view raw text
IMPROVEMENTS AT BELMONT 1 Main Track Resurfaced and Paddock Inclosure Beautified. Carpenters Busy Inclosing Stables for Winter Colony Additional Quarters for Itancocas String. 4 NEW YORK, N. T., November 20. Taking advantage of the fine weather this fall superintendent Pels of the Westchester Racing Association has carried to completion the resurfacing of the main track at Belmont Park, and has well under way other improvements planned by the management. That a splendid job has been done on the course is apparent at a glance and such experienced trainers as Thomas Welsh and A. J. Joyner pronounce it in perfect condition. No expense was spared in attaining the result which earned this tribute from these horsemen. Mr. Pels first scraped the course till the surface was as level as a billiard table. The soil which was removed he thoroughly screened, removing all stones and grit. This screened soil was incorporated with top soil on the property which had been treated in like manner. The new soil was a sandy loam. A mixture of these soils was made and the footing is now light and resilient, with a cushion that breaks the jar and will keep horses going soundly in their work. Within the next two weeks Mr. Pels will cover the track with manure for the winter. This manure will not only stop soil blowing, but when thoroughly rotten and amalgamated with the soil will give the course a life that will add much to the safety of training operations and be a contributing influence in the establishing of fast records. A portion of the track was treated this way last winter arid it harrowed like an ash heap in the spring. With an abundance of of long-straw manure available the ment determined to continue the treatment this fall. CHANGES IN PADDOCK. Visitors will find the already beautiful paddock at Belmont Park improved by the removal of tho wooden building which served as a saddling shed in bad weather. This structure obstructed tho view of tho old Manice property, part of the AVest-chester holdings, and now under lease to the Turf and Field Ciub. The impression of spaciousness is heightened by the change, and when the spring time rolls around again the horses will be found walking about in a tree-encircled ring with the dark green of the pines and spruces for a background. The new saddling building will be reconstructed facing the paddock proper, with its back 1 against the private stable of A. K. Macom-ber. Carpenters are busy inclosing stables at the Hempstead end of the property in preparation for the coming winter. R. L. Gerry has a thirty-stall inclosure. The Log Cabin stable, in which W. Averill Harriman is interested, has one of fifteen stalls and Samuel C. Hildreth is completing an additional stable for the Rancocaa Stable. Mr. Gerry will build an ,900 cottage. The Greentrec and Oak Ridge stables have cottages that cost 0,000 or more, while the private stable of A. K. Macomber, which has a covered track a quarter of a mile in circumference, cost 0,000 when it was built some years ago.
