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Here and There on the Turf New Belmont Park The Widener Course Promise at Woodbine Winn at Failmount Much has been written during the off season of what was going on at Bdinont Park but with all that has been written of the changes that will be found with the opening of the meeting on Friday there will be pleasant sur ¬ prises for the patrons patronsOf Of course the most important of all the changes is the building of the new straightaway that comes through the field diagonally in ¬ stead of being a long straight run parallel with the grandstand It goes without saying that this new course affords an infinitely better view of the running of the horses than was possible with the course that has been in use heretofore and at the same time it is a course that offers the same racing that was obtained with the old course courseThis This is only one of the many improvements1 that have been made by Joseph E Widener at Belmont Park since the close of the meeting of the Westchester Association last September Mr Widener when he set about making the magnificent racing ground of Nassau County more magnificent went about the job in a truly big way During the winter of 192425 wonders were accomplished and in the winter of 192526 still greater wonders were accom ¬ plished as far as the race tracks themselves were concerned It has been suggested that the new course be known as the Widener Course and it seems to be a compliment that is richly deserved by the man who brought it about aboutAnd And when the meeting of the Westchester Racing Association begins on Friday it will be with a somewhat different program than that which has marked every other opening of Belmont Park The big course took over the racing formerly conducted at Morris Park in the spring of 1905 and following the usual custom the Metropolitan Handicap was the opening day feature It is vividly remembered that in that initial Belmont Park running of the race Race King ran a dead heat with the mighty Sysonby SysonbyThe The Metropolitan Handicap has been a first day feature continuously for a considerably longer time than Belmont Park itself but this year there is a change and the Toboggan Han ¬ dicap is the opening day main race This seems to be a happy change for it appears i better arrangement to have the threequarters race precede the running of a mile race for a meeting held in May Undoubtedly most of the potential candidates for the Metropolitan Handicap would be ready for that race on May 21 but it is more to the liking of the trainers to have it set back ten days as is the case this year yearWhile While the Toboggan Handicap lacks some of the glamor of the Metropolitan Handicap it is really a year older than the mile stake race and its roster of winners contains the names of some of the greatest of American thorough ¬ breds It is natural that a mile race should be considered of greater importance and it is only the fact that the Toboggan Handicap is a threequarters dash that prevents its having a greater importance The Toboggan Handi ¬ cap was first run in 1890 when Fides was its winner The Metropolitan was first run in 1891 when Tristan won This year the re ¬ newal will be run over the new course and it will mark the first stake race over that racing ground It is a threequarters dash with 5000 added and there is a promise that a notable field will be seen under colors colorsIt It is expected that Joseph E Wideners Haste will make his first racing appearancs in this race taking a line on the brilliant manner in which he has been training And it would be fitting indeed if the first stake winner over the Widener Course should be a Widener colt Saturday marks the opening of the meeting of the Ontario Jockey Club at the old Wood bine Park course in Toronto Each year this meeting of the Ontario Jockey Club is a tre ¬ mendously big one in racing and the meeting so soon to be open will be no exception to that rule ruleOn On Monday at Woodbine Park the 510000 Toronto Cup Handicap is to be decided and it is one of the most coveted prizes of the short meeting This race is at a mile and an eighth and Mrs Yanderbilts Sarazen two times winner of the Dixie Handicap of the Maryland Jockey Club is at the top of the list under 129 pounds Next are found two of the Seagram hopes in Candy Kid a pur ¬ chase from H P Whitney under 123 pounds and Edisto is required to take up 122 pounds Joy Smoke and Chilhowee are at level weights of 120 each and these constitute the high weights of the race raceAnd And it will be a meeting where the cross ¬ country horses will have great opportunities as has been the custom at Woodbine Park The steeplechase offerings are of a character and value that will make the Canadian racing a serious competitor for the jumpers that are sought for crosscountry racing at Belmont Park ParkWith With a full knowledge of this competition the Westchester Association so arranged the sched ¬ ule of its steeplechase stakes that this conflict in dates would have the least effect At Bel ¬ mont Park the International Steeplechase is run Friday the day before the opening at Woodbine while all the other crosscountry stakes do not fall due until after the conclusion of the Canadian meeting meetingAfter After having stage one of the greatest races for the Kentucky Darby at Churchill Downs Col Matt J Winn has gone to Collins ville to look over ths Fairmount Jockey Club course which is preparing for its second meet ¬ ing There is no busier racing man than Colonel Winn with all his vast interests and his association with the Fairmount Jockey Club made that St Louis organization a club of big importance from the beginning beginningAs As soon as the meeting was concluded last year elaborate plans were decided upon for the 1926 meetings and all of these various plans have been carried out until all is in readiness for the opening of the meeting on May 29 29One One of the big features of the meeting is the Fairmount Derby which will have an added money value of 25000 and it will prob ¬ ably mark the next appearance of Edward R Bradleys Derby winner Bubbling Over It had been hoped that W T Andersons Carlaris would be ready to meet the big chestnut son of North Star III in this race and it may be possible for him to keep that engagement engagementAfter After the experience of attempting to train Carlaris before the infection had left his injured leg it has no wbeen decided that he will not be trained until it is positively known that the last vestige of that infection has been dispelled by the recent operation That may keep the colt away from the races for such a time that it will possibly be August before he can be brought back to the brilliant form he displayed at Tijuana Still he ma recover more quickly than was deemed probable probableChicago Chicago has its first taste of 1926 rasing today with the opening of the meeting of the Exposition Park Jockey Club at Aurora For a considerable time shipments of horses have been arriving at this Illinois racing ground until stabling has become a hard problem to solve And it has been remarked that the general class of the horses is better than has been the case in former years yearsThe The entries for the opening day tell of what is to be expected in a racing way and the Inaugural Handicap at a mile should prove 1 fitting feature with which to introduce the 1926 meeting j I
