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REFLECTIONS — — By Nelson Dunstan ■ Hollywood Park Off to Brilliant Start New England Sport Moves to Suffolk Delaware Opens 30-Day Meeting May 29 Aqueduct Offers Attractive Stake List NEW YORK, N. Y., May 23. Hollywood Park in California went off to a brilliant start during the week, with over 30,000 fans attending on the opening day. Southern California is today one of the strongholds of fine sport, and long before the long Hollywood meeting comes to a close on August 3 we expect to see some new records created. Up in New England, Naragansett will close its highly successful meeting Saturday and the scene then will shift to Suffolk Downs in Boston, where a meeting will continue until July 6. On Monday Belmont Park will enter its last week with the running of the Top Flight Handicap on May 29, the Suburban Handicap on May 30 and the Belmont Stakes, with the National Stallion Stakes as secondary feature, on Saturday, June 1. We expect that the largest crowd at Belmont will attend on the closing day, although a record throng should turn out to see the Suburban running, which will bring together the best handicap performers in the East. The weights will not be released until five days before the Suburban running, but about everywhere you go you hear speculation as to what John B. Campbell will assign Calumet Farms Armed, winner of the Widener and the Dixie, the latter being the race in which he gave weight to Stymie and defeated him decisively. Popular Delaware Park, just outside Wilmington, opens on May 29, and there will be 30 days of racing, through July 4. There will be 13 stake events, including three for steeplechasers. Three of the flat events have purses of 5,000 added. The first of these is the Kent, for three -year-olds, at one mile and a sixteenth. It is to be renewed Saturday, June 8. On the foUowing week-end Delaware Park will stage the Sussex Handicap, which is for three -year-olds and upward, at one mile and a quarter. The third event with this added value is the New Castle Handicap, on June 29. It is for fillies and mares, at one mile and a sixteenth. After the running of the Meadow Brook Steeplechase Handicap at Belmont Park on Tuesday, May 28, many of the chasers will move down to Delaware to prepare for such events as the Delaware Spring Maiden Steeplechase, the Georgetown Steeplechase Handicap and the Indian River Steeplechase Handicap. The last-named test, at about two and one-half miles, will be run on July 3. On June 3, a few days after Delaware Park opens, Aqueduct will inaugurate an 18-day meeting that concludes on June 22. Nine traditional stakes will be renewed. While there will be a great deal of interest in the 0,000 Dwyer for three-year-olds, June 15 and the 0,000 Brooklyn Handicap June 22, there are three races for two-year-olds that may point out the leaders in that division. The first of these is the 0,000 Astoria Stakes for fillies at five and a half furlongs. It is to be run on Saturday, June 8. This race may bring together C. V. Whitneys First Flight, William Helis Miss Kimo and others who have shown promise. The 0,000 Tremont Stakes for colts and geldings is scheduled for June 12. Among the eligibles are Eternal War, Jet Pilot, Phalanx, Pompeian, Fiddlers Three and others who have gained more than passive recognition so far this season. The third of the juvenile races is the 0,000 Great American which should attract such colts as Eternal War, Jet Pilot, Fiddlers Three to say nothing of the most beautifully-bred colts and fillies who have yet to make their racing debuts. One week after the Aqueduct session opens, the new Monmouth Park Jockey Club will raise the curtain on its inaugural meeting. In view of the difficulty in obtaining material, the officials of this track have done a remarkable job. While the landscaping and other incidentals may have to await another season, there is hardly a doubt that the track will be in shape when the bugle calls the field to the post for the first race on June 10. Monmouth Parks officials have had so many applications for stalls they are warning owners not to ship to their track unless reservations have been made. The opening stake wiU be the 0,000 Oceanport Handicap, a race for three-year-olds and upward, at one mile and a sixteenth. Like all other tracks, Monmouth is catering to three-year-olds. On Saturday, July 13, the feature event will be the 5,000 Choice Stakes, for members of that division, at one mile and a quarter. The meeting will come to a close on July 20 with the first running of the 5,000 Monmouth Handicap for three-year-olds and older horses. This event also is at one mile and a quarter. Out at Chicago, Lincoln Fields is now staging its meeting at Hawthorne. Among the features is the Francis S. Peabody Memorial on May 30, a race which promises to attract Dixianas Spy Song who ran second to Assault in the Kentucky Derby. The Lincoln Fields meeting ends June 15 and the sport moves to Arlington Park where one of the outstanding sessions of the season will open on June 17 and continue through July 27. Arlington Parks meeting is followed by 31 days of sport at Washington Park. There are appealing events for horses in every division at both tracks, the program including two 0,000 stakes, three at 0,000, one at 0,000, two at 5,000, six at 0,000, fifteen at 5,000 and seven at 0,000. Many of the finest horses in the country will be seen at these Illinois courses. In later columns we will elaborate on all of these sessions but it is obvious that the American turf is due for some brilliant racing in all localities in the next few months.
