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NEXT YEARS ATTRACTIONS GENERAL INCREASE IN STAKE RACE VALUES INDICATED IN ALL SECTIONS. Westchester and Saratoga Associations First in the Field with Tempting Offerings of Stakes to Close Soon. Already owners are invited to consider making engagements for their horses in stake races of importance to be run next year. This is a delicate business, requiring the exercise of careful consideration and sound judgment. The advance lists of events to close are ofTered by the "Westcehster Racing Association and the Saratoga Association for the Improvement of the Breed of Horses. An increased money value to the stakes to be offered by the Westchester Racing Association for its spring meeting at Belmont Park proves the confidence felt by the powers that be in racing that the sport is certain to prosper and grow in New York. These stakes will be closed next Wednesday, November 15, and there has been a raise in value to almost every one of them. To start with, the historic Metropolitan Handicap, run for the first time at the old Morris Park course in 1891, and won then by Tristan, which beat the swayback, Tenny. The Metropolitan will be the big opening feature on a date yet to be allotted when the dates are given out by the Jockey Club, and already many followers of the turf who saw the season close too early last autumn are looking forward to the opening in the spring. Last spring the Metropolitan had .,000 added money, but at the next running of this race there will be a guaranteed value of 5,000 for the good handicap horses to go after. This big spring event is eligible to horses three years olds and over, with an entrance fee of 0, starters to pay 00 additional. With the number of good handicap horses that have shown during the racing season of 1910, it may be that the value will run over the ,000 guaranteed, 00 of which is to go to the second horse and 00 to the one finishing third. The race will be over the- mile course, but originally it was at a mile and an eighth. The distance was cut down to the mile in 1897, in -which year it was won by Voter, the first -three-year-old to take it. This years Metropolitan was won by The Finn, which again may be a candidate- in next springs race. The Ladies Handicap, for fillies and mares three years old and over at one mile, has an added value of ,500, the same as last spring, this being one of the few events that have not been increased. The Toboggan Ilnndicap, however, which is a sprint over three-quarters down the; straight, will have ,000 added money as against the ,500 given for the last running of this event, which was taken by James Butlers High Noon. The Toboggan is even older than the Metropolitan, having first been run over the old Morris Park course in 1890, when it was won by Fides. Other smaller stakes which have been increased in value are the Harlem, a selling handicap at a mile; the Amateur Cup, a highweight selling race at u mile for gentlemen riders, and the Hollis, another selling affair for sprinters over the three-quarters route. Eacli of these events has a guaranteed value of ,500 instead of the 00 given last spring. The Suburban, originally run over the old Sheeps-head Bay course and first won by General Monroe in 1884, is another race that has been taken over and featured by the Westchester Racing Association at Belmont Park. Last spring this event, which was won by Mr. Belmonts great three-year-old Friar Rock, since retired to John E. Maddens Hamburg Place breeding establishment, had ,500 added by the association. Next year will show an increase of 00 in value in added money. This race is for three-year-olds and over at a mile and u quarter, with an entrance fee of 5 and 5 additional to starters. Owners of yearlings will be attracted by four events with greater money values than the majority of those for older horses. These are the Juvenile, .the Keeue Memorial, the Fashion and the Bouquet stakes. The Juvenile, which was first run at the old Jerome Park track in 1874, later transferred to Morris Park and still later put on at Belmont Park in 1905, has not been increased, but has a guaranteed value of ,000. This is for two-year-olds to go over the five-eighths route, while the Keene Memorial, instituted at Belmont Park in 1913, and first won by the Oak Ridge Park Stables Stake and Cap, is another ,000 guaranteed stake at five and u half furlongs. The Fashion Stakes, which is for fillies, now yearlings, has a guaranteed value of ,500, and is down the five-eighths straightaway. The Bouquet, a selling stake for two-year-olds over the five-eighths straight course, has been increased from ,000 to ,500 guaranteed. In addition to the above closings for yearlings, entries also will close on Wednesday for the Belmont, for three-year-olds, over a mile and three-eighths, to be run in 1918. Instead of ,000 guaranteed value, such as the Belmont carried this year, there will be ,500 guaranteed for the 1918 running of this event. The Withers is another stake for yearling entries to run as three-year-olds in 1918 over the mile route. This stake also has been increased from ,500 to ,000. Blanks also have been sent out by the Westchester Association for entries of weanlings, yearlings and two-year-olds for the Lawrence Realization, to be run in 1917, 1918 and 1919, respectively. Next year this race will have ,000 added by the association. In 1918 there will be ,000 added money, and in 1919 there will be added ,000. The distance of the Realization also will be put back to a mile and five-eighths in 1918, at which it was inaugurated at the Sheepshead Bay course by the Coney Island Jockey Club in 1889. This event was revived last fall and run at a mile and a quarter, with the announcement that the distance would be increased in other years. Other stakes for which entries must be made this month for the coming season of racing, are those of the Saratoga Association, which close on Monday, November 27. As in the case of the Westchester Racing Association, increases in purses have been announced by the Saratoga Association. Most notable of the stakes to be run for at Saratoga is. the Hopeful, for two-year-olds, and which has a. guaranteed value of 5,000. This is an increase of ,500 over the value of 7,500 guaranteed last summer, at which time the value to the winner reached 8,850, making this the richest stake run : for on the American turf at the present time. The United States Hotel Stakes and the Grand Union- -Hotel Stakes each have a guaranteed value of ,500. The Spinaway, for fillies, will be ,000 guaranteed, and the Grab Bag Handicap will be ,500. The other Saratoga stakes will not be closed until next March.
