Not many of the wise old railbirds liked Stymie's chances. Hadn't Assault come from behind to beat him the week before? Obviously Assault, undefeated in 1947, was the horse to beat, and one of the few hesitations the wise guys had was over those two unpredictable horses specially flown in from the Argentine and Brazil.
Strange reports had come from the workouts at Belmont Park. The bred-in-Argentina halfbrothers, Endeavor II and Ensueno, were being ridden without saddles, their peon exercise boys astride nothing more comforting than white sheets. Clockers and rival trainers were...