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Belmont Park Meet on Par With 53 Play Is Only Off Half of 1 Per Cent Daily Average Attendance Down But 349; High Guns 9,000 Purse Is Highest The 86th and richest Belmont Stakes 1 , brought Belmont Parks annual spring meeting to a fitting and successful conclusion last Saturday. Two races after King Ranchs Heliopolis colt, High Gun, earned a record sum of 9,000 by a neck over game, little Fisherman from the C. V. Whitney menage, the 42-day term at Belmont came to an end. And with it, came the official figures which revealed that the big plants daily attend- ance of 24,136 was down just one per cent in comparison with the 1953 total and that the daily mean wagering of ,063,218 was "off" only five-tenths of 1 per cent from the ; figure compiled during 37 days last spring. The 1953 daily crowds numbered 24,485; the pari-mutuel handle, ,082,680. High Guns 9,000 first-place money : eclipsed the previous high Belmont capital prize of 2,500 which Native Dancer earned for owner Alfred G. Vanderbilt last year. It also enabled the courageous colt from Robert J. Klebergs Texas-owned establishment to top the thoroughbred money-winning list with 19,550. High Gun took the Peter Pan Handicap one week before the Belmont, a triumph which was worth 7,050, ran second in an overnight event, and third to Jet Action and Butte- : vant, respectively, in the mile Withers and : other Belmont outings to amass the neat sum. King Ranch also wound up atop the owners money-earning standing by virtue of High Guns performance in the "Test of the Champion." Riverina, a. shifty filly, contributed to the King Ranch cause with a deadheat for first with Happy Mood in the Acorn Stakes, May 5. Collectively, the Kleberg horses won six racesuwere second a like number of times and third on three occasions. White Skies Impressive L. H. Nelles handy, hardy fencer, Extra Points, was the only horse to score a triple in stakes competition. Extra Points first took the International Steeplechase Handicap on May 8 from the best foreign breds that could be mustered against him. He then accounted for the Charles L. Appleton Memorial Steeplechase, May 20, and, finally, the Corinthian Chase on May 27. W. M. Wickhams remarkable sprinter, White Skies, came through with a double stakes success to tie High Gun for that distinction. Under the burdening impost of 132 pounds, White Skies took the Toboggan Handicap, traditional opening-day feature, April 26. then annexed the Roseben Handicap on May 22 under 135 pounds. Two other "name" horses sparked the Belmont proceedings. The great gray galloper from Vanderbilts Sagamore Farm, Native Dancer, captured the Metropolitan, one of the Long Island, N. Y., plants fixtures and first leg on the "Handicap Triple Crown." The triumph netted Vanderbilt 8,300. Greentree Stables Straight Face seemed to come into his own, following a Dixie Handicap triumph at Pimlico, with a brilliant accounting of the Suburban Handicap on the Monday Memorial Day holiday of May 31. The Suburban is the second leg of the Triple Crown for older horses, the Brooklyn at Aqueduct being the final objective. Ted Atkinson, contract rider for Green-tree, who always goes and wears well in New York, easily paced the riding brigade. Atkinson had 48 victories in 229 mounts. His percentage of .21 also proved best. Closest competitor to Atkinson was- Eric Guerin, contract "boy" for Vanderbilt, with 25 firsts in J.51 tries. Guerin, in addition to riding Native Dancer, of course, steered High Gun to his Belmont Stakes slam. F. D. Adams, perennial national leader, had to settle for a deadlock with A. Foot among the steeplechase jockeys. Each boasted seven successes. Adams was astride Extra Points in that jumpers victorious triumvirate. . Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons keeps rollin along for the Belair Stud,- Wheatley Stable and Ogden Phipps. The aged trainer outdistanced the erstwhile national champion, Hirsch Jacobs, 19 winners to 14, in the race among the conditioners. Slightly more than one out of three i favorites won in the 336 races run, the percentage of winning favorites being .34. Complete Belmont Park statistics: April 26 to June 72 42 Days Gross distribution ,994,555 Net distribution ,811,775 i Daily average net distribution . .3,137.50 Attendance . . ...1,013,702 Daily average attendance 24,136 ? Mutuel handle 6,655,166 Daily average mutuel handlerv?,063,218 J ; : : : i i ? J Leading Money-Winning Owners Owner, 1st. 2nd, 3rd. Won. King Ranch 6 6 3 48,325 Greentree Stable 9 7 4 92,190 Vanderbilt, A. G. 9 8 3 66,825 Wheatley Stable 9 10 8 63,605 Cain Hoy Stable 5 1 0 58,725 Wickham.W.M. 2 1 1 48,550 Whitney, C.V. 2 5 4 36,650 Nelles, L. H. 6 0 0 35,605 Maine Chance Farm 4 0 1 34,875 Bieber.I. 8 4 8 33,780 Leading Money-Winning Horses Horse. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. Won. High Gun 2 1 1 19,550 Straight Face 110 51,150 Cherokee Rose 2 0 0 48,775 White Skies 2-0 0 46,550 Native Dancer 2 0 0 38,050 Extra Points 5 0 0 33,200 Jet Action 2 0 0 28,850 Sunshine Nell ill 28,250 Fisherman 0 2 0 25,000 Kaster 7 3 1 0 22,750 Leading Winning Jockeys Jockey Mts. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. Unp. PC. Atkinson, T. 229 48 30 28 123 .21 Guerin, E. 151 25 24 21 81 .17 Nichols, J. 183 20 14 21 128 .11 Arcaro. E. 114 18 16 14 66 .16 Woodhouse.H. 160 16 19 17 108 .10 Cangemie.J. 110 14 11 17 68 .13 Boland.W. 148 13 15 17 103 .09 Higley.J. 56 11 9 6 20 .20 Glassner.G. 136 10 15 18 93 .07 Westrope.J. 79 10 9 11 49 .13 Leading Steeplechase Riders Rider. Mts. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. Unp. PC. Adams, F.D. 24 7 5 4 8 .29 Foot, A. 16 7 3 2 4 .44 Smithwick.P. 21 4 5 1 11 .19 Field, K. 10 3 2 1 4 .30 McDonald, R. S. 14 3 3 4 4 .21 Phelps, E. 23 2 3 5 13 .09 Schulhoffer, F. 17 3 1 3-10 .18 Carter E. 30 2 1 1 26 .07 Eaby.J. 12 2 2 1 7 .17 Leading Winning Trainers Trainer. Wins. Trainer. Wins. Fitzsimmons, J. 19 Adams, Mrs. C. E. 7 Jacobs, H. 14 Bostwick, G. H. 7 Bieber.P. 9 Brooks, D. 7 Dougherty, F. 9 Hayes, J.H. 7 Gaver, J. M. 9 Martin, F. 7 Winfrey, W. C. 9 Williams, H. W. 7 Following is the list of stakes that were decided: Stake. Date. Winner. Value. Toboggan Handicap, April 26, White Skies .1,600 Fashion Stakes, April 28, Sofarsogood 11,950 Swift Stakes, May 1, Gigantic 20,100 Acorn Stakes, May 5, Riverina and Happy Mood dead heat ea. 10,925 Withers Stakes, May 8, Jet Action. . 26,250 International Steeplechase Handicap, May 8, Extra Points 15,350 Juvenile Stakes, May 12, Nashua. . . 12,150 Belmont Spring Maiden Steeplechase, May 13, King Commander. 4,650 Metropolitan Handicap, May 15, Native Dancer 28,300 Belmont National Maiden Hurdle, May 17, Nej: 5,300 National Stallion Stakes filly div. , , May 19, High Voltage 20,710 Charles L. Appleton Memorial Steeplechase, May20, ExtraPoints 6,100 Roseben Handicap, May 22, White Skies , 24,950 National Stallion Stakes colt div., May 26, Islander 20,940 Corinthian Steeplechase Handicap, May. 27, Extra Points 6,225 Coaching Club American Oaks, May 29, Cherokee Rose 43,900 Suburban Handicap, May 31, Straight Face 44,400 Meadow Brook Steeplechase Handicap, June 3, Sun Shower. . . 7,750 Peter Pan Handicap, June 5, High Gun 27,050 Top Flight Handicap, June 9, Sunshine Nell 24,750 Belmont Stakes, June 12, High Gun 89,000 The percentage of winning favorites was below normal, as shown in the subjoined tabulation: Number of races 336 Winning favorites 114 -Winning second choices 60 Winning outsiders 163 Winners at pdds-on 22 Defeated at odds-on 11 Percentage of winning favorites .34 DeadheatSlor win 1
