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BELMONT STAKES OF 1926 To Be Worth Between 5,000 and 5,000 Will Rank with Greatest of Classics. NEW YORK. N. Y., Nov. 14. The United States Is to have a permanent racing fixture worthy to rank with the greatest classics of other countries in the Belmont Stakes, which, commencing with the running of the prize for 1926, will, thanks to the liberality of the Westchester Racing Association, be worth between 5,000 and 5,000. The distance will be increased from a mile and three-eighths to a mile and a half and entries for the weanlings of the current year are due to close on Wednesday, November 28, at the office of the association. No. 66 West Fortieth Street. The following announcement from the office of president August Belmont of the Westchester Racing Association was made yesterday prior to the departure of that sportsman for a visit to his nursery Stud in Kentucky. "On account of the generous support given tothe Belmont Stakes by both breeders and owners, the 0,000 guaranteed value of the 1923 race was practically covered without material cost to the Westchester Racing Association. The Association has, therefore, decided to add 5,000 to the subscriptions of the 1926 race, making the Belmont Stakes an added money event for the future. This is approximately the sum added to the Epsom Derby. The distance is increased also from one mile and three-eighths to one mile and a half, making the race as to value, distance and period of the year equivalent to the English classic. "Based on the response of owners and breeders in the past the gross value when run in 1926 should be between 5,000 and 5,000.", In adding 5,000 to the Belmont Stakes the Westchester management is putting into practice the policy of liberality that has been manifest at every turn in the past and was to the fore recently when the result of the financial returns in connection with the International race were given to the public. The Belmont Stakes is one of the oldest and best three-year-old tests for thoroughbreds held in the United States. It has been a popular fixture ever since its creation in 1867 and should make new friends under the changed conditions which make it rank in value with the Epsom Derby and Grand Prix de Paris.
