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PROVIDE FOR THE JUMPERS — — ■ — ♦ Belmont Terminal Becomes Permanent Chase Training Ground. ♦ g Westchester Racing Association Plans to Encourage Crosscountry Sport. ♦ NEW YORK. N. T., May 1— That the sport of .steeplechasing in this country is due for an expansion that will place it where it rightfully belongs as a racing test is evident from recent happenings. The latest and most important of these is the establishment at Belmont Park Terminal of a permanent development ground for steeplechasers by the Westchester Racing Association. President Joseph E. Davis of the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association has been largely instrumental in the importation of desirable jumping material this spring. Some of the horses have been already contracted for by enthusiasts who needed little encouragement to become active participants instead of onlookers in a branch of sport •which numbers its devotees by the hundreds of thousands all over the world. RICH JUMPING STAKES AT BELMONT. Mr. Davis has found a powerful ally in the person of president August Belmont of the Westchester Racing Association and crosscountry conditions may be confidently expected to show improvement. , The Westchester management has always shown its willingness to promote the highest type of cross-country racing. The Charles L. Apple-ton Memorial and Brook Handicap Steeplechases, each of a value of 0,000, run at Belmont Park annually, are two of the richest cross-country events decided in the United States. It was with a desire to be still more useful to the cause of steeplechasing that the association decided to make Belmont Terminal a permanent developing ground for horses of the cross-country type. This beautiful property contains about 150 acres and . is available as a high-class realty site. The sacrifice made in the interest of sport is one that should not be overlooked by horse- men and the followers of racing in general. "This is the biggest and best thing that could have happened for racing in general," said Mr. Davis yesterday, after he had been notilied of the decision. INFLUENCE ON BREEDING. "The maintenance of such a fine field for the development of our cross-country- horses cannot fail to have a stimulating effect on racing and bloodstock breeding. That the course will be kept in the same fine condition as the track for flat racing at Belmont Park with no restrictions as to the training hours, should make friends not only among those at present engaged in steeplechasing. but in the rank and file of the owners and trainers, who will now be encouraged to develop promising material which under former conditions would never be asked to take an obstacle. "In perfecting the Terminal Mr. Belmont recognizes the importance of steeplechasing, and in exacting no fee the Westchester management has once more lived up to its claim that sport is the main consideration where they are concerned. "The Terminal plant will relieve the Belmont Park course, which will be used for the actual tests of racing only. The matter of upkeep and the care of the grounds will be placed in the hands of a committee of three superintendent H. I. Pels and two representative trainers who know the requirements of steeplechasing. ■Suggestions of a constructive nature will be welcomed and it is our hope that a new eia oi" cross-country racing will dawn, bringing a sportsmanship that will make steeplechasing ;.s enduring and delightful a pastime here as it is abroad." A
