Taking Alec by the arm, he moved him quickly up the driveway. “This been going on all day?” he asked.

“Since eight o’clock,” Alec said.

“How is he?”

“All right. No one got close to him.”

They went into the barn, and Alec was on his way to the stallion when he heard Henry ask, “What’s this story Jim Neville’s got about your racing the Black in the International?”

Turning to Henry, Alec saw the concern so evident in his face. “Abu had entered the Black in the race,” he said.

“I know that,” Henry returned curtly. “I read the column. But did you actually tell Neville you’d go through with it?”

“Yes, I did, Henry. I felt I had to do it for Abu. He wanted it that way.”

“What a guy wants and what he can actually have are two different things,” Henry said quickly. “I don’t care how much Abu wanted to see the Black in the International, he couldn’t have raced that horse. How many times do I have to tell you, Alec, that the Black wasn’t meant to set foot on a track with other stallions? Don’t you believe me?”

Alec didn’t reply, so Henry went on, “You’re thinkin’ that maybe you can handle him in spite of everything … the other stallions, the crowd, everything that goes along with a big race. Is that it?”

“I—I guess so, Henry.”

“Maybe you can, Alec.” Henry’s voice was softer now. “And then again, maybe you can’t. I wouldn’t like to watch you find out.”

“But I did it in Chicago,” Alec said quietly.

“You didn’t, Alec,” Henry corrected. “You had no control over him once he got on that track. He fought you, and you know that as well as I do. It was only by the grace of God that you weren’t hurt and no one else was either. And he hasn’t changed a bit since then … maybe he’s worse for all we know. He’s wild and uncontrollable under those conditions, Alec.”

“Then you don’t want me to race him in the International,” Alec said.

“He’s your horse. I’m just advising you not to do it. For your good as well as for the others in the race … and for the Black, too. Only harm could come of it.” Henry paused. “He has all the natural speed in the world, Alec. But, as I’ve told you many times, his instinct is to fight other stallions, not race ’em. And what about the farm, Alec? What about all your talk?”

“But I do want the farm, Henry. I want to take the Black there more than anything else in the world. But don’t you see,” he pleaded, “I know now that Abu meant to race him in the International … that he made a promise he intended to keep. I feel it’s my job to keep his promise for him.” Alec paused. “And Jim Neville said, too, that I owed it to the sport … that it wouldn’t be right to let the people down.”

“Sure, he said that,” Henry returned. “And maybe he’s right. But they don’t know the Black as well as we do.