Daylighted

A weather-wizened old rancher from west Texas stuffed $60,000 in his jeans and headed for the town of Del Rio on the Rio Grande River. He was going to bet the whole caboodle on the queen of quarter horses, a chestnut mare named Shue Fly.

He had no trouble getting the $60,000 down, even though pari-mutuel betting is illegal in Texas. On race day, a mixed lot of Mexicans, gaily-shirted cowpokes and bigtime cattle and oil men walked around the race grounds clutching $100 bills and hunting bettors. ''Two hundred even on Princess". . . . "A hundred says Shue Fly daylights Princess" (meaning Shue Fly would win with daylight between her and her rival). It was so hot--110DEG--that men lined up in the shade of telephone poles and women held wet towels over their heads. By lunch time, even without pari-mutuel windows, $300,000 in bets was at stake.

At 2 o'clock the two fleet mares were ridden out onto the dusty alkali-white track. It was Texas' biggest quarter-horse, or "short," race in years: a match race between the two best short racers in the Southwest. In a box by the rail sat the three Hepler brothers of Carlsbad, N.Mex. They own Shue Fly, a true quarter horse--chunky, big-muscled, able to travel short distances (a quarter of a mile) with blinding speed. They had put up a $15,000 side bet, and most of the oldtimers went with them on Shue Fly.

No Bumps, No Fouls. Close by, as the horses lined up for the start, sat Millionaire Cattleman Robert Kleberg, who had passed up a chance to see his great horse Assault win the $40,000 Grey Lag Handicap at New York's Jamaica track. He had posted his $15,000 on Miss Princess, the race track horse he had converted to quarter horsing. Unlike Shue Fly, who is really a glorified range horse and bred for short racing, Princess was royally sired (by Kentucky Derby winner Bold Venture). She had once flashed dizzy speed on regulation race tracks--but couldn't seem to go farther than half a mile and win. To avoid bumping or foul play in the match race of the year, a special rail had been built straight down the middle of the quarter-mile straightaway, making it a two-lane track. The race started with a roar from the crowd: "Look at 'em come."

For the next 22.3 seconds everyone held his breath. Almost before anybody knew it, four-year-old Princess had daylighted Shue Fly by a length and a half and huge sums of money were changing hands.

After the race. Winner Bob Kleberg walked over to the Hepler Brothers and offered them $10,000 for Loser Shue Fly. He was politely turned down. Then he issued a friendly invitation that was accepted. Next morning, gallant ten-year-old Shue Fly, her quarter-horsing days over, was shipped to Kleberg's 875,000-acre King ranch, there to be bred to Kentucky Derby winner Bold Venture.

Maryland too had its horse race of the year. The Preakness (second of racing's Big Three for three-year-olds) offered new proof that in 1947 there are four of them who stand out above all the rest, but not yet above each other. The horses that finished one-two-three-four in the Preakness (Faultless, On Trust, Phalanx and Jet Pilot) had finished three-four-two-one in the Kentucky Derby. Faultless' $98,005 Preakness purse was the biggest ever won by a three-year-old. Next: the Belmont Stakes.

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