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PROGRESS AT NEW ORLEANS RAISE IN PURSE VALUES AND NUMBER OF RACES DAILY INCREASES INTEREST. Leochares Alone Among- the Sprinters — Success of Imported Horses a Feature — Two -Year-Olds Racing Well. Py J. L. Bunpsey. Now Orleans, La., January 14. — Horses which im:i In-st :n soft going will again be in their -U incut tomorrow, as last nights rain Of several hours changed track conditions at the Fair Groaads. A warm sun and a stiff wind helped dry the coarse out today ami. barring further rain, it should ! •■ fast again by Tuesday. Few homes were on the track tliis morning and. wha* ware out. hid to work around the •dogs." The tail end of tile cold wave in ihe north, struck here las. Bight, and for a while the temperature was not far above the fret zing point. Iliis had a tendency to keep the hundreds of local "rail birds." who usnally visit the Fair Groaads on Sunday morning, away today. With the raising of the purses to a minimum value of 00 for the last twenty-six days of the mteting. and with seven race- a day being COatest- d. t lit- Fair Grounds racing season is passing the bounds of the mnl winti r sjiort. and is patting itsolf well up above many of the race tracks that hold forth in the nort.i and east in the spring, summer and fall. The purse money distribution by the Business Mens Ra in-r Associatiea this whiter will set a new record, n-.t only for New Orleans, but any Other winter racing point, as 3,700 will be given aw ay in stakts nlonc. The raising of the purses v as voluntary on the part of the association, and elicited a vote of thanks from the horsemen racing here. The entries which racing secretary Joseph McLennan will take lomorrow for Tuesdays soiling races, will be accented under the new selling race rne which makis every one of these races a 1 i.n.ing race. The hors-men were much relieved with the adoption of the new rules by the Business Mens Racing Association, as the owners of selling platers which could win. were afraid to enter tin in hecntis • of the activity of the bidding up brigade. There will not be near so much claiming now. because of tiie proviso in the new rules that a claimant must be represented by a horse in the race. The fourth stake race of the meeting, the Qea-lilly Handicap with SI. 000 added, will be run v Saturday and. after that, stake race; will be run twice a week until the last week of the meeting. A stake will be run daily on the last fire days. This will also mark the last week for th;- 0 » pur- s. :,s the Increase to a minimum value of . 00 begins January 22. The running of seven races a day has proved popular with the patrons here, and the wreath race :- over as early as the sixth was formerly, liecause of an earlier start each afternoon. With the return of good weather and a fast track the racr-s fill well, and the Handicap horses are BOW letting plenty of action. At most race tracks, even in summer, it is a difficult task to fill mile or longer iocs to the extent of three a day. but seven were carded here and all filled and with a good grade of horses in a majority of them. Eastern Horses Showing Best. Thus far the eastern horses have a shade on those from the west in the matter of purses won. "llie hor-.cs from the west, most of them which had a two months layoff until this meeting opened, s, cm short at their f i i -1 time oat, but they are ■are to Improve with racing. Fast whiter the west furnished tic champion sprinter of the winter meeting at t!: • fair Granada, but this year they have i, chance t.i repeat in this respect. Tile first start of Leochares. W. I. Orrs sou of Broomstick — Leajoaara served to satisfy everybody in these parts, that if there are any laurels to be carried off for sprinting that he will take care of them. As a ceavincer that he is as g I as nt any time in his life the crack horse carried 190 pounds and equalled the track record for three-quarters. 1:12, and finished ten lengths in advance of his nearest opponent with his bead in the air. He | could have run much faster had he been urged but la the final eighth he was eased up. His showing took much of the prestige away from Fan Ban ta that siie enjoyed list winter, but she is still an lool in the hearts of the local people. Upon her first appearance hen under colors this winter she was given a tremendous ovation as she paraded to, the post, ln.t she did not inn her race as of old and | finished out of the money. It is seldom that she j reus unplaced, and this was the first time that she • ever Started here and failed to get some portion I of the pur* . Tin- mare looks fleshy, and may I be lease time in getting back to her old s If. A rule has been made to the effect that after the Increase In purses takes effect no horse can be en- j tired in a silling race for less than 50. the net , viiue of the bra at purse to the winner This will make the minimum claiming price fas*, and this with tile purse would make .sl.3:.u the lowest amount an owner weald get for his horse, if he 1-t him via Die claiming route after winning a la.-e. Frequent Cases of Claiming. There are j i. aty of claims in as a rule in races Where He winner is eligible to lie claimed, and a now record for h. re was made when there were i Ight in lor Langhorno. Upon the occasion of his first Hart here he was entered to lie sold, and not claimed if he won and Miller Henderson lost him when V. l.irnie bid him up to ,100. Birnie ri D him bat k and pat bbn in to be claimed and when he won again there was a merry scramble for blBS. He has been in three different stables since the meeting opened. Henderson sums to be a target for the "halter-men" as in tin- first week of the meeting he won two races and was bid up both times. His horses are being trained by Joe lev is. who took them over when heir owner was almost at deaths di«ir in Louisville and he has them all in excellent condition. The first three he sent to the post won. Miss Knier, Langhorno and Mikifula. [■petted horses are more than holding their i own at the lair Cnninds. The lirst one to win ; waa Tampa, ■ Preach-bred two-year-old, and i since then Devil Fish. 1erugino, Iolroma and j i ,.ral others have annexed purses. Then are a number of imported horses on the grounds and i tlo-y will go to the barrier before long, now that ! the going is at its best. Devil Fish was one of - the first horses hero to win two races and ho ran like a shifty sort of a horse, but his old leg ailment came back on him and he may be on the shelf for a while. Syrian Races Consistently. For consistency the prise must be awarded to Syrian, Jefferson Livingstons five-year-old son of Electioneer hiekleta. After winning the opening stake of the meeting h to he ran a bad race because be was ridden just the opposite to the way In- should have boon, then he came back and beat tie- same horses that beat him. In thirteen start . three of them hero, he won seven races, finished second five times ami was out of the money once This horse has been owned at various times by ;. W. J. Bissoll. C. R. Ellison. John F. Sciiorr and Joe Hawkins and ho never failed to win for any of them when he was good. William Goose, a brother of jockey Beseoe Goose and himself a rider for a short time, has Igaia drifted Into the ranks of the owners. He his Class A. racing hero and he expects to got a few more horses to take to Kentucky. He rode with a fair measure of saccess at Palmetto Park. Charleston, 8. c., one winter, but Increasing ireigbt caused him to give up the saddle. Last summer he raced Old Miss, a shifty sort of a filly in Canada, but ho lost her in a selling race, and since that time ho has not had a horse until he -came here Since the track has become fast the two-year-ells are showing to much bettor advantage, and they are running throe-eighths of a mile in the woinity of :30 and under. Thus far there lias bean nothing shown in tiie two-yeai -old line that has caused a sensation and the fastest juvei lie race in the first ten days of the meeting was run by Thinker, a filly by Uncle— Thoughtless, owned by V. P. Johnson. She reeled off the three-eighths in :35~,. which is within one-fifth of a second of Vhe track record.
