Arrangements were completed for Papyrus, champion English three-year-old colt, to invade America to run against America's champion. Papyrus will sail late this month and race after three weeks' acclimation.
Not only will Papyrus bring special fodder, but he will have his own English water, his stablemate Bargold, his little black stable cat, two stable boys, a trainer and Steve Donoghue, jockey.
There was such bickering over the financial arrangements that various Englishmen complained that Ben Irish, owner, was spelling sport with a dollar sign. They also averred that the race is a plan to deprive England of the breeding value of Papyrus by selling him across the ocean. Irish has already refused $200,000 for the horse.
Zev, black three-year-old of the Rancocas stables, last week virtually eliminated competitors for the honor of racing Papyrus by winning the Lawrence Realization Stakes at Belmont. He had already won the Kentucky Derby and the Withers.