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NOW FOR WINTER RACING DECLARING OFF OF HAVANA MEETING CLARIFIES THE SITUATION. Juarez Meeting Scheduled to Open on Thursday for 100 Days, to Bo longest in Duration Columbia to Open Same Day. From Havana comes the definite announcement that II. 1$. Brown has abandoned his intention of conducting racing in Cuba the coming winter and hag formally declared off the lengthy meeting which lie had planned on giving at the Almandares track in the suburbs of Havana. Unexpected difficulties in obtaining the necessary concessions and greater expense in getting the track into condition for racr ing than seemed probable when the plans were made, are given as the chief reasons for the abandonment of the venture. It is quite probable that the successful consummation of plans for winter racing in South Carolina had quite as much weight in In-lluencing Mr. Brown to defer his Cuban venture as anything else. The opposition of a winter meeting at Charleston would undoubtedly have greatly affected the chances of success for Mr. Browns Cuban experiment had he decided to proceed with Ids plans at this time. The supposition is that he has simply decided to await a more opportune time. The declaring off of the Havana meeting has clarified the winter racing situation and will leave free to go elsewhere those horsemen who had made plans lo assist in the establishment of racing in Cuba. These horsemen will have the opportunity of choosing between three winter meetings. Two of these at Juarez, Mex., and Columbia, S. C. will open on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday of this week. The Juarez meeting is to continue for 100 days or more and will be the longest In duration of those scheduled for the winter months. Racing will go on at the inagiiilicently equipped course of the Jockey Club Juarez every day except Mondays until March 21 next. In accordance with the Mexican custom, .the principal events will be decided on Sundays. It will be the third season of racing at the Juarez and it bids fair to be more successful in r,rurse every respect than its two predecessors. It is an open secret that heretofore the Juarez meetings, conducted in competition with California racing, have not been financially successful. This season, for the first time since racing was established as a regular institution in California, there will be no racing in that far western state, the result of the stringent anti-betting legislation of 1911 at Sacramento. Many of those who extracted great delight from patronizing the sport as conducted at Oakland and Los Angeles, will this season be found among the patrons of the Juarez track, in addition to those who have in preceding seasons given of their time and substance in support of M. J. Winns efforts to establish racing in an attractive way on the Mexican border opposite El Paso. It seems probable at this writing that Colonel Winns efforts are about to be substantially rewarded. Word comes that El Paso is rapidly filling with horsemen and others who have been gathering there in anticipation of Thursdays opening and that the prospects for a brilliantly successful meeting are bright indeed. Manager Winn announced yestcrilay that arrangements for the meeting are complete. There are now quartered at the Juarez track almost COO horses. The racers that participated in the meeting at the Mexican capital arrived last week in line condition and, together with the good class of horses that had previously gathered at the track, will furnish excellent fields. Enthusiasm is running high. Colonel Matt Winn announced yesterday that any reputable bookmaker would have the privilege of cutting in. thus insuring a lively open ring. Among many well-known bookmakers who are ready to answer the call are Boy Offutt, Joe Rose. C. T. Brownfield, Pete Adams, S. A. Bradley, B. Armstrong, I. Ham, Al Austin, Jack Atkin, Frank Jreifer. J. Morris, W. G. Yanke, Col. W. E. Apple-gate and others. The attraction for the opening day will he the Dos Republicas Handicap at 6lx furlongs. The weights announced yesterday are: Florence Roberts, !2; Calisse, 03; Closer. 05; Avon, 0G; Venetian. 100: Dr. Dougherty, 105; Delaney, 105; Flying Wolf, 100; Napa Kick, 100; Quartermaster, 10S; Araseo, 112: Irish Gentleman, 113; Nimbus, 115: Harrigan. 117; Chapultepec. 11S; Injury, 122: Round the World, 122; Enfield, 123; Follie Levy, 125. The Jockey Club Juarez is operating under a liberal and irrevocable concession, with no restrictions whatever. In previous seasons, owing to a combination of circumstances the betting ring lias been conducted on the syndicate plan. This winter, for the first time, it will be of the "open" type and lliis will in itself contribute materially to the success of the meeting. It is altogether probable that if the results are as anticipated, the racing will be extended for a .substantial period beyond the 100 days already scheduled. Manager Winn has surrounded himself with a competent staff of officials in whom race-goers have the utmost confidence and this will, of course, play an important part in the success that may be expected to attend the meeting. The meeting which opens under the auspices of the Columbia Racing Association at Columbia, S. C, on Thursday is scheduled to continue for thirty-three days ami, except on the opening day, will he without opposition so far as the east is concerned. While racing will be a new thing at Columbia, it may be expected that sufficient patronage will he contributed by followers of racing in the eastern section of the United States to make the venture a success. Arthur N. Elrod, who is managing the meeting, says that there is much local interest at Columbia in the venture and that it is hoped to make the enterprise a permanent one, with annual meetings beginning each Thanksgiving day. More favorable conditions could hardly be found for the launching of the new venture. Horses have been racing at Marlboro, M1., which is within easy shipping distance, and the meeting at Norfolk is to come to a close on Thursday, after