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NEWYORKSTATELEADER East Maintains Its Margin Over Western Turf Centers. Oldest and Most Famous Stakes Annually Renewed on Seaboard -Oral Betting a Handicap. While the West, through the growth of racing in Illinois, has made some inroads into the prestige and domination of New York in the sport in this country, the major tracks of the Empire State continued in 1931 to provide many of the high lights of the season and to maintain a slight lead in the matter of purse and stake disbursements. Being the environs of a great number of the oldest and most famous stakes still run on the American turf, the New York tracks, notably Belmont Park, Saratoga and Aqueduct, continue to offer some of the greatest inducements to stake candidates, and as New Yorkers, or those who participate almost exclusively in New York racing, own the countrys largest and greatest stables, it would be odd, indeed, if the metropolitan district did not hold the lead. The attendance at racing there is not, in proportion to population, what it is in Illinois, Maryland or Kentucky, but this can be attributed to the difference in popularity and mass appeal between New Yorks oral betting and the Open mutuel betting in the other states. New York State is the home of the Futurity Stakes, the only one for young horses which is worth almost 00,000 every year and which has, in fact, passed that figure. It is the home of the Belmont Stakes, the Hopeful Stakes, the Lawrence Realization, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Dwyer Stakes, Saratoga Cup Stakes, Travers Midsummer Derby, Suburban Handicap, Saratoga Cup, Saratoga Special, Saratoga Handicap, Grand National Steeplechase Handicap, Coaching Club American Oaks, Brooklyn Handicap, Metropolitan Handicap, Swift Stakes, Toboggan Handicap, Wood Memorial, Withers Stakes and other great fixtures, and the total distribution to horsemen for these stakes, to say nothing of the hundreds of smaller events, runs into many thousands of dollars, EASTERN OWNERS WEST. It is a boast of New York and one to Jirtiich racing and breeding in that state and he East has a perfect right, that practically all of these stakes are won by Eastern horses, a fact which explains very readily the presence nearly every year of Eastern stables at the head of the owner list. C. V. Whitney was the leader again in 1931. He and his deceased father, Harry Payne Whitney, whom he succeeded, have been the leaders in six of the last eight years since the Rancocas Stable gave up the position which it held for three years in succession. Not only is it a fact that Eastern horses won practically all of the Eastern stakes in 1931, but they won most of the mid-western stakes as well, such outstanding events as the Kentucky Derby, Classic Stakes, Arlington and Hawthorne cups, Arlington and Lincoln handicaps and the Latonia Championship Stakes. Another proud boast of the New York tracks is that they provide the largest average of winning favorites in the country. The 1931 figures in this respect differ little from those Of the past. The grand average was .44, several points higher than the grand average for all United States tracks. The high mark in this respect reached during the past year was :56 at Aqueduct, during the second meeting of twelve days. Empire City, in its first meeting, ran an average of .48. Jamaica averaged .47 in one meeting and Belmonts high was .44. There were 470 winning first choice in the 1,064 races run on the New York tracks. OUTSTANDING PERFORMERS. New Yorks outstanding performers in 1931 were, in the main, the outstanders of the entire country. C. "V. Whitneys two-year-old Top Flight, which won more money than any other horse of the year, won five of her seven races on New York tracks, including the Futurity Stakes. Twenty Grand, champion three-year-olds, won seven stakes in the Empire State and ran up a total for races in this territory larger than that of Top Flight, 61,820 to 43,705. New Yorkers saw the great Greentree colt win the Belmont Stakes, Dwyer Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup, Saratoga Cup Stakes, Lawrence Realization and Wood Memorial. No other horse than the two named won quite-as much as 0,000 in New York. Tick On, winner of the Hopeful, was one of the leaders. Green Cheese, the countrys champion steeplechaser, won a large total as a result of his victory in the Grand National Steeplechase Handicap. . The success of Twenty Grand gave the Greentree Stable second place among the New York winners. The Whitney and Greentree establishments rank first and second as the countrys leaders. The other Eastern owners follow in this ranking: W. R. Coe, J. E. Widener, Rancocas Stable, G. D. Widener, Belair Stud, Mrs. J. H. Whitney, J. H. Louchheim and J. J. Robinson all above the 0,000 mark. T. Malley rode more winners in New York than any other jockey, but R. Workman, With his select mounts, held the highest average. Malley rode sixty-four winners and Workman fifty-seven, the latter maintaining an average of .22. C. Buxton was leader of the trainers, saddling forty-one winners. F. M. Taylor saddled twenty-nine and J. P. Smith twenty-Six. The New York tracks distributed during the year ,326,333. The 1930 distribution was ,508,040. Belmont Park, always jhe leader, fell off about 0,000 in the amount it distributed, but still the Westchester Association distributed a gross of 62,910 for a daily average of 0,076 this with only six races a day. September 19, at Belmont, was the day of teal high finance in 1931 racing. It was on this day that the Futurity Stakes, the Grand National Steeplechase and The Jockey Club Gold Cup were decided each won by a champion of the year: Top Flight, Green Cheese and Twenty Grand. The Futurity alone was worth, in the aggregate, 07,080, and Belmont Park divided between the money-winning owners in the six races that day approximately 60,000.
