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Here and There on the Turf Belmonts Big Opening The Apprentice Allowance Excuses for Winooka Equipoise and the Metropolitan It cannot be remembered when the spring season of racing at Belmont Park was ac ¬ corded as hearty a welcome as that of Wednesday The big Nassau County course was established in 1905 and Sysonby ran a dead heat with Race King in the Metropoli ¬ tan Handicap the opening day of the meet ¬ ing the betting was conducted under the PercyGray Law There were none of the prohibitions that came later with the Agnew Hart enactments and 1905 was a year of prosperity prosperityAll All of this tends to leave no doubt of what the new law has already done and will con ¬ tinue to do for racing in New York That was pretty conclusively shown at the Ja ¬ maica meeting but the Belmont Park open ¬ ing was a convincing proof of the popu ¬ larity of the new order of things It must be remembered that weather conditions were decidedly unfavorable for the opening day with a temperature more resembling March than May There will be immediate changes made in the betting arrangement for the big Nassoa County course While it had been worked out to bring the layers closer to the clubhouse and the lawns the results were not exactly what was expected The princi ¬ pal fault lay in the inadequate lighting of the enclosure This will be immediately cor ¬ rected and at the same time there will be a change in the lineup of the layers to prevent some of the congestion that was uncomfort ¬ able for the big opening Col Bob Smith and the veteran jockey Col Mack Garner continue to keep the popu ¬ lar silks of Mrs Isabel Dodge Sloane in the forefront and the score of Okapi in the fa ¬ mous old Toboggan Handicap was the high light of the opening day at Belmont BelmontThe The fouryearold son of Eternal and Okti bena a Rock Sand mare was winner of the Toboggan last year and his repeating under a burden of 117 pounds gave him new im ¬ portance Garner is entitled to a full share of applause for his masterly ride on the colt Smith had brought his charge up to the running with a score over Watch Him win ¬ ner of the Excelsior Handicap in the Flush ¬ ing Handicap at Jamaica and he was a thoroughly fit horse when he paraded to the post postSome Some of the prizes already taken down by the Brookmeade Stable of Mrs Sloane have been the Florida Derby Wood Memorial Stakes Chesapeake Kentucky Derby and Preakness And between times the silks took down many a purse of lesser importance The opening of the new meeting was also something of a banner day for Silvio Coucci first rider for the Greentree Stable Besides winning two of the races for his contract employers he also scored with Night Sprite for the B B Stable finished second with Forever Young another Greentree Stable starter and his only other mount was on Ladysman in the Toboggan That colt met with some interference that was enough to give some excuse for his showing showingThe The day of racing was one in which the apprentice riders were in eclipse for of the five flat races the two not won by Coucci went to Mack Garner and Sonny Work ¬ man This was fitting and it was just one more evidence of the doubtful wisdom In the ap ¬ prentice allowance Weight will bring all horses together and it will tend to bring all riders together as a natural sequence When the inexperienced rider is conceded seven or five pounds in the weights it is a big pull over the regular jockeys and it frequently is enough to give the apprentice victory victoryTrainers Trainers generally seek the services of the apprentices for thjs weight advantage and in that way thelad that hasshpym any degree of riding skill is afforded a choice of several different good mounts And that is1 a reason for the apprentice rider so often topping the jockey list at the end of the year while there are any number of finished jockeys with infinitely more riding skill skillLong Long before there were any apprentice allowances good jockeys were developed and it will be found they endured longer than the riders of the present day who have the weight allowance It is doubtful if one apprentice in fifty continues to star in the saddle after he loses the weight al ¬ lowance that gave him his riding fame It would make for better racing and better riding if the apprentice allowance wai eliminated altogether altogetherThere There was general surprise over the de feat of Winooka the Australian champior sprinter at Churchill Downs Wednesday but the son of Windbag must not be con ¬ demned on that first showing of the season Ebony Lady had proven her fitness in t previous race in which she was an easy win ¬ ner at six and oneh lf furlongs and ttit condition of the going may have been t Continued on ninth page HERE AND THERE ON THE TURF Continued from second page handicap to the outlander The race was by long odds the fastest one of the after ¬ noon and the fact that Winooka only lost by the shortest of noses would suggest that he was not entirely tightened up for such an effort Dartle had cost him an effort from the break and it is small wonder that he tired after having put that colt away awayWinooka Winooka should certainly improve over his showing and he may readily find his way back to a place among the best sprint ¬ ers of the year yearWhen When Okapi was winner of the Toboggan Handicap Wednesday he incurred a pen ¬ alty of three pounds in the Metropolitan Handicap the Saturday feature at Belmont Park This brings his weight to 121 pounds and places him fourth in the handicap as far as actual weight is concerned concernedIn In 1932 Equipoise won the Toboggan to follow it up with a victory in the Metropol ¬ itan and he carried 127 pounds to win the mile prize He was a fouryearold that year and he whipped Sun Meadow and Mate the Bostwick colt giving him a pound in that running runningIt It is not known that Smith will accept this weight for his Toboggan winner but Okapi is at least a better colt this year than he was in 1933 and it is always possible a shot will be taken at Equipoise EquipoiseThe The Whitney champion will try to take down the Metropolitan for the third con ¬ secutive time when he is sent to the post In his 1932 victory he carried 127 pounds and won under 128 pounds last year For the running Saturday he has to shoulder 132 pounds but the form he has shown in the Philadelphia and Dixie Handicaps in Mary ¬ land would suggest he has not been severely treated by Mr Vosburgh There will be no chance for Smith to have a starter against the son of Pennant and Swinging tomorrow unless he decides to send Okapi back His other nominees are High Quest winner of the Wood Memorial and the Preakness and National Anthem High Quest has been asked to carry the unheard of weight for a threeyearold 118 pounds while there could be no good reason to have National Anthem chase after Equipoise EquipoiseThat That Equipoise will be saddled Saturday is assured barring accident his final trial of a mile in 140 at Belmont Park Thursday morning being ample evidence of his entire readiness for the race raceClarence Clarence Buxtons luck this season has been bad He lost a truly good twoyear old at Jamaica when the B B Stable claimed Torress Then Speedmore after haying run two excellent races at the Ja ¬ maica meeting was soundly beaten Wednes ¬ day His two races at Jamaica the second of which saw him chasing High Quest home in the Wood Memorial induced sending him after the Kentucky Derby He failed utterly in that attempt but he was dropped down considerably Wednesday only to be beaten 1 again One other Buxton misfortune of the Jamaica meeting was when J H Louch heims juvenile Ted Husing was disquali ¬ fied
