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Connors Corner By Chuck Connors Officials to Confer on Belmont Park Agenda Elimination of Widener Chute Poses Problem Fewer Number of Starters in Juvenile Races JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 6— Racing secretary Jimmie Kilroe and Marshall Cassidy, who serves as vice-president and director of racing for the NYRA, will meet for a conference within the next day or so. The subjects to be discussed include the number of starters at Belmont Park, distances for turf races, and division of two - year - old races, if necessary. The most important matter is no doubt the number of starters named for the juvenile offerings. With the elimination of the Widener course, this automatically cuts down the number of starters in two-year-old races. The limit down the old straightaway, which bisected Belmont Park, was 28. However, there was no arbitrary limit in stakes events. This spring the number of starters racing around the turn at 5 furlongs will either be 10 or 12. Racing to the turn on the main course will bring forth some crowding and there is no argument on that score. With a limit of 10 or 12 starters the expected roughing, horsemen and jockeys are agreed, will be reduced but by no means minimized. The run to the turn is a short one and in two-year-old races, taking back for a position is the exception. Two-year-old races, as the boys say, "are run in one breath," and self protection despite all the cameras, patrol judges, and what have you is the first rule of nature. Anyway, Cassidy and Kilroe have a delicate situation and with the number of youngsters stabled at the vast Nassau County course, close to 800, complaints will be many and loud from owners and trainers for further opportunities to race their first year performers. The boys in that respect have a good argument, which is based on the old saw, that you cannot tell what you have until you run him. For the older horses, who are called upon to race 6 furlongs or longer, there is little discussion. At the present 14 starters is conceded to be the limit although for races at 7 furlongs, one mile or over, an additional two or four may be accepted. Fewer Grass Events This Year The oldsters have plenty of room to take a position before running into the initial bend. The turf races will be few this year, the first is a 7 furlongs test down for decision on the first Saturday of the meeting. The choice of locale for the running, the turf or the main course, is left to the management. The grass course is new and the hurdlers and steeplechasers finish over part of the homestretch and no doubt the ground will take considerable pounding from caulked steel shoes. Anyway, the visual changes at the big Nassau County course will be strange, for a couple of days at least, to the regulars. As far as the grandstand and clubhouse are concerned few changes have been made and all the conveniences are where they were last year, the year before and for that matter years before. The track is still a mile and one-half in circumference and big enough to test the stamina of any horse, if he or she is sent the full cup route. At private terms trainer Walter Kelley, representing Max Glucks Elmendorf, acquired the three-year-old filly Toluene, a daughter of Hill Prince and Dynamite II., who was bred by Preston Burch, yesterday. The miss raced for H. H. Polk of Alexandria, Va., and was a stakes winner last year. The new acquisition will be raced in the Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico and then shipped to New York for her Coaching Club American Oaks engagement. . . . Manassa Mauler, surprise winner of the Wood Memorial and a probable supplementary for the Preakness, left this morning for the Maryland scene. He has an engagement on Monday which will to a certain extent decide his status as a Preakness potential. . . . G. H. "Pete" Bostwick was an arrival yesterday from Aiken. His horses in the care of Monk Mergler arrived from the Carolina scene. . . . Danny Shea, the Connecticut Yankee, was on hand yesterday. He came on from Miami and reported that the weather in that area was hot and muggy. Dolly Byers Plans Belmont Visit Dolly Byers, who was stricken with a heart attack two years ago while en route home from Lexington, Ky., is progressing steadily at Aiken, S. C. He maintains a home in that city where he wintered for the past decade or more. However, he said that the would be along this way, later in the spring, for some racing at Belmont Park. He also intimated that he is not yet ready to return to the racing wars in his training post. . . . Edward Brennan, general manager of Monmouth Park, was a visitor yesterday. He came on from Louisville where he witnessed the running of the Derby. . . . Jack OHara leaves for Beulah Park, out in Ohio, where he will man the public address system for that meeting. . . . Frank Bain, one of the veterans of racing, owner, trainer, commissioner and handicapper, died at a convalescent home, San Francisco, Calif., Sunday evening, according to word received here. He was in his 83d year and retired from racing four years ago. He is survived by a brother, Bob, residing here and a sister in San Francisco. He was born in Braidtown, 111., and had been associated with racing since his early teens. . . . Fifteen foals arrived at Elmendorf today, according to Walter Kelley. Ten are colts and five fillies. The most recent is a colt by Alibhai from My Blue Skies.
