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RACING AT ORIENTAL PARK Fourth Season of Sport at Havana Promises to Eclipse All Others. Brilliant Assemblage Present Opening Day Fields Will Be Larger Later On. Havana, Cuba. December 5. Tim fourth season of winter racing under the auspices of the Cuba-American Jockey Club has oened in a manner that is highly gratifying to all concerned. Oriental Park, than which there is no more convenient nor prettier racing plant anywhere, was the scene of a brilliant gathering of the elite of Havana on Thanksgiving Day, when the season of one hundred days racing was inaugurated. The patronage was of greater proportions than for the corresponding days since the opening of the track in iai.r and it is plainly to be seen that racing has been firmly established as one of the most popular of Cuban sports. Americans making their first visit to the track, were much impressed by the display of finery that was a feature of the opening. The -many boxes, with which the grandstand is equipped, were filled with prominent Cubans and the spectacle presented by the scores of well groomed men and handsomely gowned and bejewelled women moving about the promenades and exchanging visits between races, was both inspiring and appealing to the eye. Among the- prominent Cubans in attendance was .Senor Juan Montalvo, secretary of the interior in President Menocals cabinet. Senor Montalvo witnessed some of the racing from the stewards stand as the guest of the management and expressed himself as highly pleased with the racing and its attendant incidents. He informed general manager 11. I. Itrown that it would give him much pleas-lire to attend the races as frequently, from time to time, as ids official duties would permit. Olanajjer Itrown, in commenting upon the opening.-, .pronounced it-tho best in the history of the Cuba-American Jockey Club. Not, only was the patronage, greater than-ever, Twt the same improvement was manifested in every other respect. Twenty Jiookmakers. a record number, competed with . the pari-mutuels for the patronage of those speculatively inclined. The quality of the horses engaging in the racing was far superior to the showing made in .tliis particular iji any. previous season and the racing results were highly formful and satisfactory. The days proceedings went off without a single marring incident and everybody concerned went Home convinced that" the Cuba-American Jockey Club is destined to have a highly successful meeting. There are more Americans here -than usual, but the bulk of the patronage is furnished by the Cubans and it is predicted that when the meeting gets well under way, with the form of the horses well established, the attendance will far outnumber that of any preceding year. OVER 400 HORSES ON GROUNDS. There are already more than four hundred horses here and more are coming from the United States. As a general rule the horses stood the journey from the states well and reached here in good condition, but there were some exceptions. Saffron Girl and Sun Klst died en route from sickness contracted in shipping and Dr. Nelson dropped dead after being worked on the track here a few days ago. Most of the owners are following the policy of-giving the horses an abundance of time in which to recover from the effects of the trip here and for thnt reason the fields are apt to be light for a week or two. As soon as a sufficient number of horses art? available, the present plan of racing only" four days a week will be abandoned in favor of every day racing. The idle days which intervene nowadays are being utilized to advantage by the American visitors in seeing many interesting sights that are to 1m; seen on every hand and in visiting the bathing beaches, which are a great attraction to those who have not been here before anil to those who have, us well. Surf bathing in the war waters of the iulf of Mexico is a real delight at all seasons of the year and many of the American visitors have entered into this recreation with much zest. There are so many quaint and charming tilings to be seen in this interesting foreign city and so much that is different in the way of customs anil the daily routine of living, that the visitor from the Inltetl States finds no end of diversion and entertainment. And the hospitality of the Cubans is another feature that makes a sojurn here enjoyable. If they take a fancy to one, there is no length to which they will not go to show their esteem. SAFEGUARDING INTEREST OF PATRONS. An example of the fidelity with which the Oriental lark management is endeavoring in every possible way to safeguard the interests of its patrons, is to be found in the action of presiding steward Christopher J. Fits Gerald in posting the following notice and warning: "It is the intention of the stewards to avoid the necessity of the disqualification of a horse because of foul riding or foul racing. Instead of disqualification, the most severe ruling justified by the facts and the" evidence in each case Avill be made against jockeys riding foul and against owners, trainers or agents, whose instructions anil methods show them to be responsible for the foul results. The stewards will not hesitate to rule off riders, owners and horses concerned when the fouling is decided to have been intentional." American bookmakers have a monopoly of the business of laying the odds at Oriental lark, although a few of them are backed to some degree by Cuban capital. The list of bookmakers who cut in for the first three days of the meeting was made ill of John Hare, J. Oscar Holder, John Nasmitli, Abe Meyers, Harry Litchenstein. W. E. Applegate, Jr., Kd Thornton, Charles Norris, A. J. Levy, Ed Colell. James Campion, T. Rodgers, Ed Winstanley, T. Meltride, J. Sullivan, Walter Morgan and Mannie Smith, the last named is in charge of the book that is operated in the field enclosure. Phil C. Hammil is operating the combination book. Havana is just now enjoying unprecedented prosperity and when the racing season gets fully into its stride, there unquestionably will be lively times in the betting ring.
