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MONTREAL FOLKS SEE RACES IN RAIN. Schroeders Midway Wins the Champ de Mars Stakes Exciting Contests. Montreal, Quebec, September 2. The racing conditions at Blue Bonnets today could uot possibly have been worse. About noon rain began to fall and for the remainder of the afternoon It came down In torrents, drenching everyone and everything not under cover. Under these circumstances it was expected that the attendance would be a mere handful, but the Montreal public showed that a little thing like rain will not keep them away from the races and they turned out in droves. The crowd was large enough to pack the grandstand, betting ring and clubhouse and, what was better, it was an enthusiastic gathering. They made themselves as comfortable as possible and cheered the winners as they passed the stand. It made no difference whether the finishes were close or not. .They were out for a holiday and enjoyed the sport. Secretary Boden had prepared an excellent program, which, however, was somewhat marred by scratches. The going was not as bad as might have been supposed and a majority of the races furnished stirring contests. Five of the winners were forced to stand hard drives to land the long end of the purses and the best horses won. The racing was clean and form was very much in evidence. . The Champ dc Mars Stakes, which will be one of the annual features of Montreal racing, resulted-in a head finish between Schroeders Midway and Klfall. The steeplechase proved an exciting contest with the winner in doubt until in the last fifty yards. Several carloads of horses got in from New York and Fort Erie this morning. Among them were the stables of J. A. Sykes, M. .7. Daly, T. E. Crist, J. W. Pangle, M. Burton and E. Manley. Jockeys E. Helder, Pohanka, J. Daly, Bullnian, L. Smith and J. SImms also arrived. Lycurgus will be here the latter part of the week. His employer, W. Walker, received a message this afternoon that the boy was up and about again. Knobhampton was ridden by Masnada, an Italian gentleman jockey, who is reputed to have been one of the leading turfmen in Italy a few years ago. Knobhampton fenced well and ran kindly and had a royal chance until after taking the tenth jump, when he struck a soft spot and iu slipping went down behind and all but fell.
