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PICKING UP AT BELMONT OVER TWO HUNDRED HORSES NOW STABLED AT THE NEW YORK TRACK. Most Fashionable Owners Have Strings Awaiting the Opening — Favor Starting at Belmont Park — Jamaica Would Only Be Curtain-Raiser. By F.d Cote. New York. February 27. — Belmont Park has often been termed the Newmarket of the United States and the comparison is not unfitting, with one exception: where tiiere is oi.e thoroughbred at Belmont there perhaps are twenty at Newmarket, but like the young cherry tree — it must be given time to giov.. At this writing there are approximately 200 horses at Belmont. Perhaps a few more. These belong to the most fashionable owners in the ranks. Including A. BeJaaaait, II. K. Knapp, Schuyler I,. Parsons, Congressman G. W. Loft, J. F. and i. D. Widener, W. B. Coe, B. T. Wilson and a few ether owners with shorter strings. As an idea of the extensive operations and a wk attached to wintering horses, the following list of stable occupants at Belmont Park may prove interesting: Stable 1 -George W. Loft, owner; M. llirsch, trainer; sixteen bones. B tabic 4 — August Belmont, owner; s. C. Hildreth, trairar: thirty-eight horses. Stable 5 — W. B. In". owner: Jerry Carroll, tr.iin-"r; sixteen horses. Stable 11 Gttford A. Ceehraa, owner; w. Midg-ley. trainer: twenty-four horses. Stibles 14-15 1. il. Widener, owner; Thomas Welch, trainer: thfarty-six horses. • Stable 10-21— Oneck Staid- and S. L. Parsons, owners; W. II. Karrick, trainer; forty horses. Stable 17 — B. T. Wilson, owner; Thomas J. lie; ley. raincr; twenty horses. Stable 20— G. 1. Widener. owner; A. J. Joyner, trainer: sixteen horses. All these horses are housed in the most comfortable barns and stalls enclosed in glass, in most install es to stand off th • cohl and biting winds that blow in their direction from the renowned Hempsted Plains. The place is simply a colony of horses and horsemen, all neighborly to a marked degree. Exorcising Horses Begins Early. Outside of work hours the men amuse themselves with all sorts of games when the weather permit*. It is :i case of early to bed and early to rise. Exercising tiie boraea begiaa early. By eight oclock in the morning scores of sprightly and sometimes unruly horses are Ining led or ridden around the tan-bark and straw tracks formed under the sheds, liiis is termed ""shed work" and is th- only method .: exercise which can be given while the frost is on the ground. "It is a mistaken Idea," said II. I. Peltz, the track superintendent, "that race hoi-s-es are kept nt strenuous exercise. They are simply kept healthy until sack times that they can be worked on the regulation track. The earliest that horses were ■v r Worked at B amoat in the pnat seven years was on February 22. This was three years ago. Barely have tiny been out before March 7 and it •s usually the scion I we k in March before the groond Is sufficiently soft to permit track work. It was March IS last year when the first horse was saddl d for a canter around the course. At the pit sent time there is foarteea inches of frost in to- graaad, lot as soon as are get the first iiidi-•ation of a thaw I put my harrows to work and in 1 couple of days every trainer starts outside duty. "Horsemen are mighty glad to get on the track. as they want to half their charges liadj for the opening of the season in April. If the winter is long and late they are at a disadvantage and thereby lose some of the early panes which would otherwise fall to them, but which are placed to the credit of horses in a mire forward condition through a campaign on the whiter tracks. I.a-1 ■eaaoa the boraea thai wintered mi the New Tart tracks were bite in preparatkta, but the probabilities and the hopes of the hot- eaaea are that the present cold spell will break soon and permit r.gdar outside work, as many of them are anxious to get their cheaper matt rial ready for the apt niag in Maryland the first week in April. Horses from Winter Quarters Expeoted Soon. "At the first sign of a weather break I shall have the track in working condition and the selling platers will begin their strenuous preparation. Nat -arillv l!i -tak- material will be prepared more -radiially. as their engagements will not have to be nut until the middle of Hay at the earliest. It will not be long after the weather changes that the ■tables will fill up with boraea from Charleston. Aiken. South Carolina. Virginia and other points ta get their final schooling over the courses on which they are to rice. Mr. Jennings will be here with about fifty belonging to A. K. Harsaaher. Some of the stables that have had winter racing at New Orleans and Havana will also come along. M isi all of the stalls on the ground have been applied for in anticipation of the opening of the si asoii." In alluding to the opening of the season, if a vote of horsemen and patrons were taken, there is little qaeetJon that Belmont Park would be the chosen point to atari 1017 operations. To open at Jamaica would be a sort of i urta in -raiser and could last only a few days owing to the general conclusion thai there will be racing at Belmont Park on Decoration Day. To open at Belmont would seem the proper thing if all ether .associations could be satisfied with What can be termed middle dales. There set ms to be ;i sligh; niuddl- in this regard which baa held back the publication of the schedule for the season. It is likely, however, thai the question will be definitely settled at the next meeting of the t wauls early next month.
