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Historic Belmont Stakes First Run Back in 1867 Offered Yearly, With Exception Of 1911 and 1912, Since Then BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., June 10.— The Belmont Stakes, the Westchester Racing Associations prize for three-year-olds, has in its years developed some oddities. This was revealed by a .search of the records which date back to the original running at Jerome Park, then located in the upper reaches of the Bronx, in 1867. The Belmont antedates the Kentucky Derby by eight years but unlike the Kentucky blue ribbon offering does not maintain an unbroken continuity. In 1911 and 1912 the race was not contested due to the passage of the Hughes law which banned racing in the Empire State. Ruthless, who was returned the first winner was foaled in New York City at Throggs Neck. She was regarded as one of the best race mares of her generation. The colts then took complete mastery until 1905 when the stake transferred to Belmont Park, which inherited the offering from Morris Park. Tanya, owned by the late Harry Payne Whitney, was the winner and enrolled her name as the second filly to win the coveted prize. These two are the only representatives of the distaff side to be triumphant. When racing was revived in New York in 1913 the Belmont was returned to the stakes agenda, but it was described as a handicap for three-year-olds. Prince Eugene, racing in the Whitney colors, was the winner. The following year the weights were set at 126 for colts and 121 for fillies which has prevailed up to date. The greats of American racing etched their names on the long roster of winners, but Colin is the only one who campaigned here and remained undefeated. Colin, with the diminutive Joe Notter in the saddle and carrying the silks of James R. Keene, was the winner in 1908. Notter also enjoys the distinction of being the only rider who ever piloted a Futurity winner at Sheeps-head Bay, its original home, and then at Belmont Park. He was astride Maskette in 1908 and seven years later, 1915, drove Thunderer to victory over the old straightaway at Belmont Park. Colin was Notters sole Belmont success and he was also aboard Regret, owned by H. P. Whitney, and the only filly to win the Kentucky Derby. Bounding Home, representing William J. Ziegler, "bounded home" in the Belmont Stakes to whip Pensive and deprive that fellow of a "Triple Crown" success in 1944. Bounding Home then did not win a race until the fall of his four-year-old year. Pensives son, Ponder, will be in the starting field tomorrow. The colors of James R. Keene were carried to success in six runnings of the stake, the first time on Spendthrift in 1879 and the final on Sweep in 1910. Through the years the stable campaigned by the late Wall Street financier was rated the best in the country. In those days Keene was as successful if not more so than the Calumet menage of today. Trainer Jimmie Rowe in charge of the menage was firm" in his belief that he trained two of the greatest horses ever to race on a race track, the ill-fated Sysonsby and Colin. The skeleton of Sy-sonsby is on exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History and for many years was a "must" for students and those interested in that branch of study
