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CLOSE FINISHES AT HA WTBORNE. The soil at Hawthorne is drying out rapidly, and if no more rain falls between now and rating time the Endurance Stake.-, at two miles, will be decided over a fast track tins afternoon and s-hould furnish a contest well worth seeing. Yesterdays racing was by far the best seen at Hawthorne during its present meeting. There were no less than four close finishes — one, in fact, was m close and so differently seen by the judges and crowd that for a time it seemed that there would surely be a riot. This particular close finish came out of the second race, which was a selling affair at seven furloDgs and was between Braw Lad and Lomond. The former was the favorite in the betting and got the decision, which was really so close that only the judges, who are in the proper place to see. could decide correctly. The angle looking at a close finish from the Hawthorne stand i a deceiving one and ever since the track was first built the judges have had their c :wu troubles in satisfying the crowds whenever a hairline finish turned up. and the one between Braw Lad and Lomond was certainly a close one. Braw Lad was on the inside and passing the sixteenth post Lomond had him beaten by about a neck, and. in fact. at this point Tame Irishman was iu front of Braw Lad. but the latter displayed more game-ne6s than he ever did before, and as the other two hung right at the end he managed to get up just in time to catch the judges eye first-and incidentally raise a big disturbance. Despite Lady Meddlesomes bad showing the last time she started she was strongly backed by those supposed to be "in the know" to beat a much better field than she was up against on her last essay. To say that the filly ran an improved race would be putting it mildly. She acted and ran like a different horse, and was beaten two heads simply because jockey Buchanan used her too much in the first part of the race and rode a poorly judged race gener ally. Pay the Fiddler, handsomely ridden by Winkfield. won the race and achieved a popular victory from a public standpoint, as this gelding runs consistently and consequently had a big following. Jockey Buchanan, through sheer carelessness. cost Pat Duune and his colt Silurian a purse in the first event. This jouthful knight of the , pigskin had everything his own way when he I hit the stretch, but instead of coming on about his business he proceeded to give the other boys the laugh, but before his laugh was well on its , way. Tyr. with Bloss up. came with a terrific . rush and passed the wire a winner by a neck. Hugh Kane and his friends backed L. T. Ca-ton in the fourth race from 4 to 1 down to 3 to 1. They thought they had a good thing on the race , the horse ran a few days ago. Ordinarily they would have had it. but L. T. Caton met with all kinds of bad luck. He had the outside position i at the post which is quite a disadvantage at the , seven furlong start. He got away none loo well and was on the outside of the field when going I around the turn. On top of all this L. T. Caton made the stretch bend very wide. He ran gamely through the stretch but was beaten out three parts of a length for third money in a bIom fini-h between the first five. Pirate J., ai. outsider at 8 to 1 and always in a good position. won by a length. He was well ridden by Buchanan. . Jim W.. the pacemaker, just lasted it out beating Lady Britannic a neck for second ; money. The handicappers made Ohnet favorite over The Unknown in the fifth at a mile, but they had the Hayes coit a bit underrated. He made , tue pace under a pull to the far turn where , Vititoe let out a wrap and he opened a gap uf r four lengths from Olmet. The latter came fast t through the stretch and at one point had his neck in front of The Unknown, but the son of Pirate of Penzance only needed to be aroused a trifle to outstride his rival and win a good race by a head. Woodstick, recently sold by H. T. Griffin to Mrs. R M. Westerfield. seems to be one of the gamest youngsters at the track and after being hard punished all the way. he won the third race rather handily by about two lengths from Icon, who improved rather suddenly under a smashing good ride. Vititoe had his first mount in Chicago for a long time yesterday on The Unknown, and won in fine form. Jockey Bassinger was notified by Judges Kuhl and Trevathan that he cannot ride any more at Hawthorne this year. Rough tactics that endanger the lives of other jockeys is the cause. The Futurity race will be called through the grandstand and in the betting Hug at Hawthorne today. Yesterdays attendance was the largest of the week. Nearly 7.000 people were present. There are seven races on todays card, the extra event being a substituted steeplechase over the short course, in which Sir Dick. Frond. Leando. Brakeman, Passe Partout. Coronatus and Uncle Jim are entered. This race will come third on the program, replacing a handicap event which failed to fill.
