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Here and There on the Turf Widener Course Success Quality of Sarmaticus Case of Osmand Haste Disappoints Until there was actual racing over the new Widener Course at Belmont Park there was naturally some apprehension over the change It is natural that such a radical change would cause some apprehension Now that the ac ¬ tual test of the course came on Friday with he opening of the meeting of the Westchester Racing Association it can be pronounced the best straight course ever constructed in this country countryThe The fact that the racing strip is a new one with hardly enough time to have become sea ¬ soned means that it will improve as it ages but that has only to do with the track sur ¬ face Its direction width and adaptability to the best straight course racing have all been proved provedIn In the three races that were run over the course Friday it was observed that the horses ran straight and true and there was none of the swerving that so often marred the racing over the old straight course There is ample room to pull up the horses after the finish and it is a course that affords a great spec table that was utterly lost with the old course But there will be many a complaint possibly when the finishes are drawn fine By reason of tho finish line being on the new strip it is at an altogether unusual angle to the lawns and the stands Thus it will come that from time to time it will be hard to agree with the placing of the horses horsesThe The regular patrons who have some knowl ¬ edge of the deceptive angle will probably become expert in splitting them out even at the present angle but it will take some time to thoroughly understand just how deceptive the angle is to those in the stands and on the lawns lawnsBut But the course is a good one It is sure to be a better one when it matures and it is sure lo make for better racing through the straight While there was some surprise when Robert L Gerrys Sarmaticus was the winner of the Toboggan Handicap on Friday it was not altogether surprising to students of form George Odom had given the son of Sarmatian a careful preparation for the race and those who went back to the Belmont Park racing of last spring would have discovered that the same colt had shown a decided liking for the straight course He was a winner in a big field as a twoyearold and he was also a particularly speedy sort of a colt early in the year Those were two lines that were avail ¬ able through a study of the charts Some bet ¬ ter horses might readily be beaten by Sarmati ¬ cus when asked to meet him over a straight course It was another case of courses for horses and horses for courses Ostnand which was a winner at the first asking for Joseph E Widener is one of the colts in that big racing establishment that was not highly enough thought of as a yearling to be continued in the various engagements to which he had been nominated Like Bubbling Over he was declared from almost all of his engagements Then just for that he de ¬ veloped speed this spring that enabled him to beat every other twoyearold that Ham Keenc has in his string stringDemand Demand is a dashing big chestnut son of Sweeper and Ormonda by Superman and he is ono that was bred by Mr Widener He is gifted with exceedingly large bone which makes him appear almost coarse and he was sent to the races carrying plenty of flesh His first racing effort saw him under a drive a part of the way and the manner in which he responded pronounced him a good and game colt coltIt It is expected that some of the others that Keene has will outrun Osmand later in the year but at this particular time he is cock of the roost and he has that sturdy mold that may keep him right on top of them all Then of course there will be general regret that he was not more promising as a yearling so that he would have been continued in his engage ¬ ments Gwyn Tompkins began his Belmont Park campaign rather well with the Brookmeadc horses though he did not saddle a winner In the International Steeplechase his Fredden Rock was a good second to Joseph E Wideners Fairmount Then in the Toboggan Handicap Rock Star was a good second to Sarmaticus His third was when Santrock finished third to Osman and Never Again in the race for maiden twoyearolds at the end of the pro ¬ gram gramRather Rather a pleasing beginning in three starts two seconds and a third They were races to suggest that trainei Tompkins has his horses on edge and he will undoubtedly give the Brookmeade Stable a becoming prominence on the New York turf The performance of Joseph E Wideners flaste in the running of the Toboggan Handi ¬ cap was a bit disappointing in the light of what he had shown in preparation for that race but he did not have the best of luck in its running Right at the start Lucky Play by an unfortunate swerve interferred with Whiskalong Haste and Galetian Haste ran up into a close contending position but when he was thoroughly beaten in the last eighth Sande properly cased him up and did not punish him unnecessarily unnecessarilyHaste Haste will in all probability next be seen in the running of the Withers Stakes at a mile to be run Wednesday and he will proba ¬ bly show to better advantage It is hoped that in this famous old threeyearolds race he will meet Pompey
