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GREAT CROWD AT HAVANA TEN THOUSAND SPECTATORS ATTEST THE POPULARITY OF RACING IN CUBA. Encore Wins All the Way — Laura Defeats Kopje Luckily — Brave Cunarder Takes the Big Race of the Afternoon in Fast Time. Havana, Cuba, December 19.— H. G. Bedwell scored a double with Laura and Brave Cunarder at Oriental Park today. Brave Cunarder won the ,000 Oriental Handicap and ran the mile in 1:3!%. which is a new record for the course. A crowd of 10,000 was in attendance and manifested great enthusiasm. Business was big in the betting ring. A big party gathered at the clubhouse and the-e was dancing after the races, society being out in force. Encore won the opener as an odds-on favorite should have. Taking the lead with the rise of the barrier, he showed the way by a considerable margin from start to finish. Sonny Boy, which was expected to furnish the chief contention, failed to stay and was beaten for second place by Skiles Knob. Another odds-on choice scored in the second. This was Maxims Choice. He. too, led all the way. but had to be shaken up in the stretch because of an inclination to loaf. Kopje was backed into equal favoritism with Laura for the third and the latter, after taking a good early lead, lasted long enough to win by a nose. Kopje would have been the winner but for a wide stretch turn. The fourth was likewise productive of a close finish. Southern Gold, the winner, having a margin of only a neck over Yellow Eyes. Another exciting struggle marked the closing dash, in which Conflagration and Napier raced like a team all the way. Jockey Wolstenholms superiority to Gartner decided the outcome in favor of Conflagration by a nose. L. H. Sunderburg of Jacksonville was among the bookmakers who drew in today. Several applications for stable room have be.a received from horsemen at New Orleans.
