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SIRES AND DAMS *y NELS0N dunstan NEW YORK, N. Y., June 9.— Belmonts 32-day meeting ends Saturday with the running of the Belmont Stakes and although there is certain to be a decrease in both attendance and mutuel play as compared to the corresponding meeting last season, it will not be nearly as drastic as was thought when the meeting was but a week old. The first 27 days of the present meeting, when compared with the complete 25 days of last spring, showed a decrease of approximately 6 per cent in attendance and slightly over 12 per cent in mutuel play. In all probability, the same ratios will hold good when the meeting ends for, with good weather, the Belmont is fairly certain to draw close to 40,000 fans, if not more, as compared with the 43,000 who were on hand to see Citation win the Belmont Stakes by eight lengths from Better Self. There will be no Citation in Saturdays Belmont, but there is, nevertheless, a growing interest, in the renewal that will bring Ponder, Palestinian, Capot, Old Rockport, and a few others to the post in the third and last leg of the "Triple Crown." It is our guess that Ponder will go to the post as favorite, with Palestinian the second choice, followed by Capot. Sun Bahram, who ran a -fine race behind Flying Missel on Tuesday, will also have his followers in the 5,000 event. AAA Calumet will be striving on two fronts this week-end for Coaltown is at Pawtucket for the running of the 5,-000 Roger Williams Handicap, for three-year-olds and older horses at a mile and three-sixteenths. Coaltown will carry 130 pounds and will be conceding from 20 to 40 pounds to his opponents. Alfred Vanderbilts Loser Weeper, winner of the Metropolitan Handicap and the Valley Forge, is in the race with 110. This will be the first start for Coaltown since he won the Gallant Fox K Handicap and, in Saturdays race, he will be attempting to win his eighth with no defeats during the present season. Calumet will make another shipment to Arlington Park tomorrow, but Coaltown will be held over until Monday and then personally will be accompanied by Jimmy Jones to Chicago, where the Arlington Park meeting gets underway one week from Monday. Rumors still Belmont Figures Satisfactory to Officials Gansett Fans to See Coaltown in Action Top Babes in Christiana and Dover Stakes Monmouth Park Ready for Opening June 17 persist that Citation will not be seen until the fall, but early this week, Ben Jones made the statement that the star of the Calumet stable will definitely be a starter at the Arlington Park meeting. There are many rich races at Arlington for Coaltown or Citation, and notably the 0,000 Stars and Stripes Handicap on July 4, and the 0,000 Arlington Handicap on July 23. It is just our guess that it will be Coaltown and not Citation who will start in these events. AAA The two-year-old division made some progress during the Belmont meeting, but more high class youngsters are certain to come on the scene in the next month. Re-Armed will go to Chicago but Striking, the sister to Busher and Mr. Busher, is likely to remain in the New York area and so, too, will The Diver, winner of the colt division of the National Stallion Stakes. Delaware Park will stage two important events for juveniles with the Christiana Stakes, to be run next Wednesday at five and a half furlongs and the Dover Stakes at the same distance on June 22. The Christiana Stakes is for colts and geldings and it would not be surprising if the Brookmeade Stables More Sun, who ran second to The Diver in the National Stallion, moves down to Wilmington to match strides with the Palatine Stables Quiz Show, William Helis Selector and other youngsters who have shown well in the eastern area. The Dover Stakes is for two-year-old colts and fillies and this event will probably draw William Helis promising Bridal Shower, the Beau Pere filly who defeated Bed o Roses and seven other fillies in one division of the Polly Drummond Stakes. On the same day that the Dover is being run at Delaware, the Tre-mont, which is for two-year-old colts and geldings, will be the feature event at Aqueduct. AAA Monmouth Park, which is now one of the most de lightful tracks in the East, is due to open one week from tomorrow. The Oceanport track will continue through August 10 and during that period will offer 15 stake events, the richest of which is the 5,000 Monmouth Handicap on July 23, and the 5,000 Choice Stakes on August 6. There is naturally much speculation as to the extent to which this New Jersey track will affect the upstate Saratoga meeting, which gets under way on August 1 and continues through August 27. Monmouth Park is only 55 miles from New York City and can be reached by train in one hour and 20 minutes. Last year it was very obvious that a large portion of New Yorkers were going to Oceanport rather than journey to Saratoga and especially so on week-ends when the upstate trip consumed over seven hours traveling up and down. The Monmouth Handicap will be run while the Saratoga-at-Jamaica meeting is in progress on Long Island, but the Choice Stakes, for three-year-olds at a mile and a quarter, will be run on August 5, the same day that the Saratoga association will offer the United States Hotel Stakes for two-year-olds and the Whitney for three-year-olds and older horses at the upstate Spa. AAA Officials at the Fair Grounds in Detroit are pleased with the response of the public to the new setup. While there will be co-operation between the Detroit track and the Chicago tracks, Elmer Dale Shaffer, who is president of the Michigan Racing Association, recently said he would like to see the Midwestern tracks band together so that there would be as little conflict as possible in attracting of horses for stake events. Such an association would include Churchill Downs and Keeneland in Kentucky, the Chicago tracks in Illinois and also the Fan-Grounds in Detroit. That is not only a good idea in the Midwest, but in every section where two tracks in fairly close proximity are running simultaneously. There will be little or no conflict this season between the officials at the Detroit and Chicago courses for, very sensibly, there has been an agreement to so stagger the stake schedules making it possible for a horse to run in Chicago and, in the following week, be sent over to Detroit — or vice versa. In that way, both sectors are kept satisfied, with the fans of both cities being given opportunities to see high class horses in stake races.
