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Here and There on the Turf Belmont Park Features. 1 Churchill Downs Racing. 1 Eastern Three-Year-Olds. . Prospects for good racing at Belmont Park were never brighter. On the eve of the opening of the meeting it appears that more horses will be available for racing there than is usual at the big Nassau County course. Several of the larger Kentucky stables have left divisions in the East for the stake races of the Belmont Park meeting. This will give an intersectional flavor to the racing, which is generally lacking on metropolitan tracks. The opening days card includes the Nursery Handicap, with ,500 added, a three-quarters dash, for two-year-olds, and the Manhattan Handicap, with ,500 added, a mile race for all ages. The Rancocas Stables Zev, a development of Sartoga racing, will be the top weight in the Nursery Handicap. Mr. Vos-burgh rated August Belmonts crack Messenger one pound better than Zev, but Messenger will not start. All of the crack eastern two-year-olds are engaged, and it seems assured that enough of them will start to make a contest well worth seeing. There has been a considerable readjustment of the weights of the handicap horses engaged in the Manhattan Handicap because of Saratoga racing. Grey Lag is the top weight, with 135 pounds, with his stablemate, Mad Hatter, only one pound under that figure. Exterminator, which drew such crushing imposts in all the early season handicaps, is in well at 133 pounds, and if he has recovered his spring form should give a good account of himself. The winner of the Saratoga Cup will have to pick up a five-pounds penalty for winning the Manhattan. In any case, the opening days program should draw a record-breaking crowd to the big Long Island track, as metropolitan racegoers always show an exceptional interest in the return of the thoroughbred after the Saratoga interval. Many who never visit the course on any other day will turn out for the first days sport. To Chicagos faithful followers of the turf the resumption of Kentucky racing is welcome. After a fashion they hold it to be home racing. Formerly autumn racing in Kentucky suffered in comparison with the spring and early summer racing at Lexington, Louisville and La-tonia. But, barring the annual excitement over the decision of the Kentucky Derby, such is not the case now. At each of these major tracks there are now well established stake races which command the attention and participation of the leading owners of this broad land. In a happier day to come, perhaps, Chicago and St. Louis may offer further enticements of great weight. But that is in the future. Immediately the Louisville meeting opens at Churchill Downs today. The promise of excellent racing is appealing and sure of fulfill 1 1 ment. Ten days have been allotted to Churchill Downs, days sure to be replete with interesting occurrences. Quite surely a large part of the daily attendance will be made up of pilgrims from Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and other near-by cities in states other than Kentucky. The principal stake race of the meeting will be the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, at a mile, for two-year-olds, with 0,000 added. It will be run on Saturday, September 9, and conspicuous among its 123 present eligibles appear the names of Zev, Goshawk, Cherokee, Martingale, Cartoonist, Sun Thistle, Newmarket, Bud Lerner, McKee, Dust Flower, Donges, Canmore, Golden Rule, Enchantment, Flagstaff, Oresta, Barbary Bush and Untidy, so none of the elements of a memorable contest over a stamina testing distance are lacking. The Lawrence Realization, to be run Saturday, September 9, should mean a partial solution of the three-year-old muddle. It cannot mean the decision of the championship, except as to the Eastern three-year-olds, but the best of these will undoubtedly face the barrier if the track is fast. . One of the marked deficiencies of the top-notchers in the 1922 crop, of three-year-olds seems to be inability to show well in heavy going. With the exception of Kai-Sang, none of the hading candidates can be considered at home in soft going. Some of them will undoubtedly develop mud-running ability later on. It may be that because of the present high prices which can be obtained for live three-year-old trainers and owners are rather inclined to take no chances with their pets when the track is slippery and treacherous.
