view raw text
Belmont Stakes Weeks Highlight . - C. V. WHITNEY — His homebred. Counterpoint, scored an upset in Saturdays twelfth running of the Peter Pan. Eight Likely to Go In 00,000 Event Count Turf and Filly, How, Have Best Credentials for Mile and One-Half Feature BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y„ June 9.— Next week is "Belmont Week" at Belmont Park. Though the National Stallion and the Meadow Brook Steeplechase are on the agenda for the impending six days, they are completely overshadowed by the eighty-third running of the 00,-000 Belmont Stakes, which will be renewed at a mile and a half next Saturday. Though the three-year-old division has failed to capture the popular imagination this season, with each of the major stakes for the sophomore colts up to todays Peter Pan having been won by a different horse, this years Belmont gains, rather than loses, in significance as a championship test. One or more of the eight now considered probable candidates for the third tier in the "Triple Crown" may have beerrelim-inated by todays Peter Pah Handicap, but at this writing, a few hours before that mile and a furlong, the Belmont field is expected to be composed of Jack Amiels Count Turf, George D. Wideners Battlefield, Herman Delmans How, * Cain Hoy Stables Battle Morn, Rubin Kowalls Pur * Sansr. Sam Wilson. Jr.s Roval Mnstaner. C. V. Whitneys Counterpoint and Green-tree Stables Big Stretch. A good performance by Woodvale Farms Away Away or Phantom Farms Father Tiber in the Peter Pan might gain them a chance to start in the Belmont, while Counterpoint may have a running mate in Mameluke. Two With Best Credentials On the other hand, Battlefield, Battle Morn or Big Stretch may have been eliminated from the distance classic by the time you read these lines. At the moment, Count Turf and the filly, How, have the best credentials. A surprise winner of the Kentucky Derby, in which he galloped home four lengths before Royal Mustang, Count Turf confirmed that smashing race by coming back after a brief session with the cough to score at a. mile and a sixteenth with a stretch run that carried him over the, final furlong in :11, or possibly a fifth more than that. How, who is not a certain starter, is the only three-year-old of either sex to have won two major "stakes this year, having won the Kentucky and Coaching Club American Oaks in brilliant style and giving the impression that she can run all day. Though only two fillies, Ruthless and Tanya, have won the Belmont since it was inaugurated in 1867, the daughter of Princequillo seems to have earned a place in the starting field this week-end. The fact that she has no other stakes opportunities in the immediately future may be an added inducement to trainer Horatio T .iito and nnmer nolman irt crvo Viot fViic chance. Pur Sang and "Royal Mustang were shipped in from Chicago for the Belmont and are certain starters, barring injury. Pur Sang won the Peabody Memorial at Lincoln Fields last out, beating Royal Mustang, who finished second to Count Turf in the Derby. A Belmont triumph by Count Turf, Battlefield or How would add considerable glamour to the sophomore division. Count Turf comes to the Belmont with the opportunity of winning two of the three "Triple Crown" events and a chance to restore the damaged prestige of his generation. A victory by Battlefield, who didnt start in either the Derby or Preakness, but was the juvenile leader in 1950 would also be accepted as the feat of a worthy champion. Should How follow her triumphs over the best of her sex in the two major Oaks events with a victory in the Belmont, she will be acclaimed as one of the great fillies of all time. A victory by any of the others in the Belmont would only prolong the confusion surrounding the sophomore division this year. One hundred and thirty-three juveniles are still eligible to the National Stallion, which will have its thirty-ninth running on Wednesday but not more than 10 are expected to start. The coughing epidemic retarded more than half of the juveniles on Long Island and, while the barns no longer sound like cages of seals at night, many of the brighter prospects among the young colts will not be ready for action. The best known of the probables are Starmount Stables Primate and Marlboro Stud Farms Jet Master, who finished in that order, a half length apart, at the end of the Juvenile Stakes on May 21. Primate came from winning races at Jamaica, while Jet Master had been idle since winning his four starts at Hialeah and may have needed that race. Weights for Thursdays Meadow Brook Steeplechase at about two miles and a half were released by Jack Cooper this morning. Mrs. Ogden Phipps Oedipus, winner of the Continued on Page Thirty-Seven Count Turf Heads Probable Field of Eight for Belmont Continued from Page Three Corinthian last week -with 156, has been given four pounds more,- topping the field at 160. He will probably be favored, though Kent Millers Elkridge, the 1949 winner, and P. Ambrose Calrks Lone Fisherman appear very dangerous. Elkridge gets in with 150 and can be expected to improve over his distant third in the Corinttiian, which was his first start since, he fractured his nose in the International in May. Lone Fisherman, who gets in with 149, was beaten less than a length by Oedipus in the Corinthian and bore in badly in the stretch, -which probably cost him the race? Mondays feature is a seven-furlong dash for three-year-old fillies, styled the Sheila which has attracted a field of 11. G. D. Wideners Amphora, who has been working cleverly; Woodvale Farms Be Modest and Sister Louise and Greentree Stables Toto appear the best in the moderate issues here. — -
