More Than 'Just a Good Mudder'

One of my major sports surprises occurred one Sunday morning in May 1966. It was a story in The New York Times that reported Kauai King on the preceding afternoon had won the 92^nd edition of the Kentucky Derby.

Only two weeks earlier, I had seen and written about this same son of the famed Native Dancer, owned by Michael Ford, splash through mud at the Bowie Race Track in Maryland. He had gone on to capture the 1/16^th-mile $118,500 Governor's Gold Cup. His winning margin was a substantial three lengths.

"Just a good mudder," I thought to myself. Until that success, Ford apparently wasn't even sure about entering the victor in the Derby. But he actually sounded sure after his impressive Bowie triumph.

Moments after he entered the Maryland track's winners' circle, he suddenly made his intentions clear. "My horse will be a starter in the Derby," he declared.

I thought, as I heard him, that hoping to do well in the Derby, to be held two weeks later, was an exceptionally tall order. I felt few, if any, thoroughbreds who had competed at Bowie ever got to Louisville to race in the Run for the Roses. One reason was that the track, founded in 1914, was mostly a wintertime track.

Racing trainers to the north, such as Pimlico in Baltimore; Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga in New York, and Suffolk Downs in Boston, among others, have their top stock races in the warmer weather months, to report on the Governor's Cup event. Bowie, about 15 miles north of D.C., was no Belmont Park. It was a modest-size track, the only Eastern one that operated in the winter.

The Wood Memorial, a traditional tune-up for the Kentucky Derby, was being held that same afternoon at Aqueduct, a 30-minute subway ride from Times Square. In contrast, the Wood had served as tune-ups for winners who had gone on to win the Derby.

Rae Kelly, our sports editor, decided that both stakes events - the Wood Memorial and the Governor's Gold Cup - should be covered by staff. So off went our Steve Cady to Belmont Park that day to report on the Wood, which carried a value of $114,500, a big number for the sport in those days.

I was told to head for Maryland, although it was generally conceded by racing's cognoscenti that the Wood's starters represented a much stronger field than the entries at Bowie. As it developed, Amberoid, who went on to win the Wood that day, proved no match for Kauai King two weeks later in Kentucky.

With the capable Bill Boland in the saddle, Ameroid, who started from the rail, finished sixth in the subsequent Derby, trailing the victorious Kauai King by more than three lengths in finishing sixth. The victor's winning margin was 1-2 lengths over Mrs. Ada L. Rice's second-placing Advocator.

Kauai King's victory was a front-going one. Donald Brumfeld, who also had the leg up on the Ford star at Bowie, immediately sent his mount to the front in the Derby. He kept him there, shaking off a challenge by Quita approaching the far turn and by Advocator in the run down the stretch.

The winner went on to win the Preakness, the second leg in racing's Triple Crown. He finished the year with eight victories in a dozen starts.

There was no doubt as that racing year wound down that Kauai King's successful campaign was triggered by his victory the previous April at Bowie. As a juvenile, he had won only once in four outings, earning a mere $6,120. As a 3-year-old, when purses for key races were much lower than today, his take-home pay was $381,392.

The Bowie track? It ceased operations in 1983 because, being so close to Washington, traffic in the area had become too heavy. It is now being used only for schooling horses.