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REFLECTIONS By Nelson Dunstan Racing Continues to Hold Popularity Attendance Drop Very Slight to Date Belmont Stakes Biggest WeekEnd Event Shut Outs First Crop Doing Fine FineNEW NEW YORK N Y June 5 5One One of the biggest surprises in the sports world this year is horse racing attendance Prior to the opening of the eastern season there were all sorts of predictions of a nose dive hi attendance and mutuel play On Memorial Day which was the last day in the month of May Belmont Park housed the largest throng since the course was opened in 1905 True there has been a drop in mutuel play but not nearly to the extent of the early predictions As June days slip by this writer sees the same solid support for the simple reason that the horses in the many divi ¬ sions who were retarded from training for one reason or another are now ready for their 1948 campaigns Citation has proved a standout in the threeyearold division but all the world loves a champion and the crowds have been there to see him perform in every one of his races to date Racing is in a healthier state than any other sport on the American cal ¬ endar and if we judge the situation correctly that condition is going to hold throughout the 1948 season seasonWith With Narragansett Park opening Monday five major race tracks will be operating next week the other four being Hollywood Park Delaware Park Lincoln Fieldsat Washington Park and Belmont Park On the coming weekend these tracks will stage six stake events with a total added value of 195000 The most important of these of course will be the Belmont Stakes which will be run for the eightieth time A small field is now the pros ¬ pect but the presence of Citation will probably draw one of the largest throngs of the season to the Long Island course During the past 20 years the smallest fields have been in 1931 when Twenty Grand was the winner and in 1943 when Mrs John D Hertz Count Fleet established the Belmont record of 228 In both of these renewals only three horses faced the starter Ranking next to the Bel ¬ mont on the weekend will be the 25000 Kent at Dela ¬ ware Park and this event too is exclusively for three yearolds From present indications a larger field will j face the starter in this most important of Delaware evtnts First run in 1937 this will be the twelfth running of the Kent Last years winner was Owners Choice who ran the one and onesixteenth miles in 147 and earned 22400 22400Even Even though Harmonica won the Suburban Handicap and Honeymoon scored over Elpis in the Vineland Handicap last Monday it was natural for John B Campbell to place Gallorette at the top of his Top Flight Handicap ratings with 126 pounds Gallorette has been one of the best mares to be seen in this country during the past quarter of a century arid we believe she will give any of her opponents a real tussle in this 20000 race which will be the Wednesday feature at Belmont Park Follow ¬ ing Gallprette Honeymoon is second with 124 pounds and she is followed by But Why Not at 123 Harmonica and Snow Goose at 122 each Elpis 121 and First Flight and Miss Grillo at 120 each The fillies and mares who are eligible for the race scale down to 96 pounds but it will be a surprise to us if the winner is not among the first 10 on the Top Flight list Imprudence II who made her first start in this country on Thursday is weighted at 114 pounds and we look for an improved effort over her debut in which she finished last A good field is expected for this race which is at one and onesixteenth miles and it promises to be one of the best contests of the spring season seasonWith With the filly division of the National Stallion Stakes run today the colt division of the same event will be the secondary feature to the Belmont Stakes next weekend These events usually send the juveniles into the long cam ¬ paigns that will carry them to the Hopeful and the vari ¬ ous Futurities to be run in the fall But the babes are slow to appear this year Very few of the twoyearold colts who have been named for next Saturdays race have been winners this year but the most impressive of those who have been running down the Widener course is the Green tree Stables Wine List a bay colt by Questionnaire and Emulate a chestnut colt by Rounders Console There are quite a few youngsters eligible for this event who have been regarded as above the average and while the Calu ¬ met Farm has no less than six they will probably be represented by Flying Disc a chestnut colt by Sun Again Lady Peace Good Ending the brown colt by Bull Lea Dustwhirl whom Jimmy Jones regards as the most prom ¬ ising of the Calumet babes is an eligible but he will prob ¬ ably not be seen until the Arlington Park meeting Mr Busher who cost 50000 as a weanling is just one o the many royallybred youngsters on the list and he made an impressive debut at Belmont Park today winning by six open lengths lengthsShut Shut Out is another young stallion whose first crop augurs y Well for his success as a stud On Thursday the filly Easy Out carrying the colors of her breeder Hal Price Headley scored impressively over seven other fillies including the expensive year ¬ ling La Rimda A week ago the colt Swap Out who was making his first start also scored impressively The King Ranch of Robert Kleberg paid 25000 for this colt by Shut Out James ville by Pompey at the Keeneland Sales last year and while no juvenile can be judged on one race he scored so easily over some good youngsters that he will bare watching Neither one of these youngsters are eligible for the National Stallion Stakes but they have gone far in pointing out Shut Out as an Equipoise stallion who will carry on for his sire Shut Out is standing at the Greentree Stud of John Hay Whitney along with Questionnaire Devil Diver Bimelech and Amphitheatre His fee is at 1500 and his book is full Some of his youngsters will be offered at Keeneland and Saratoga this year and just one of these will be a bay filly out of Arabesque from the Virginia Farm of John T Maloney
