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« $ Here and There on the Turf Big Saturday Card. Holiday Racing Everywhere. Some Belmont Prospects. Fall Steeplechase Meeting. s With the Metropolitan Handicap and the Charles L. Appleton Memorial Steeplechase both down for decision at Belmont Park this afternoon, it is one of the truly big days of spring racing. For many years the Metropolitan Handicap, which was first run at Morris Park in 1891, was the opening feature of the Westchester Racing Association meeting, but it has been set back and the Toboggan, a three-quarters sprint of venerable age, was made the initial stake race. That seems to have been a wise move, for in the spring the sprint races may appropriately come before those of a mile or greater distance. The Metropolitan Handicap has invariably brought together a remarkable field, and the history of its running year after year is rich in interesting lore of the turf. And one of the best remembered renewals was when it was first decided over Belmont Park in 1905. That year O. L. Richards Race King, then a four-year-old, ran a dead heat with Sysonby, one of the greatest colts that raced for the late James R. Keene. Race King had been seasoned by racing at Benning and he was in under the feather of 97 pounds, while Sysonby, making his first start cf the year, carried 107 pounds. Willie Shaw had the mount on Sysonby, while Louis Smith rode Race King. The pair ran out almost to the outer rail, in the rush through the stretch, and were so closely locked at the end that it was decided a dead heat. After that memorable race, Sysonby was not beaten that year, and he won the Tidal Stakes, Commonwealth Handicap, Lawrence Realization Stakes, Ircquois Stakes, Brighton Derby, Great Republic Stakes, the Century Stakes, and the Annual Champion Stakes. This is the race that is to have a renewal at Belmont Park this afternoon, and its running will recall many of the previous races to the old timers, who will be on hand to see it decided. The Charles . L. Appleton Memorial Steeplechase is a comparatively new race, having its first decision in 1922, but it is one of high value and great sporting importance. Named in memory of a sterling turfman, the cup that is a part of the award is one of the most prized of croso-country trophies. "While Belmont Park is entertaining with its Appleton Memorial Steeplechase and the Metropolitan Handicap, Churchill Downs will be staging its Grainger Memorial Handicap, at a mile and a quarter, while at Woodbine Park the Ontario Jockey Club has a holiday card that includes the Woodbine Steeplechase, Queens Hotel Cup and the Hendrie Memorial Stakes for the native breds. And the racing begins at Fairmount Park. Thus it is that Saturday is a big day in racing and nominations to these various features give promise of rare good sport. The Grainger Memorial was formerly run as the Kentucky Handicap and its inaugural was in 1913. It was in 1924 that u became the Grainger Memorial, named in memory of the late Charles L. Grainger, for a long term president of the Kentucky Jockey Club. Year after year it has been one of the outstanding handicaps decided in Kentucky and, with 0,000 in added money, it has a value commensurate with its importance. A study of the seventy-six remaining eligibles to the Belmont Stakes, at a mile and a half, to be decided at Belmont Park June 9, forces the conviction that on public form it will probably be a two-horse race between Mrs. Hertz Reigh Count, winner of the Kentucky Derby, and Harry Payne Whitneys Victorian, winner of both the Preakness Stakes and the Withers Stakes. There are others in the list of eligibles that raced in both the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, but Toro, the Edward B. McLean colt that gave Victorian such a stiff battle in the Preakness Stakes, and then raced third to Reigh Count in the Kentucky Derby, is not of that number. Leo J. Marks Misstep, the colt that carried the burden of making the pace in the Derby, and finished second to Reigh Count, is another that is not eligible. But the mile and a half of the Belmont Stakes is an altogether different proposition than the mile and three-sixteenths of the Preakness Stakes, mile and a quarter of the Kentucky Derby, or the mile of the Withers Stakes. For that reason it is entirely possible that some colt of high-class staying ability may come along and upset the present calculations. It is hard to find one among those that have raced that appear able to give either Reigh Count or Victorian any serious trouble, but it seems certain that there will be some that will make the attempt. A few of Ihose that raced in the Preakness Stakes, the Kentucky Derby, or both races, that might readily be started in the Belmont Stakes are Willis Sharpe Kilmers Sun Beau, A. H. Cosdens Vito, J. R. Macombers Petes-Wrack, Frederick Johnsons Replevin, and the Wheatley Stables Distraction. Then the Rancocas Stable has Mowlee and Nassak, and for a time before the running of the Preakness Stakes Nassak shaped up as a possible champion. Victorian defeated Mowlee in the Withers Stakes, but the Sinclair colt has been going well since that defeat and he may be up to a mile and a half on June 9, though on public performance it seems to be a bit beyond him. Replevin is a Brown Prince II. and they come to hand slowly, but are rare stayers. It is natural to expect that he will be a better colt on June 9 than he was on May 19. Others are being fitted for the Belmont Stakes and there is an excellent chance that both Reigh Count and Victorian will find good ones to break up a promised match race. Last fall there was a delightful inaugural meeting of the Westchester Bilt-more Steeplechase Association conducted at the new Bowman Park, near Rye. The two days of racing met with instant success, though considerably handicapped by inclement weather. This year it has been decided that the meeting will be exclusively for the hunters and steeplechasers, while the inaugural also afforded opportunities for the flat runners. The directors reached the conclusion to eliminate the flat races, after a deliberate consideration of the program and the cross-country races will be mr.de as attractive as possible. The big event will be the Westchester Biltmore Gold Cup, with its value of ,000. It is for hunters, over three miles of brush course, and a race of such importance that it is sure to bring together all of the best that are eligible. Then there is to be a steeplechase exclusively for the three-year-olds, after the fashion of the Harbor Hill, which came to be such an important race for the young jumpers.
