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Here and There on the Turf Belmont Meeting Success The Filly Championship Kentucky Stakes Closing Widener Jumping Stable With the running of the Belmont Stakes and tha National Stakes at Belmont Park this afternoon the twenty days meeting of tbe West chcster Racing Association will be brought to a close It has been a tremendously success ¬ ful meeting at the big Nassau County course though for a greater part of the meeting the weather was disagreeably cold and unseason ¬ able ableThe The meeting was one that had added impor ¬ tance in the fact that it was the first to have the new Widener Course in use There will bi many who cannot enthuse over this new course but no one has been found who does not agree that it affords a much more interesting spectacle than was afforded by the old straight course courseAnd And the horses seem to run better over this course that conies diagonally through the infield There has been less swerving in the races and in general form has been more closely conserved True some horses have shown a dislike for the new course but there were also several horses that showed a dislike for the old straight course The Widener Course is a straight one just as was the older racing ground groundAs As a matter of fact about the only objection that can be raised against the Widener Course is the difficult angle at the finish The spec ¬ tators on the lawns and in the stands will probably never be able to figure out the angle huccessfully but the placing judges themselves have no angle and there is no reason why they should make mistakes in the placing After awhile this will be thoroughly understood and the Widener Course will be correspond ¬ ingly more popular popularFor For the last day of the Belmont Park meet ¬ ing it is a wonderful program that has been prepared and it is safe to predict that with the promised favorable weather conditions the magnificent course will attract one of the greatest crowds ever assembled within its gates While there has been a disposition on the part of some to already decide the threeyear old filly championship with the running of the Pimlico Oaks the Kentucky Oaks and the Coaching Club American Oaks there is no good reason to reach a hasty decision decisionAs As a matter of fact these three stakes have fallen to three different winners It is true that the laurels thus far rest with Walter M Jeffords Edith Cavell for she beat the winners of the other two races Rapture beat Black Maria in the Pimlico Oaks and then at Chur ¬ chill Downs in a driving rainstorm Black Maria turned the tables on the Whitney filly decisively Edith Cavell was not started in cither of these races Then in the Coaching Club American Oaks Edith Cavell practically cantered home in front of these two fillies filliesThat That is all right up to this time but how about the Alabama Stakes That old Saratoga race must be decided before any filly is pro ¬ claimed the mistress of her year One might make a lucky guess at this time and name the immediate queen of them all but she is not secure on her throne until she has either won the Alabama Stakes or beaten the winner of the Alabama Stakes StakesThe The Pimlico Oaks coming first is a mile and a sixteenth dash Some of its most notable winners have been Milkmaid Cleopatra Care ¬ ful Nellie More and Maid at Arms ArmsThe The Kentucky Oaks is at a mile and an eighth at this time and in its long and honorable history the roster shows the names of such great fillies as Modesty Audience Kings Daughter and Sun Bonnet while there may be others found that properly belong among the great greatBut But seldom indeed has other than the best filly been the winner of the Alabama Stakes a mile and a quarter dash Some of the win ¬ ners beginning with the first Woodbine have been Thora Miss Woodford Bella B Sallie McClelland Beldame Tradition Mas kettc Ocean Bound Sun Bonnet Cleopatra Prudery and Maid at Arms last jear jearIt It is shown that in recent years Cleopatra and Sun Bonnet have figured in more than one of these and it must be admitted that each was queen of her time timeEdith Edith Cavell won the Belmont Park race so easily that she may be best of them all but history suggests thai not until after the run ning of the Alabama Stakes is there any good reason for proclaiming her the queen WTiile the Kentucky Jockey Club is par ¬ ticularly liberal in the matter of its stake offerings the early closing features are few But there are two of these features to be closed in July that are of vast turf importance These are the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes for 1927 and the Latonia Championship Stakes for 1928 These are fixtures that are too well known to racing to need much of an introduction and it is natural they should both be closed at the same time for the reason that the 1927 race is for twoyearolds while the Championship Stakes is for threeyearolds That means that they will to a great extent receive the same nominations nominationsThe The Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes is a mile dash for twoyearolds to be decided at Chur ¬ chill Downs in the fall to which 10000 is added bringing its estimated value to 35000 It is at weigh tf tfor or age and there arc awards to the original nominator who is usually the breeder breederThe The Latonia Championship Stakes is a mile and threequarters race to be run at Latonia in the fall and it has 15000 in added money which makes its estimated value in the neigh ¬ borhood of 50000 Like the twoyearold race it is at scale weights and it is a race that is aptly called the Championship Stakes com ¬ ing in the fall as it does doesEach Each year these stakes have attracted a notable list of entries and each race has an importance that demands a notable list The success of Joseph E Wideners cross ¬ country string during the Belmont Park meet ¬ ing has given that popular stable a good start for the year and it will be indeed a strong steeplechase stable that will head the popular colors at the end of the year It was a I calamity that the good horse Carabinier should have died suddenly after his best races in Canada but with this imported junior out of the way it makes the Widener chance in New York that much brighter brighterAt At Aqueduct and at Saratoga the Widener jumpers will have many another opportunity and if through those meetings success con ¬ tinues the colors will have a great importance
