Horse power

The thoroughbred,Overdose,pounded down the stretch at Budapests Kincsem Park on Sunday to extend his record to 12 wins in 12 races.....

The thoroughbred,Overdose,pounded down the stretch at Budapests Kincsem Park on Sunday to extend his record to 12 wins in 12 races,his jockey clad in the red,white and green of the Hungarian flag. And for an afternoon,the crowd of more than 20,000,along with all the Hungarians watching at home,could forget about the resignation of the prime minister and their currencys nosedive.

As times have gotten tougher,the 4-year-old Overdose has become the Hungarian Seabiscuit,a symbol of hope for Americans during the Great Depression.

This horse has a mission here in Hungary, said Zoltan Mikoczy,Overdoses owner,a cheerful,steel trader with a weakness for thoroughbreds.

It is hard to overstate the great pride that Hungary feels for Overdose. The country was already afflicted with high debt and anemic growth before the global credit crisis struck last fall,leading to a bailout by the IMF.

But now,instead of bailouts and bankruptcies,talks are centred on Overdoses new flashy Belgian jockey,Christophe Soumillon,who is married to a former Miss France,and on comparisons to the 19th-century Hungarian filly Kincsem,one of the greatest horses of all time who retired with an unblemished record in 54 races.

While Overdoses fame is not as great as Seabiscuits,his success may be even more surprising. Mikoczy,47,went to Newmarket,in Britain,in 2006. He put up his hand just for fun when the bidding for Overdose was merely about 3,500,never imagining that he would walk out with a thoroughbred for such a bargain.

Nor did anyone predict victories for the horse in Rome and Baden-Baden,Germany.

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Since Overdoses victory streak began,Mikoczy said,he has been offered 6.5 million for the horse,but has refused to sell. I didnt buy the horse to make a profit, he said. You do not sell dreams.

Overdose has been called the Wunderpferd,or Miracle Horse,in Germany and the Budapest Bullet in Britain. A writer at Britains Racing Post recently raved that he leaves the stalls with the overdrive already engaged.

But Overdoses one setback may have done more to cement his reputation in Hungary than his dozen straight victories. At the prestigious Prix de lAbbaye at Longchamp in Paris,Overdose appeared to win the premier sprint race. But the seeming victory was nullified because a malfunctioning gate prevented one of the other horses from starting.

Tivadar Farkashazy,a Hungarian journalist,compared the debacle to the Treaty of Trianon,signed in 1920 at Versailles,which whittled Hungarian territory down to a fraction of its size. Again the tough luck,again in France, said Farkashazy,who has also written a book about the horse.

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While the horse trains in Hungary,his owner is an ethnic Hungarian who lives across the border in Slovakia. There is a clear patriotic tilt to the horses reception. He rode out Sunday with an honour guard of six flag-bearing riders dressed as Hussars,the famous Hungarian light cavalry,as thousands screamed.

For us Hungarians,its a big deal, said Livia Nagy,23,one person who came out for the race.

The horses popularity has even attracted politicians. On Friday,Viktor Orban,chairman of the center-right Fidesz Party and a former prime minister who hopes to reclaim the job in next years election,turned up with a crowd of television cameras to pose with the star.

If I were a politician,I would do the same,because Overdose is one of the most famous persons in Hungary, said Zalan Horvath secretary, Association for the Future of Equestrian Sports in Hungary,even though he is a horse.