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Here and There on the Turf Moving to Belmont Paving the Old Debts Prospects for Woodbine Color Sergeants Failure The opening of Belmont Park is al ¬ ways a big day for racing It is one of the most important changes of the spring season when the sport moves from the little Jamaica course of the Metropolitan Jockey Club to the big and magnificent Nassau County racing grounds of the Westchester Racing Association It is not only a big change in the matter of the magnificence of the surroundings but also a change of great importance in the racing that is offered offeredThe The Metropolitan Jockey Club or any other racing association that begins a racing campaign has something of a dis ¬ advantage The opening act on a bill is I never a choice position and it is not a place that Is chosen by the stars Apart from the uncertainty of the weather for the opening of the racing season there are always many of the best of the rac ¬ ing stars that wait until later before putting in an appearance No matter what the inducements the early May rac ¬ ing will never bring out all of the best ones There will always be some that will wait until the weather is more set ¬ tled and until they have been more thoroughly fitted for racing racingThat That is one reason why Belmont Park year after year brings out threeyear j olds that have not been raced in either the Preakness Stakes of the Maryland Jockey Club or the Kentucky Derby of the Kentucky Jockey Club These two early spring races are truly alluring but they are run so much earlier than the Belmont Stakes that it is natural they do not attract all of the best The Preak ness Stakes was run May 9 at Pimlico and the Derby followed on May 14 at Churchill Downs while the Belmont Stakes is not to be decided until June 11 at Belmont Park ParkMany Many of the starters in the two earlier races are eligible to the Belmont Stakes and doubtless one of them will be sent to the post but there were two notable absentees from each of these races that are pointing for the Belmont Stakes These are Joseph E Wideners Chance Shot and Harry Payne Whitneys Valor ¬ ous It is pretty generally reported that Chance Shot is the master of Osmand and Kiev the pair that started for Mr Widener in the Kentucky Derby just as Valorous is rated a better colt than either Bostonian which won the Preak ¬ ness Stakes for Mr Whitney or Whis ¬ kery his stablematc which followed that stable triumph with a victory in the Ken ¬ tucky Derby Just how popular will be the taking over of the affairs of the Illinois Jockey Club by Col Matt J Winn and his asso ¬ ciates may be readily appreciated when at this time all creditors of the initial meeting of last year are being paid as quickly as they present their claims claimsThese These obligations were a part of the purchase price and while the whole amount was a large one when it is con ¬ sidered that with Washington Park and Lincoln Fields so closely linked together the move was an excellent one It as ¬ sures that practically under one control there will be an arrangement of the rac ¬ ing that will make for better sport sportElaborate Elaborate plans have been made for the meeting at Washington Park which follows immediately after the present meeting at Aurora and from Washington Park it is only a step to Lincoln Fields Thus after the long Chicago racing sea ¬ son is under way the horsemen will be enabled to take up something like per ¬ manent quarters until well into the fall The shipping of horses from one course to another apart from the possible in ¬ jury to horses is always expensive and when it is possible to have short trips it is only a question of leading a horse from Washington Park to Lincoln Fields or Hawthorne it is greatly to be desired desiredMany Many of the horses will probably re ¬ main at Washington Park right through the Lincoln Fields meeting and be sent over to fill engagements just as various of the New York trainers select a per ¬ manent training ground for the year and van horses to the course at which a meet ¬ ing is being conducted Altogether with the clearing up of the last years in ¬ debtedness of the Illinois Jockey Club the formation of the Illinois Racing As ¬ sociation to govern the sport and various other happenings all point to a great year of prosperity in the state Woodbine Park will not lack tor horses and horses of good class when the first meeting of the year for the Ontario Jockey Club begins on Saturday The beautiful old course has been rapidly filling up with thoroughbreds that cam ¬ paigned through the Maryland racing season while not a few of the eastern stables have selected Canada for a rac ¬ ing ground rather than ship to New York YorkThe The coming racing season will have a material relief in the matter of taxation j in Ontario and that relief has resulted in the coming back of some associations J that were virtually taxed out of exis ¬ tence This all means that the Canadian racing is in for new days of prosperity More stables than ever before have been 1 attracted while there is sure to be a greatly increased patronage patronageThe The tax worked its greatest harm in reducing the patronage and with it amended there will be a return of many of the patrons that like the associations were taxed to an extent that sent them elsewhere for their amusement for after all it is the fellow that comes through the gate that pays the tax Color Sergeant the fouryearold son of Pennant Pageant that races for Harry Payne Whitney has been one of the real disappointments of the stable Before he was brought to the races as a twoyearold he gave promise of being the champion twoyearold of his year His trials were brilliant and there was every reason both in his breeding arid his conformation to expect great things I but Color Sergeant never came up to these expectations He frequently showed flashes of brilliance but he never be ¬ came a solid horse He made his first 1927 appearance at Jamaica Tuesday and his race suggests that he is still hardly dependable dependableWhile While Color Sergeant seemed fit and ready for the threequarters in which he was beaten by Jumbo and Circlet a pair of fillies it was observed that he was wearing four bandages and he seemed a bit sore That probably explains it all for he is a fast colt and from a fast family familyIncidentally Incidentally that is an excuse for Scapa Flow He is so miserably un ¬ sound that he will never race to the greatness that his twoyearold form pre ¬ dicted He came out of the Kentucky Derby in bad condition and while his weak underpinning may sustain him for a mile with the best of them that is about all that can be expected expectedScapa Scapa Flow is a colt of such magnifi ¬ cent proportions that these bad legs have a big burden to carry and it is doubtful if he will stand the rigors of training through the racing compaign