which many of the stables racing there will move over to Columbia. The first horses to reach the course were those from Marlboro, Md., where racing came to a close November IS. There were 122 horses on the special over the Southern Railroad, and the run from Washington was made in less than twelve hours. The horses were unloaded Inside the fair grounds, the line having a spur into the track. Another special will be made up in Washington to accommodate 135 horses that will leave Benning for the South Carolina track. Five carloads will go to Columbia from Kentucky. Among those who have been assigned stalls are George J. Chinn of Lexington, fourteen: J. F. Keith of Spurgeon, Mo., six; E. C. Nunn of Cincinnati, seven; Gallaher Bros, of Lexington, fifteen; A. L. Kirby, twelve, and P. n. Johnson of Evansville. Ind., four. Included in the list from Nor- 1 folk are: n. G. Bedwell, J. W. Fiynn, J. Mayberry. Sain Louis. W. A. Burttschell. S. W. Streett, Archie Zimmor, Hugh Penny, J. L. Holland, W. Gerst, L. ; LolSIond. E. II. Garrison. G. R. Brysou, P. H. Jones, : C. L. Mack. J. U. Strode, L. M. Stackhouse, R. S. i Brush and Willie Martin. It is expected that there will be at least fifteen : layers in line for the opening. 1 ; : i : The officials of the meeting are: P. A. Brady, presiding judge; Joseph McLennan, associate judge and racing secretary; James Milton, starter; Harry White, paddock judge; Hart Derham, clerk of the course; John W. Rice, treasurer. Columbia itself is in a section that is surrounded by winter resorts that will furnish patronage, and it is a section where horses and horsemen abound. The city is a railroad center of some importance, being on the main line of the Southern, Seaboard and Atlantic Coast railways, and there are sixty-six trains that arrive and depart daily. Special excursion rates are being arranged from Jacksonville. Savannah, Charleston, Atlanta, Aiken and the various other nearby cities for the occasion. Trolleys reach the course in fifteen minutes from the heart of the city. The course is of the regulation mile variety, of ample width. With the construction of a steeplechase course all will be in readiness for the opening day crowd. For the opening day there will be a 00 Thanksgiving Handicap at the six-furlong distance, and an added attraction will be aeroplane exhibitions by Fort Smith flyers, who have been engaged by Mr. Elrod for the opening date, as well as for December 2 and 4. The Columbia meeting will close January 6, four days before the scheduled opening of the seventy-five days meeting of the Charleston Fair and Racing As soclation at Charleston, S. C, under the management of F. J. Pons, whose connection with the successful meetings given at Jacksonville is well known. This meeting will be conducted on a pretentious scale over a new track that is now being rushed to completion. That it will be highly successful seems fully assured. It is scheduled to continue from January 10 to April 5 and will be patronized by many of the important racing stables of the east and the middle west. Mr. Pons and his associates, including W. F. Schulte, former president of the Louisville Jockey Club, who is to serve as president of the new association, will exert themselves to provide racing that will tend to assure the perpetuity of the sport in South Carolina. Charleston racing dates far back and there is no reason to doubt that the residents of the city will be duly appreciative of the type of sport that Mr. Pons will strive to provide. L. A. Cassidy, who is acting as assistant secretary for the now association, is receiving applications thick and fast from horse owners throughout the country for stable room and other accommodations. Stake entries are also pouring into the associations offices on Meeting street, oposite the Charleston Hotel, every day, and will continue to until the closing date, December 1C. The work on the new track is progressing satisfactorily. Stalls for over two hundred and fifty horses have already been provided, and it is expected that an equal additional number will have been completed before the end of the week. Those who have applied for quarters for their horses will be notified shortly that the association is in readiness to accommodate their stock. Among the well-known owners who have already applied for stalls, and who have made stake entries, are the following: J. C. Milam, Lexington. Kv., eighteen horses; C. T. Patterson, Cincinnati. 0., fourteen; Lon Johnson, Louisville, Ky.. six: G. R. Bryson, Covington, Ky., thirteen; John Rodegap, Lexington, ten; J. W. Frye, Lexington, nineteen; L. P. Doerhoefer, Louisville, fifteen; C. C. Van Meter, Louisville, fifteen; W. J. Young, Lexington, fifteen; J. Tandy Hughes, Lexington, ten; Walter Grater, Lexington, ten; II. C. Hallenbeck, New York, eighteen; J. J. McCafferty, New York, ten; James Griffin, Latonia. twelve; Henderson and Hogan, Louisville, eight: T. R. Hitchcock, New York, eight; W. Hurley. Lexington, six: Gene Lutz, Covington, twelve; J. R. Wainwright, Pittsburg, twelve; R. F. Carman, New York, thirty-two; W. H. Karrick, New York, fifteen; Weber and Ward, Covington, ten; Dr. J. S. Tyree, Washington, D. C, nineteen; Max Hirsch, New York, seven, and many others. In sending out notice of the declaring off of the Havana meeting, H. D. Brown made the following statement: "The council in Havana has not passed the necessary ordinance to permit racing. Moreover, it is doubtful if I could get the necessary number of fiorses to Cuba at this late day to hold a representative meeting. So, all in all, I think that the best thing I can do is to postpone this meeting until next season. "I feel relieved because the horsemen have a place to race this winter. I felt in duty bound to provide a winter racing point for the horsemen, but inasmuch as Mr. Pons has provided It for them it takes this responsibility off my shoulders and I am willing to do anything in reason to help him with his venture. In the meantime I will look around and see what I can do in securing some other places in which to race next summer."
