view raw text
New York By Bob Horwood New York Scene Shifts to Belmont Park TwentySix Stakes Due for Presentation Potential Champions Will Be on Parade ParadeJAMAICA JAMAICA L L N Y May 10 To reverse an ancient verse the captains and the kings stride on the scene on Monday when the 48day spring meeting of championship racing begins at Eelmont Park No less than 26 stakes topped by the 100000 Belmont are on the agenda and there will hardly be an afternoon when at least one potential cham ¬ pion of one division or another wont be seen in action This is particularly true of the juveniles who have already this year im ¬ pressed many observers as a re ¬ markably talented crop with many highly regarded newcomers slated to make their debuts in the overnight dashes on the Widener course The Belmont Stakes to be run at a classic and searching mile and a half on June 3 and the Coaching Club American Oaks at a mile and 3 furlongs on June 21 more often than not determine the threeyearold championships regardless of the outcome of the Kentucky Derby Preakness and Oaks events elsewhere However Calumets Tim Tarn is eligible along with his arch rival Maine Chance Farms Jewels Reward If Lincoln Road and Noured din who separated Tim Tarn and Jewels Reward at the gooey finish of the Derby want to try them again it can be arranged on payment of a mbderate 5000 for supplementary nominations nominationsThree Three of the last five winners of th Belmont Stakes Native Dancer Nashua and Gallant Man were beaten in the Derby but it so happens that Dark Star Swaps and Iron Liege their conquerors at Louisville did not come to Long Island for various reasons Oh the other hand Greentree Stables Capot turned the tables on Calumets Ponder As a matter of fact since 1940 seven Belmont Stakes winners were making amends for defeats in the Derby while in the same period Whirlaway Shut Out Count Fleet Assault Citation Middleground and Needles the same number confirmed their Churchill Downs triumph at Belmont Park Bimelech Whirlaway Shut Out Count Fleet Assault Phalanx Citation Capot Middleground Coun ¬ terpoint One Count Native Dancer High Gun Nashua Needles and Gallant Man that is to say 16 of the last 18 winners of the Belmont Stakes were either the champions of the year or very close seconds with many convinced admirers That was the case last year when Gallant Man was nosed out in the polls by Bold Ruler RulerTop Top Features in Four Divisions DivisionsThe The Belmont merely sets the tone for the entire meeting Just as the winner of the CCA Oaks is gen ¬ erally considered the best of the threeyearold fillies so does the winner of the Suburban usually head the handicap division though some like last years Traf ¬ fic Judge have been too soon forgot while the Carter Handicap winner as often as not is the sprint cham ¬ pion Of course sometimes the Carter has been won by a horse capable of getting considerably more than 7 furlongs such as Tom Fool Last years Horse of the Year Wheatley Stables Bold Ruler is a Carter prob ¬ able this year yearBy By all the signs and potents Bold Ruler will be the first accredited champion to be seen under silks at Belmont Park Mr Fitz has indicated that if all con ¬ tinues to go well with the strapping son of Nasrullah he will start in Saturdays Toboggan at 6 furlongs on the Widener straightaway This will be the first ap ¬ pearance for Bold Ruler since he humiliated Gallant Man and Round Table in the Trenton Handicap at Garden State Park last November 9 A mysteriously puffed ankle kept Bold Ruler on the sidelines all win ¬ ter though he twice came within one breeze of a race He almost started in the Palm Beach and Widener Handicaps at Hialeah and of course it is possible that he will again have to be stopped but at present he is going soundly and swiftly and working on any kind of track Several in Withers Have Shown Promise PromiseNone None of the threeyearolds slated to dispute Mon ¬ days Withers mile have yet lodged any championship pretensions but more than one has indicated that only a comparatively little improvement is needed This seems true of Maine Chance Farms lightly raced and often spooky Liberty Ruler while Walter M Jef ¬ fords Candace and Piano Jim have showed abundant speed and in Oscar White have a trainer who made a champion of the much less likely One Count Wheat leys Nasco has yet to suggest to anyone who didnt look at his pedigree that he is a fullbrother to Bold Ruler yet he has the physical ability to be any kind of horse and has sometimes indicated that he may yet develop the mental attitude to go with his physique physiqueWednesdays Wednesdays 7 furlongs Distaff Handicap could very well include the champion of the older fillies and mares The probable field includes Mrs Ethel D Jacobs Searching Mrs Gerard S Smiths Outer Space Michael R Sotos LoriEl Cain Hoy Stables Nile Lily Harry LaMontagnes Plotter Mabel D Lewis Happy Princess John A Manfusos Clear Sailing Mrs Ada L Rices Pucker Up and Inquisitive Joe W Browns Fan ¬ ciful Miss Bill Beasleys Pink Velvet and George D Wideners Teleran Pucker Up was the 1957 handicap filly and mare champion and could be the first of the theContinued Continued on Page FiftyFive NEW YORK YORKBY BY BOB HORWOOD Continued from Page Five Fiveestablished established champions to appear at the meeting but is less certain to go postward than Bold Ruler RulerThe The shift from crowded and cramped Jamaica to spacious beautiful Belmont Park may be too rich a move for the blood of some racegoers or so it has seemed in past years But there is no doubt that the impending meeting of the magnificient course on the Hempstead turnpike will provide the nations best thoroughbreds competing in worthy surroundings and if that it what you think horseracing should be a new system of bridges and under ¬ passes make it considerably easier for you to get there