't want to have to close the cup at the start again. He kept him just behind the second tier of colts, in a position left open between Big Venture and The Saint.

The starter didn't call out to Alec again. He was having enough trouble with the colts and drivers in the first tier.

“Ringo, you're rushing the gate. Keep your colt back or I won't send you off!”

Across the tightly packed field of horses Alec could see Lively Man's nose touching the barrier. Ringo kept him there, determined not to lose the favored rail position. He was leaning far forward in his seat in a strained attitude, the picture of determination and ambitious youth. He paid no attention to the starter's orders, taking a chance that this race was much too big and important for a recall.

The car's speed increased and with it the beat of hoofs. Alec saw The Saint on the far outside begin to fall behind the second tier; his driver was already having trouble with him. Alec gave Bonfire more line, going ahead of The Saint now that he'd have racing room on his right and wouldn't have to close the cup. Bonfire pushed his head close to Silas Bauder's back and Alec kept him there.
Break number one had come with The Saint's refusal to stay up with the others in the second tier
.

They pounded past the grandstand with the starting line only a short distance away. Faster went the gate and the colts behind it. Alec kept his eyes on Bauder's green-and-yellow jacket. The little old man sat easily behind Bear Cat, his shoulders hunched forward but showing no tightening, no strain. Alec wished his own shoulders were as free. Bauder didn't seem as anxious to get away in front as Henry had said he'd be. Bear Cat had his head behind the other colts in the first tier. Alec glanced at High Noon, Tangiers and Star Queen
on Bear Cat's right. He hoped one of them would lag behind at the break so he could get Bonfire alongside Bear Cat, then go around the field.

But it looked as though there'd be no going around. Henry had said, “Follow Bear Cat,” and that's what he'd do. He'd come a long way listening to Henry's advice. He wasn't going to stop now.
But come on, Bauder. Get your colt closer to the gate!

There was no change in Bear Cat's position until the last few strides before the start. Then Bauder's thin shoulders moved forward slightly and his hands came up. Bear Cat's strides lengthened gradually, his speed mounting. He was still behind the other colts in the first tier, all of whom had their noses close to the barrier. But Bear Cat was coming up to the gate in a rush, and Alec knew then that the little old man sitting behind him was timing his colt's strides to coincide with the opening of the gate.

Bauder's strategy was perfect! When the barrier wings swept away he had Bear Cat going at top speed. The brown colt went across the line faster than any of the others in the first tier. But behind him Bonfire came as fast, his red-hooded head close to Bauder's green-and-yellow silks.

The second heat, perhaps the final heat of the Hambletonian, had begun!

The cries of the drivers rose above the beat of hoofs. Alec remained silent, his eyes on Bonfire and Bauder's silks. He knew Bear Cat was well out in front, for to his own left and right were the colts in the first tier. He glanced at High Noon, racing so near on his right, and closed the eyecup.

Bauder's calls to his colt came back to Alec. Just as Henry had said, the old man was “out to put Ringo in his place.” For a few seconds Bauder was beating Ringo at his own game. He was out in front and determined to take the pole position away from the young raceway driver.

Alec shoved his feet hard against the iron stirrups on the shafts. He gave his colt more line, ready to go on with Bear Cat to the front. Bauder's early drive was everything he and Henry could hope for. If it lasted, it would get Bonfire away from the packed field with a chance to race his best. That was all Alec asked.

Ringo was driving Lively Man hard. The roan colt was in front of the others but half a length behind Bear Cat. Alec saw Ringo go for his whip. The raceway driver was determined not to let Bauder take the rail position from him. It was a driver's duel between Ringo and Bauder! The crowd was aware of it, and Alec heard the pandemonium that burst from the stands as the sulkies whipped by.

Bear Cat's speed mounted on the way to the first turn and Alec kept Bonfire directly behind him. High Noon had dropped back and the eyecup was open again. With the exception of Lively Man, Bonfire was out in front of all the colts in the first tier! Bauder was far enough ahead to start crossing over to the rail as they rushed into the first turn. Alec followed him.

Together they closed in on Ringo with Bear Cat a length ahead. Alec saw Ringo go for his whip again, trying to keep Bauder from slipping Bear Cat in front of him. But Bauder wasn't to be denied. He asked
for more speed from his brown colt, and Alec urged him on!

Bauder was not being a patient old man, rating his colt and waiting for the breaks to come his way. As ambitious and determined as Ringo, he was making his own breaks.

Alec wanted no driver's duel with Ringo for himself. That could come later, if necessary. He was getting what he wanted. Bonfire was clear of the packed field and the open track was before him.

Going into the turn, Bear Cat took the rail from Lively Man. But Alec made no attempt to draw alongside Bear Cat and pass him. Instead he stayed just off the rail with Bonfire, and to his left raced Lively Man, now in a tight pocket!

Alec didn't have to look at Ringo to sense the fury that must be in the raceway driver's face with Bear Cat directly in front of him and Bonfire on his right.

Sulky wheels screamed taking the strain of the turn, while behind Alec came the ever pounding hoofs of the large field and the distant roar of the crowd. Alec listened to nothing but the low, steady beat of his own colt's hoofs. Ahead of Bonfire was empty track with all the racing room he needed. He could not have asked for more! It wasn't necessary to tell this to his colt, for Bonfire's head was stretched forward eagerly, his ears pricked.

Bauder slowed Bear Cat, resting him now that the early sprint was over and he had the rail. He glanced back to see who was just off to his right. When he saw Bonfire's head he turned away.

Alec slowed Bonfire too, content now to play Bauder's patient game of resting and rating his colt. He glanced at Ringo. The young driver was furious at being forced to slow his colt, to stay behind with no way out of the pocket. Behind them came the thundering field and for Ringo there was no dropping back and coming around Alec and Bonfire. He had lost his chance.

Over the public-address system came an announcement which Alec heard. “At the quarter-mile,” it said, “it's Bear Cat out in front with Lively Man and Bonfire racing head and head. Then it's Silver Knight, Princess Guy, Tangiers, Cricket, Mismatch, King Midas, Fibber …”

Alec listened, aware of what it must be like back there in the packed field.

They started down the backstretch, and the pounding hoofs of the field came ever louder and closer. But Alec didn't move Bonfire any faster. He was content to stay where he was for the time being, confident that Bauder was the man to beat. The old man was being very canny. He was regulating the pace to suit his brown colt. But he knew also what he was doing to Fred Ringo.

Alec heard a horse coming up on his right, and then he saw Princess Guy's small black head. Bonfire heard her too and demanded more rein. But Alec waited, refusing to give in just then. He told his colt it wasn't yet time. Princess Guy drew alongside and Alec closed the eyecup. He let the filly move ahead, watching portly Frank Lutz make his bid for the lead. Then he opened the eyecup again and gave Bonfire the line
he wanted. They moved up a little, keeping Princess Guy on the outside with not enough room to cross in front of them.

Silas Bauder watched the filly too, as anxious as Alec to keep her on the far outside. He moved Bear Cat faster going down the backstretch, maintaining his lead.

Alec was content with his position. There was still open track before him. He had room to take Bonfire between Bear Cat and Princess Guy, if he wanted. But he held Bonfire back, content with the pace set by Bear Cat which was just right for Bonfire.