The Black Stallion's Sulky Colt (18 page)

At the middle of the backstretch he saw Ringo glance behind and then slow his colt, dropping from Alec's sight. Alec knew Ringo was taking Lively Man out of the pocket and would come around on the outside. It was what he had expected. It would probably work but at the expense of extra effort and stamina from Lively Man.

Suddenly Silver Knight came up on the outside with a tremendous burst of speed that swept him past Princess Guy and Bonfire. Concern came to Alec's eyes when he saw Silver Knight move out in front, with Bauder letting him take the rail from Bear Cat!

Race strategy was now becoming more complicated and called for quick decisions. Bauder moved Bear Cat off the rail and directly in front of Bonfire. Alec looked at those green-and-yellow silks in front of him. No longer did he and his colt have an open track. Bonfire began fighting him, and Alec knew his colt was as anxious as he was to go on. He tried telling himself and his colt to be patient, that there was plenty of time.
But it was becoming more and more difficult for him to stay behind.

Setting the pace was Silver Knight. Just to his right was Bear Cat, racing neck and neck with Princess Guy, who had moved up. Bonfire followed Bear Cat. The rail position directly behind Silver Knight was open, but Alec wanted no part of it. He preferred to be where he was with a chance to follow Bear Cat or go around Princess Guy, if necessary. He kept glancing back to his right. He didn't want any colt to come up and box him in behind the colts in front.

But it was on his left that the next move came. Mismatch pounded through on the rail, passing Bonfire and going up behind Silver Knight. Now Mismatch, Bear Cat and Princess Guy were racing stride for stride.

“Come on, Bauder,” Alec mumbled to himself, anxious and more concerned than ever now, “make your move.” If Bear Cat went on, Alec could follow with Bonfire and leave the other colts behind. But Bauder wasn't ready to make his move. The old man seemed to be content to stay where he was.

They swept into the second turn, and it was then that Alec knew he couldn't remain behind Bear Cat any longer. Far on the outside came Lively Man and Fred Ringo! Racing wide around the turn, Ringo passed the others and took the lead from Silver Knight!

The announcer's call came through the loudspeakers in the track's infield, reaching the drivers. “At the half-mile it's now Lively Man in front with Silver Knight second, then Mismatch, Bear Cat and Princess Guy racing together. Bonfire is next,
and moving up fast is King Midas
!”

Alec heard no more, for King Midas was alongside him. He closed the cup quickly. No longer did he have a chance to pull out and around Princess Guy as he'd intended to do when they came off the turn! King Midas stayed behind the black filly, his driver wanting to go no wider than necessary around the turn.

Pocketed with the eyecup closed
.

Fearful now, Alec listened to his heart pound out the seconds while he tried to decide what to do. He knew it would depend on what happened all around him. They were coming off the second turn with the long back straightaway before them. Certainly it would be here that Bauder would make his bid with Bear Cat. The old man couldn't wait any longer, with Lively Man and Silver Knight racing ahead of him!

But Bauder kept his brown colt even with Mismatch and Princess Guy, making no attempt to catch the leaders two lengths ahead.

Alec felt the first signs of uneasiness sweep over Bonfire. The cup had to be opened soon! He glanced at King Midas and found the colt was being taken outside and around Princess Guy. Relieved, Alec opened the cup, determined to follow King Midas. No longer would he keep Bonfire behind all these fast colts, waiting for Bauder to make his move.

It was then that Bear Cat was given more line! Alec shifted direction quickly and went behind him again. Bonfire took all the rein Alec gave him and asked for more. He followed Bear Cat as the brown colt caught and passed Silver Knight. But Princess Guy stayed with them a head behind Bear Cat, a stride in front of Bonfire. Alec stayed behind Bauder, knowing
that soon the filly would be giving way before this extreme speed. Her strides were shortening even now.

A length in front of Bear Cat and on the rail raced Lively Man, with Ringo getting all the speed he could from his lathery colt. It wasn't enough, for Bear Cat was moving up on him fast. Alec knew how much speed Bauder's colt had left. And he knew too that Bonfire was equal to any kind of a race with him. The rated pace and Henry's training methods were about to pay off! Princess Guy dropped back a little more as they all swept past the three-quarter-mile pole and went into the final turn. The black filly was holding up under a last hard drive by Frank Lutz, but it wasn't going to be enough.

