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: HAVANAS WINTER MEETING ATTENDANCE MODERATE THE FIRST WEEK, BUT STEADY IMPROVEMENT IS EXPECTED. Peculiarities of the. Almandares Race Track President Gomez an Enthusiast Many Useful Horses In the Racing, Havana, Cuba, December 7. The winter racing season in Cuba began on Tuesday last at. the Almandares course. The meeting is scheduled to run for fifty days and is given under the auspices of the Cuban Racing Association. Racing is new to the Cubans and it will take some time to work up the sport here to a paying basis. The track is located in a suburb of Havana called Almandares, from which it takes its name. There is a good trolley service to the course, which is about three or four miles from the city. The plant was erected by the Cubans and is rather a crude affair. The original plan of the promoters was to erect a monster race course patterned after the lines of Belmont Park. The local people failed to respond in the manner expected when subscriptions to the stock were asked for and the result was a complete change in the construction. The track itself is a mile and a furlong and 100 yards in circumference. The grandstand is a wooden structure, with the betting enclosure in the lower iortlon. The paddock and stalls are open affairs built so as to give the horses plenty of fresh air. This is very necessary in this climate, as the weather is extremely hot on some days. On the opening day the attendance was good, but on the two days following a small crowd turned out to witness the races. Saturday, however, brought a decided improvement, and on Sunday about 4,000 people were present. While it is doubtful if the present meeting will be a successful one financially, still it is almost a certainty that in a few years racing will be a big thing in Havana. The people here are not well up on the soprt, aud the present plant is not just what they want. The better element of Cubans go in for everything on a grand scale. Many of them have visited the race courses at New York and Saratoga and they expect the same accommodations here that they get there. On the opening day last season .the plant was in a half completed state and many of the ladies who attended the races on that occasion had their handsome gowns ruined by the fine red clay dust which was blown in clouds from the track. The Cuban Racing Association has but little idea of how a. race meeting should be conducted, and the present management has to overcome the mistakes made last season. The racing end of the sport this winter is being looked after by F. W. Gerhardy and Joseph McLennan and the meeting is being financed by Messrs. Smith and Perry. The latter gentlemen are tip against it here. Conditions were grossly misrepresented to them. On their arrival they found that the stables had been demolished and the lumber carted away. They had advertised the meeting extensively in the states and had arranged for a number of stables to come over. The Cuban Racing Association was without funds and the American firm was- forced to go down in its own pockets and supply the money for the building of new stalls. This was done at a cost of something like ,000. The track also required a lot ot! attention, the grandstand had to be remodeled and a new paddock erected. They went to this expense to make good their word to the horsemen, as it was on their guarantee that they shipped here. Of course there is a chance of Smith and Perry getting back a big portion of this amount provided the meeting continues to improve, and the indications are that it will. Saturdays and Sundays are both big days, while Tuesdays and Thursdays will probably be light ones. The racing here up to date has been much better than one would expect. The fields have been evenly matched and a majority of the races have furnished interesting contests. There are a number of good horses racing here, among them Sally Preston, Hall-fax, Trev of Spades, Cloisteress, Manheiiuer, Artful Dodger, Momentum. Chief Hayes. Reticent, Lady Ethel, Laughing Eye, Roseboro, Eustacian, Eonite. Dew of Dawn. St. Aulaire. Solon Shingle, Water Cooler. Ilawksflight. Malediction. Elsa F.. LAmour. Clifton Forge aud Enlist. There are several others which have not as yet gone to the post. James Robertson has done well witli the two horses he brought here, Sally Preston and Sister Phyllis. The former started twice last week and won on both occasions, while Sister Phyllis won once and finished third In her other start. Hincheliffe, Troxler, A. Martin. Neeley, Liebert, Gore. Obert, Mulcahy. W. Ott. Garwood and W. Fischer are the best riders here. Sam Parmer, who is looking after the track at Almandares, has the going in excellent condition and some fast time has been made, considering the construction of the course. The track is a peculiarly shaped one. The stretch is a little over a furlong in length. From the grandstand there is a long curve to the baekstretch. where the track shmtts off directly north for about a half mile. Then there is a sharp turn and another straight run for about a quarter of a mile in the direction of the grandstand, and then the final turn into the homestretch. The peculiar construction hides the horses from view during most of the running and this is a bad thing, as the Cubans like to see the horses during the entire race. There is a dense growth of weeds in the infield and this also in a measure tends to obstruct the view. A splendid three-quarter mile track could be easily constructed on the plant at a small expense and It seems as though this will be necessary, as it will add considerable more enthusiasm to the sport. The Cubans are the greatest bettors in the world. They are good losers, too. and it is only a question of time before racing on the Island will be a national sport. In the early days of the Jai Ali in Havana this game was run at a loss. The profits now are enormous, the yearly dividends being something like 150 per cent. Baseball was a losing venture here for the first few years. On Wednesday last 21,000 persons witnessed a baseball game between the Almandares team aud the Cincinnati Reds. The Cubans are wonderfully good baseball players and they are especially strong in the pitching department. Only one hit was made off one of the local pitchers by the Reds in twenty-four Innings and the Almandares have won three of the four games played to date. The better element of Cubans love racing and they are bound to turn out in time. There is no club house at Almandares, but there is a row of private boxes in the extreme rear of the stand. On the opening day President-elect Gomez and a party of friends witnessed the races from the state box. Senor Gomez is an admirer of out-door sports and Is especially fond of racing. Just at present he is on a pleasure trip at the other end of the island, but on his return to Havana he. has nromised to be a regular attendant at the course. The tourist season begins after the holidays and it is expected that a number of visitors will be attracted by the races. At the conclusion of the present meeting in Havana the stables will be shipped to Tampa, where a meeting will be given in conjunction with the Florida state fair. There have been several sales of horses here during the past few days, among those changing hands being the two-year-old VEscutcheon, which J. S. Smith purchased of S. Michaels for 00. Trey of Spades, which J. W. Paugle brought here from Baltimore, is now in the stable of G. Brown, the latter purchasing the horse on -Saturday lor 00. Smith and Brown are both residents of the island. K. Lynch.
