Leslie Howard flew to Manhattan for the day from Toronto, where she was competing with the USET, to win her fourth Grand Prix of New York at the National. "I think it was worth it," Howard said with a grin after taking the $18,000 first prize on the Irishbred Cloverleaf.

The $75,000 Budweiser fixture, a qualifier for next year's World Cup finals in Las Vegas, was the climax of the National, run over Pepe Gamarra's intriguing course. Seven made it into the jump-off in the flower-decked arena, where Todd Minikus on the handsome Oldenburg Playboy was the first to score a clean round. "It was definitely an advantage going after Todd, because he's such a fast rider and it told me what I had to do, which was basically flat-out," said Leslie, who hit the gas pedal to edge him by 0.59 seconds. "I'm not the first guy she's beat up on,'' joked Minikus.

Others gaining honors in the jumper division were Jimmy Torano, leading rider, and Ireland's Kevin Babington, leading foreign rider. Shown are Leslie and Todd good-naturedly rehashing their rounds after the class. Leslie, by the way, said she is a big admirer of Todd's bay gelding, whose career she has been following since the horse came to this country from Germany earlier this year.

Text by Nancy Jaffer, photo by Lawrence Nagy