The last call rang through the loudspeakers. “With a quarter of a mile to go it's Lively Man still in front and under a hard drive. Bear Cat is second, followed by Princess Guy and then Bonfire. Mismatch and King Midas are going wide around the turn. High Noon, Fibber and Lord Bobbie are making their bid on the rail. Victory Boy and …”

But Alec wasn't listening. All that mattered were the two colts and filly in front of Bonfire. They came off the turn and there it was, the final stretch of track!

He glanced nervously at Princess Guy again. She was holding on better than he'd expected. It was too late to go around her now. Bear Cat was beside Lively Man. Ringo was using his whip, trying to keep his tired colt up in front. Stride for stride Lively Man and Bear Cat raced. They started past the bleachers.

Sweat poured from Alec's face and ran into his
eyes and mouth. It was now or never for Bonfire—for himself, Henry, Jimmy, Tom and George. They were there somewhere, in that distant blur of faces, watching, waiting, hoping.
If that black filly just wouldn't hold on so hard. If she'd only drop back a little faster and give him racing room to go between her and Bear Cat
. Bonfire had the speed to go on. But there was no place for him to go. If they lost, Alec knew the fault would be his alone.

They approached the first seats of the grandstand. Bauder was having his troubles too, for Lively Man was holding on as Alec never had thought he'd be able to do. The roan colt stayed with Bear Cat under Ringo's forcing, unrelenting drive for the wire. The eyes of thousands were on them, knowing what these last few yards meant to each of them. For Ringo, the Hambletonian in his very first attempt! For Bauder, another chance to win the Hambletonian in the third heat!

Inch by inch Bear Cat went ahead of Lively Man to the tremendous roar of the crowd. Behind the two leaders Princess Guy faltered and shortened stride still more.

Alec closed the eyecup as the filly raced head and head with Bonfire. Bear Cat now was a half-length in front of Lively Man in a final drive to victory! Alec went ahead with him, keeping Bonfire's nose above Bauder's green-and-yellow cap. And then Princess Guy no longer raced on their right. Alec gave Bonfire the long-awaited command, taking him around the silks that had been constantly before him. The blood bay colt responded quickly, eagerly, and now there was nothing before him but empty track!

They'd gotten out in time. Alec gave Bonfire full line, urging him on with heart, hands and voice. Now it was up to his colt!

The stands were aware of this new challenge to Bear Cat seconds before it dawned on Silas Bauder. The old man saw Bonfire only when the blood bay colt was
alongside
! He urged Bear Cat to meet this sudden dangerous threat. Bear Cat responded to his demands but not before Bonfire had reached the very peak of his speed. As one horse they took those last great strides, their heads stretched forward, their glistening, sweated bodies strained to the utmost. Seemingly they swept beneath the finish wire together!

Alec decreased Bonfire's speed slowly, and went far beyond where Silas Bauder stopped Bear Cat. He wanted to be alone with his colt. He felt terribly weak, and was hardly able to sit in his seat. Everything had been drained from him in a race that had seemed to last a lifetime. Yet only two minutes had passed.

He heard the pandemonium that was taking place in the stands, and then the announcer said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the winner will be announced as soon as the photograph has been developed. A few seconds, please.” After a pause he added, “Will Mr. Ramsay and Mr. Bauder please keep their colts on the track?”

Alec didn't need to await a picture of the finish to know who had won this second heat of the Hambletonian. It had been Bonfire by the nose of his red-hooded head.

Alec wasn't consciously aware of much that happened during the next few minutes. He heard the beginning of the announcement that Bonfire had won but little else. His ears were deaf to the bedlam of the crowd as he drove Bonfire up the stretch, wanting only to get his colt back to the paddock.

The announcer said, “Introducing the winner of the second heat of the Hambletonian, Bonfire, a son of the Black out of Volo Queen. Owned by Mr. Jimmy Creech of Coronet, Pennsylvania, and driven by Alec Ramsay.”

At the track gate and all along the roped aisle leading to the paddock were hundreds of people with their hands outstretched, trying to touch the sweated colt. The police kept them back. And then Henry was there at Bonfire's head. Alec saw him. Henry had taken over. Everything was all right now.

