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REFLECTIONS * NBLS0N DTAN NEW YORK, N. Y., May 20.— Since May 6, when Belmont Park opened, there has been considerable talk and wonderment as to why the beautiful Elmont course is not attracting greater throngs. In this column last Tuesday, while commenting on the fact that 39,000 fans were on *~ hand to see Alfred Vanderbilts Loser Weeper defeat a good field in the Metropolitan Handicap, we made the statement, "It was obvious on the week-end that Belmont Park is just as popular as it ever was." We were surprised that our statement drew quite a few letters from readers. Joseph Burke, of Brooklyn, wrote us to say, "Dear Sir: Some of we boys in the Bush-wick section, who like to go racing, want to ask you when Belmont was ever popular. We grant that Belmont is a very beautiful sight, but we say, as many have before us, that the track is entirely too big for the man on the lawn to see the horses and that the Widener Course is a monstrosity that should be done away with, and would be, were the Belmont officials not so stubborn about it. One of the officers of Belmont Park was talking on the television last week and he went to great lengths to defend the Widener Course on the grounds that a race run over a straightaway is a far truer race than one around the turns. While that may be true, it still remains that the man standing on the Belmont lawn cannot see the horses coming down the straightaway course and, therefore, can get very little pleasure from those straightaway races. Why keep jamming down our throats about the trueness of a race that the people who have paid their way in cannot even see. — Joseph Burke." A AA" It was a coincidence that both Bill Corum and Frank Graham commented on Belmont Park in their columns in the New York Journal-American on Thursday. It has often been said that the Belmont Stakes is not nearly as well known as the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and the reason for that has usually been ascribed to the lack of publicity for the third and last event of the "Triple Crown." Bill Corum hit the nail right on the head when he said, "All the top publicity men the country has ever known, duly assembled and working like eager beavers, couldnt do anything about it, Im afraid." What few people seem to take into consideration is the speculation about the three-year-olds . Why Does Belmont Not Draw Big Throngs? Fans Write Us to Condemn Widener Course Belmont Stakes Truest Three-Year-Old Race Elmont Course Most Beautiful in America each and every season. Column after column is written about them and, with the Experimentals, the Wood Memorial, Chesapeake Stakes, Blue Grass Stakes and Derby Trial, the interest reaches feverish heights. Then comes the Derby, and much of the answer is found in the race at Louisville. There is not as much speculation about the Preakness as there is before the Derby, for there does come that letdown after the race at Churchill Downs. After the running of the Preakness, the fans have even a better idea of the three-year-old situation. Then they run the Withers and the Jersey Stakes, and by the time the Belmont comes along on June 11, there is little or no mystery left unless, of course, the same horse has won the Derby and Preakness and must also win the Belmont to join the list of "Triple Crown" winners. AAA While it may lack the ballyhoo, the Belmont Stakes is, neverthless, the most searching test of the three "Triple Crown" races. When a horse "comes out in the post parade for the Belmont Stakes, he is usually one of the few who have been tested through the fire of the Derby and the Preakness, and has earned his right to try for the one and one-half miles in the last "Triple Crown" event. The field for the Belmont is seldom as big as that of the Derby or Preakness, but that is only for the reason that few horses of that age have survived the arduous training and racing that comes before the running of the Belmont. To condemn the Kentucky Derby as a carnival, as some people do, is just so much foolishness. It is a thrill to people who like horse racing to go to Louisville on Derby Day and be caught up in that sporting spirit, which also attracts people from all walks of life in England to see their Derby at Epsom. But, as a horse race for three-year-olds, the Belmont Stakes is the truest test for members, of that division. It is a great race in all that the word implies, regardless of the fact that it does not receive the publicity that is gtfven the two events before it. Another point that is seldom taken into consideration is the number of many important races that are staged at Belmont Park during the spring and fall meetings. Practically all of the comment coming out of Churchill Downs during the spring concerns the Kentucky Derby. This year the Pimlico meeting was of but eight days duration, but, although they staged the Dixie Handicap and other events, the publicity in the newspapers centered on the Preakness. Now, before the Belmont Stakes will be run, the National Stallion for two-year-olds, the Coaching Club American Oaks for three-year-old fillies, the Suburban Handicap for older horses, and the Rose-ben Handicap for sprinters of the older ranks are to be contested, and all of them "will come in for their share of publicity in the next few weeks. The Coaching Club American Oaks is regarded as the most important event for three-year-old fillies staged in the East, while there is possibly no handicap event in the United States which enjoys the prestige accorded the Suburban. The Belmont . must await its turn for these events, which carry the Belmont meeting out of the "one-race category." A A A That Belmont Park is one of the most beautiful race tracks in the world, not even those who dislike the Widener Course will deny. The people who run this track spend huge sums of money to keep it modern and beautiful in every sense. Jamaica is a popular little race track, but out-of-towners who have seen Hialeah in Florida, Santa Anita in California, Arlington Park in Chicago and Delaware Park in Wilmington come to New York and look with amazement when they see tracks like Jamaica and Aqueduct. Belmont is not as easy to reach as the other tracks on Long Island, but, in our opinion, the difference in time is well worth while to those who like their racing in lovely surroundings. During this week, racing commissioners from all over the country have been in convention here in New York and, after their trips to Belmont Park, quite a few of them told this writer that they thought Belmont would compare with any of the beautiful race tracks, not only in this country but in South America, England and Europe. At Belmont, the fan has elbow room and if there is a more picturesque paddock to be found anywhere, we have yet to see it. There are many race tracks in this country that we love to visit, but, being a New Yorker, we are naturally proud of Belmont.
