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WEIGHING I N BY EVAN SHIPMAN BELMONT PARK, Elmont, L. I., N. Y., June 17. — The transition from Belmont Parks regular spring meeting to the two days allotted to the United Hunts is so easy and natural that" few among the tracks patrons will notice the shift from one to the other association. Aside from offering a pair of worthwhile events for steeplechase and hurdle horses instead of the single race for this specialty that is customary at Belmont Park on week days. United Hunts programs are identical with those presented by the Westchester Racing Association, and the sport should be keen here on both Thursday -and Friday afternoons. Belmont has never forgotten the debt twed by American racing to the United Hunts this organization having kept the «*»;sport alive in the metropolitan area during the dark days of the Hart-Agnew Law, whan, all professional racing associations were forced to close their gates. Bravely facing this emergency, the amateurs gave local meetings on the portion of Belmonts property situated directly across the Hempstead Turnpike. In addition to nurturing the publics taste for the sport, these United Hunts meetings did much toward refuting arguments advanced by the enemies of racing, their claim being that the thoroughbred sport was merely a pretext for gambling. Such a charge was obviously ludicrous when directed against the United Hunts, largely composed, then as now, of enthusiasts who trained and rode their horses for pure love of the sport. Over the years, the contribution of amateur horsemen to racing has been of inestimable value. It should receive the sort of recognition exemplified by Belmont in playing host to the United Hunts for these two days. AAA Features of the brief but interesting United Hunts r meeting wilLbe the mile and three-quarters New York United Hunts Kept Sport Alive in Lean Days Two-Day Meet Features Stakes for Top Chasers Hyvania Shows Superior Form Over Little Fences Flat Races on Card Follow Conventional Pattern Turf Writers Hurdle Handicap tomorrow, and the two and a quarter miles Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Handicap on Friday. Both stakes have attracted a good entry list. The well-bred Hyvania is topweight for the hurdle race with 160 pounds. He will be attempting to concede 14 pounds to Montpeliers Pintor; 16 to Golden Furlong; 19 to External Relations; 20 to Brechin, and 21 to Salemaker, just to name his more prominent antagonists. A six-year-old son of Hypnotist n., from the great mare, Vagrancy, Hyvania failed to show class on the flat, but Mrs. George Bostwicks gelding took readily to the little fences, and we recall "his victory over Clive of India in the Midsummer Hurdle Handicap at Monmouth Park last summer as a particularly pleasing effort. Hyvania was in rare form that day. If he is as sharp tomorrow, we look for him to be hard to beat. Pintor is another who proved a disap-, pointment on the flat. Montpeliers big son of the French Goya n. was highly fancied for classic engagements last season, but he could never make the grade. This one comes from a barn that specializes in jumpers, but whether Pintor can adapt himself to his new trade as successfully as Hyvania has done is still an open question. AAA When secretary Jack Cooper released his weights for the Temple Gwathmey, Oedipus, for the first time in over two years, did not lead the assignments, that honor going to Montpeliers Sea Legs, winner of" the Grand National last fall and conqueror of Oedipus in the recent Meadow Brook. Sea Legs, a Montpelier homebred by Battleship— .Forswear, by Jacopo, is now a seven-year-old and is showing the top form of his career. He will start in Fridays feature with 165 pounds, conceding, a single pound to Oedipus, three to Jam, and 10 to The Mast, this trio appearing to be his chief rivals. If the Meadow Brook was true — and there is no reason to think it was not — Sea Legs looks capable of conceding a little weight to Mrs. Phipps fine chaser. Trainer Ray Woolfe has a very accomplished pupil in Sea Legs, one who now fences faultlessly and who shows speed of a high order between the obstacles. Another point in his favor is that he is amenable to rating, more so than Oedipus, who is not happy unless he is on the head end. Jam and The Mast are both fine chasers, but neither one is as sure over fences as Oedipus or Sea Legs, and, in this company, just one mistake can be fatal to any horses chance: AAA It usually takes a thoroughly good horse to win the Temple Gwathmey, but we think we are on safe ground when we say that none of those who have been successful in recent seasons could compare with the late Joseph E. Wideners Fairmount, winner of the 1926, 27 and 28 renewals and burdened with 170 pounds for his second and third trip in this stake. Nor was Fairmount without the severest sort of competition. In the Temple Gwathmey for 26, he, as a five-year-old, carried 158 pounds to defeat Erne H. and Greentrees Jolly Roger. The following season, Jolly Roger, carrying 173, earned the place, while Jolly Roger was third again the next year, Lorenzo finishing second to Fairmount. The series of duels in this and other stakes between Fairmount and Jolly Roger were indeed memorable, and they did muchf to assure the popularity of steeplechasing in that era. They were both great weight carriers, faultless fencers and gifted with rare speed. Since their day, no winner of a Temple Gwathmey has carried as much as 160 pounds, although Oedipus, Continued on Page Thirty -Nine I WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Forty-Eight conceding 10 to The Mast, was a good second, when the latter scored under 153 last season. AAA If there is any criticism -of the United Hunts program, it may be that the 12 events on the flat during the two-day meeting follow too conventional a pattern. We would have thought that here was a place for long distance races, events at a mile and a half, or even two miles. We would also have enjoyed a "welteu-weight" handicap, a type of event that allows gentlemen riders to participate. While it is painfully evident that there are not many local horses who care to compete in long distance events, no matter what the classification, there is a certain number of "stayers" active at the hunt meetings, and it might not have been a bad idea to "import" a few of them for this meeting. In the old days, military races added color to the United Hunts program, but, today, cavalry is a thing of the past, and army officers cannot afford a private stable. The charm of United Hunts meetings is that they break the monotony of day-today racing, and we appreciate a type of sport here that more commercially minded associations are forced to ignore.
