Evening star., 1947-03-01

MIAMI, Fla, Mar. III never
thought would fall in love with q
race horse.
I thought that was an alteration
enjoyed only by crumbling ole
white-haired Kentucky colonels whe
made up their track losses by posing
hand-in-hand with mint juleps fol
the whisky ads.
And here I am head-over- heels
crazy about a horse, crazy as Little
Boy Blue over his little toy dog.
The horse is named Armed, and
he is the sweetest thing on hoofs
that ever ran in circles. Old timers
can have their pacing Dan Patch,
middle timers are welcome to Man
O. War. I'll take Armed-on a wet
or dry track.
The people who hang out at race
courses have a lot of reasons for
thinking this 6-year -old campaigner
is the, greatest gelding that ever
lived. They point out that he has
been In the money in 80 out Of "A
starts They say If he wins at
Santa Anita in California this aft
ernoor1 he may pick up enough
change to pass Whirlaways record
and become the greatest money
maker. Of all time.
Affection Isn't Necessary.
But I don't care about his Dun &
Bradstreet rating. My affection
isn't even based on the $3.50 he has
won for me in two races because
that isn't even chicken feed in Flor
ida. The chickens here won't even
peck at anything smaller than a
$40 bill.
No, I just go for the way Armed
runs. You don't have to be a race
track fan to get thrill out of this
little brown horse with the long
black tail. Twice I watched him
come in first, and each time he gave
me the spinal shivers you get from
reading a line of good poetry or
watching line of marching soldiers
Armed has personality as well
as speed. He has the best head on
q horses body since Chiron, the
wisest centaur, pounded the hills of
Thessaly.
I stood next to Mrs. Doug Dodson,
wife of the man up on Armed in the
s50,000 Widener Handicap last Sat-
urday, and learned that a jockey
suffers much less than his watching
frau during a race.
Mrs. Dodson is about convinced
that horse racing really began in
America only when Armed first
went to the post.
Armed Has No Temperament.
Hes wonderful" she said. Hes
terribly strong and only Willie
apparently her pet name for Doug
"can really handle him.
ARMED isn't temperamental,
though. Nothing bothers him. He
always knows what he is doing"
Then somebody yelled They're
off," and Mrs. Dodson-a pretty dig
nihed woman who knew she would
get to go to California with her hus-
band If Armed won-began jumping
up and down like pogo stick,
shouting:
Come on, Willie! Come on, Will
liel"
And willie" did, riding almost
straight up in his stirrups. Armed,
who usually worries the bettors by
hanging back little at the start,
took quick lead. The horses were
a blur on the back stretch, and
Armed still led on the last turn.
Runs Effortlessly.
Whipping down the home stretch
he sped in muscled rhythmic beauty.
He ran effortlessly and daintily, is
heavy chest and body almost float
ing, his legs churning the dust in
light delicate thrusts like notes of
music.
AS he streamed over the finish
line with a new track record I
could almost see my S. on his nose
ard the $1.25 profit riding on the
end Of the glossy black tail feather
ing the air like a victorious banner.
AS Armed strolled off the track
he stuck out his tongue for his share
Of the $4,000 purse-the two Jumps