Sport: Classic Confidence

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Ever since the first running of the Washington, B.C. International at Maryland's Laurel race track three years ago, the turf-course classic has been a favorite among foreign horsemen. Entries are by invitation only, and Venezuelan Engineer Dr. Carlos Vogeler Rincones was a sad caballero indeed when his bay colt El Chama was passed over in favor of another Venezuelan-owned colt named Prendase. Sure that he owned the better horse, Dr. Vogeler cabled the race committee, offered to pay all expenses himself (about $5,000) if El Chama were given a shot at the $65,000 purse. The committee approved; Dr. Vogeler had bought himself an invitation.

There were precious few horseplayers who thought much of Dr. Vogeler's investment. Among the foreign entries, the Irish Republic's President Sean T. O'Kelly's Derby Winner Panaslipper was the people's choice; Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt's Social Outcast was the homebred favorite. El Chama was an ill-favored long shot at about 20-to-1.

El Chama was every bit as anxious as his owner. At the start, he broke and forced a recall. Next time the field got off ragged but right. Prendase moved steadily to the front. By the time the leaders pounded into the stretch it was a three-horse race; Prendase was still on top, going all-out to hold off El Chama and Social Outcast.

Running on his own courage, Social Outcast had circled wide to reach the stretch and raced himself out. He faded and finished third. Aboard El Chama, Venezuela's leading jockey, Raul Bustamante, had rated his mount carefully and saved ground on the inside; now he moved up smartly. Prendase had enough left to make a fight of it, but not quite enough to get his head under the wire in front of the fast-driving El Chama.

After the finish photo was developed, the stunned crowd went back to its form charts and tried to figure just how it had overlooked those South American visitors. The Laurel band, to its credit, recovered first. "Let us all stand," stuttered an announcer as the band broke into Gloria al Bravo Pueblo. Someone had had the forethought to supply the music of the Venezuelan national anthem.