Sport: No Excuses Needed

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No Excuses Needed Before Pimlico's 75th anniversary Preakness† last week, Brookmeade Stable's Trainer Preston Burch was feeling pretty chipper. Burch was not only 1950's leading money winner, but he also had a sharp brown colt named Bold running for the second star in racing's triple crown. Burch confidently announced that Bold was "as fit as can be, and will have no excuses if beaten."

The crowd was not quite so sure. The post-time favorite (3-1) was the Greentree two-for-one entry (Hall of Fame and Big Stretch), which finished 9th and 18th in the Kentucky Derby. But a lot of the crowd's wiser money (4-1) believed in Burch and Bold for three good reasons: 1) Jockey Eddie Arcaro; 2) the sound hunch that Bold could have had a better ride when he lost to Alerted by a neck in the Preakness Prep earlier in the week; and 3) the fact that Bold had never run a bad race (three firsts and two seconds in five starts). As it turned out, the smart money had the situation cased just right.

Arcaro and Bold took the lead well before the first turn. In the backstretch, Bold was challenged for the lead by Jockey Pete McLean on Repetoire ("We were just up to Bold when Reppy started running rank . . . that old pedigree caught up with us. Arcaro, he sit still—real chilly"). Then, said Arcaro, "I didn't see any more of him. Bold let loose."

At the far turn, longshot (18-1) Know-itall made his bid and came within a head of the leader. Bold let loose again, left the field flatfooted, finished going away, a full seven lengths ahead of C. V. Whitney's Counterpoint (25-1). Bold's time for the mile-and-three-sixteenths: 1:56 2/5, second fastest in Preakness history (after Capot's 1:56 in 1949).