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REFLECTIONS By Nelson Dunstan Atlantic City Opens New Jersey Season Delaware Parks Meeting Starts Thursday Important Stakes for Belmonts Last Week New England Sport to Gansett June 2 ATLANTIC CITY, Mays Landing, N. J., May 24. The Atlantic City race track, situated only a few miles from what has been termed "Americas Greatest Playground," opens Monday, offering a 21-day meeting that ushers in this seasons sport in New Jersey. A crowd estimated at 25,000 witnessed last years inaugural program at this well-equipped course and wagered ,381,522. The average daily attendance at that 24-day session was 15,615, conclusive proof of the new plants popularity. The New Jersey date set-up is different this season, for the racing scene shifts to Monmouth Park, from June 19 to July 30, then returns here from July 31 to August 23. Garden State Park then takes over from August 25 to October 11. Beyond doubt the second meet at Atlantic City will be more successful than the first, because activity in this resort reaches its peak in August. Delaware Park also opens its annual 30-day meeting: next week. A splendid series of stakes has been scheduled and there is every indication that this will be one of the most successful seasons since the track opened in 1937. The stakes are well-balanced, with events for horses in every division. Special attention has been given the steeplechasers. Most of the top-ranking horses in the East have been named for Delawares features. Thursdays Inaugural is topped by the Tom Roby Steeplechase Stakes, which drew 58 nominations, and may leave at least half that number to the post. The race honors Roby, who was severely injured in a steeplechase at Belmont Park in June. 1942, and a new record for starters in through-the-field competition may be established. Fridays attraction at the Stanton course is the 0,000 Wilmington Handicap, for three-year-olds and upward, at six furlongs, while Saturdays feature is the 810,000 Brandywine Handicap, for horses in the same age group, but at one mile and a sixteenth. Belmont Parks eventful spring meeting enters its final week Monday, offering during that period four stake events that are certain to draw large throngs. Wednesdays feature is the 5,000 Top Flight Handicap, one mile and a sixteenth test for fillies and mares. Among the eligibles are most of the members of the so-called weaker sex who have been prominent in this years racing. On Memorial Day, the time-honored Suburban, one mile and a quarter classic for three-year-olds and upward, will be renewed and, from all indications, it will be one of the best contests staged to date. Armed will not start, but there is a possibility that Assault and Stymie will go postward. If Stymie triumphs in this 0,000 race, he will become the worlds leading money winner, while a victory for Assault would place him uncomfortably close to the present champion, Whirlaway. The meeting closes Saturday with the 0,000 National Stallion Stakes, preceding on the program the 00,000 Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the "Triple Crown." Suffolk Downs spring meeting concludes Saturday, and Judge John C. Pappas and his associates are pleased by the publics response to the sport. The average attendance for the first 29 days of the session was 16,655, as compared with 18,389, the average for the same period at the summer meeting last year. However; mere figures do not U the story. The fact is that a track which stages both spring and summer sessions invariably does better business at the second meeting, if for no other reason than the weather, which is so much more inviting during "the good old summer time." New England racing moves to Narra-gansett Park next Monday, but returns to Suffolk Down on July 7 for 30 days. The summer season at the East Boston course is almost certain to prove far more successful than the current meet, for included among the stakes to be offered are the 5,000 Hannah Dustin Handicap, July 19; the 0,000 Massachusetts Handicap, July 30, and the 5,000 Mayflower Stakes, August 9. The Massachusetts is one of the most important events of the eastern season and usually draws a high-class field. Suffolk Down met severe competition from other tracks, particularly those in Maryland, insofar as attracting some of the better stables was concerned, and did wonderfully well under the circumstances. Narragansett Park may not experience so much difficulty in that department, inasmuch as the Free State season closes Monday, and several strings of good horses are slated to leave there for Rhode Island. We were quite favorably impressed by Narragansetts stakes schedule for its summer meeting, for, in addition to the usual -fixtures, a new 5,000 event, the Providence, has been programmed. This one mile and a sixteenth test for three-year-olds is to be staged July 5, and will provide a fitting climax for what promises to be a successful session. The Pawtucket course has been extremely fortunate since its inception, for it has attracted many of Americas outstanding thoroughbreds.