Once they entered the paddock enclosure the
shouting multitude was left behind. But in its place were the reporters and photographers.

Angrily Henry pushed his way through them, his free hand clenched as he waved it in the faces of those closest to him. “Get back! Give this colt air!” he kept saying.

He halted Bonfire in front of his stall and told Alec to leave. Then once more he hurled a fiery outburst at the group. “Move away, I tell you! He needs more air. Go on now! The race ain't over yet.”

The press grudgingly stepped back from Bonfire but Henry wasn't satisfied. “Move more!” he yelled, waving his arms wildly, his face distorted both with anger and with concern for Bonfire. “Where's that paddock judge now? Where is he? Somebody keep these people away!”

Shutters clicked as pictures were taken. Bonfire jumped and Henry held him close. The uproar finally brought paddock officials to Henry's aid and they moved the group farther back from Bonfire.

Henry had stripped the colt of his harness when Jimmy Creech came running up to him, wanting to help. Henry shoved him toward the barrage of reporters and photographers. “Best thing you can do for your colt,” he said, “is to tell those people what they want to know so they'll clear out of here. If Bonfire don't get more air an' some quiet there won't be another heat in him.”

A look of concern came to Jimmy's eyes at Henry's words. He nodded and walked toward the group, straightening his scrawny shoulders as he moved along. He had bred and raised this colt, winner
of a Hambletonian heat. That much was
his
. No one could ever take that from him.

Jimmy remained with the group for many minutes, telling the newsmen all they wanted to know … yet realizing, as they did, that little of what he said would be used unless Bonfire won the Hambletonian. Lively Man and Ringo had been subjected to the same kind of thing after winning the first heat.

Later he watched them go, and then returned to Bonfire and Henry.

“Thanks for gettin' rid of them,” Henry said.

“It was a pleasure,” Jimmy answered, smiling and picking up a sponge. “—a real pleasure.”

Alec watched Jimmy at work, the sponge moving easily, almost caressingly, over Bonfire's back. He couldn't remember ever having seen Jimmy smile before.

Unable to sit still any longer, he got up and began cleaning the harness and bridle. Henry told him to take it easy and rest but he continued working. It was impossible to take it easy now. How many minutes to go before the next heat? Not too many.

The light cooler was put over Bonfire.

“I'll walk him,” Jimmy said.

“No, I'll do it,” Henry returned adamantly.

Jimmy went to Alec. “Let me clean the harness then,” he said. “I got to be doin' something. Sit down, Alec. Rest. You'll be racing.”

Reluctantly Alec let him take the harness. Everybody was telling
him
to sit down, yet
they
had to keep themselves busy. Didn't they understand he felt just as they did?

“You timed your bid perfect, Alec,” Jimmy said.
“Y'caught old Si Bauder by surprise and got the jump on him. Never seen better drivin'.”

Alec thought,
Don't give me any credit for good timing Jimmy. If that black filly had hung on a second more, I would have lost the race for our colt
.

But he kept quiet. He didn't want to talk. He wanted to be let alone.

“Now we got the pole position,” Jimmy said. “Short way around for us this time, Alec!”

The short mile close to the rail. But only if he got Bonfire out in front and kept him there. Could he do it? Would Bonfire last another mile, even a short mile? At Roosevelt Raceway Henry had said Bonfire couldn't go three Hambletonian miles. Had Henry changed his mind? Did they have a chance in this third heat? Bonfire was blowing hard but so were the other colts
.

Alec left Jimmy's side while the little old man continued talking. He went to Henry and Bonfire, noticing for the first time that Bear Cat too was being walked between heats. Falling in beside Henry, he said, “I guess Bauder's changed his ways a little.”

“It looks like it,” Henry answered. “Maybe I shouldn't have said anything to him today.” He paused. Then, “I wish you'd sit down and rest, Alec. You're blowin' as hard as the colt.”

Alec tried to smile. “That's just why I need walking too,” he said. “It's been months since I raced, and never in anything as tough as this. This is a long grind, Henry.”

“I know,” Henry answered. “You and the colt could have used more work for it.” He turned to Alec, his eyes losing their hard professional concern and a
softness creeping into his voice. “But your head's in good shape. You gave him a smart drive, Alec. You did everything right at the right time. No one could have done it better.”