view raw text
MAJ. LOUIE BEARD— Arrived at Belmont Park and will remain through the final week of the meeting. Belmont Renewal Climaxes Meeting Ponder, Palestinian and Capot Will Match Strides Over Mile and Half Route BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., June 4. — Belmont Park enters the final week of its brilliant spring meeting on Monday, the racing scene moving over to orchidaceous Aqueduct the following week for an 18-day meeting. Three traditional stakes will be disputed during the final six days of the Westchester Racing Association meeting. The 5,000 Top Flight Handicap for fillies and mares at a mile and a sixteenth adorns Wednesdays program; the 0,000 Meadow Brook Steeplechase Handicap will bring together the best of the jumpers on Thursday at about two miles and a half, and on Saturday, the nations leading three-year-olds will meet in the eighty-first running of the 5,000 Belmont Stakes at a mile and a half. The Belmont, which is the third tier of the "Triple Crown," climaxing the series of classics begun with the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, has been won by more truly great horses than any other American race for three-year-olds. Most of this years leading candidates met in todays Peter Pan Handicap. Ponder probably earned the post of favoritism in the Belmont by his brilliant effort today, while Palestinian will probably be the second choice over Capot. Though badly beaten, the latter will meet his rivals at level weight next week, and with no lightweights to set a scorching pace. Also, he is not a good work horse and may have benefitted by todays gruelling effort. Old Rockport finished well enough to rate an outside chance in the longer fixture. The others were too lightly weighted today to be taken very seriously for the closing day classic. Devil Diver Handicap Todays Feature Isidore Biebers Palestinian, who finished a close second in the Wood Memorial behind Olympia, was third behind Ponder and Capot in the Derby, a close second to Capot in the Preakness, then won the Jersey Stakes at a mile and a quarter in record time, will have a host of supporters in the Belmont, and may even go postward as the favorite. Mondays program is headed by the ,000 added Devil Diver Handicap at one mile. King Ranchs former champion, Assault, was nominated for this race, but the first step of his comeback has been delayed a little longer. Trainer Max Hirsch has entered Better Self, 122, and Flying Missel, 113. The former was troubled by a back ailment for several weeks,, but appears fully recovered, while Flying Missel followed a series of impressive races by finishing third behind Vulcans Forge and But Why Not in the Suburban. The King Ranch pair, who are expected to be favored, will be opposed by Piet, 116; Respingo and Three Rings, 114 each; Sun Bahram, 108, and Campos, 104. Three Rings, a steady and courageous sort, won his last start for Mrs. E. L. Hopkins and will have a devoted following. Piet won a stakes at Jamaica, but raced with less success at Detroit and Delaware since then. Respingo has several good recent races to his credit, while Sun Bahram was a fairly close fourth in the Preakness. Campos appears outclassed
