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BIGGEST CROWD OF SEASON Holiday Attendance at Oriental Park a Record-Breaker. Wise Man Wins New Years Handicap Secondary Feature to Belle Roberts. HAVANA, Cuba. January 1. Before the largest anil most enthusiastic crowd of the present season the Cuban-owned Wise Man, cnrying the colors of the Arnionia Stable, won the New Years Handicap, the stake feature of the holiday program provided by the Cuba-American Jockey Club. The race was at a mile and three-sixteenths, witli Wise Man and Faux-Col dividing favoritism. The speedy Faux-Col was the first to show in front and set a fast pace to the far turn, closely followed by Wise Man, while Sasin and Hocnir. the other starters, trailed some distance behind. Wise Man attempted to take the. Jend at. the half mile post, but was forced ".vide. However, after passing the far turn he moved up witli a remarkable burst of speed that landed 1dm in the lead, which lie gamely maintained to the end under .the powerful ride of jockey Ball. Faux-Col hung on tenaciously, but could not regain the lead. A rousing demonstration was accorded the winner and his rider on returning to the scales. An additional attraction was provided in the Peace Handicap, a dash of five and a I in If furlongs, and Frank Weir furnished" the winner in Hello Roberts, which beat Sir Wellons In decisive fashion after a well run nice. Close finishes featured several of the raci!S. This was particularly so in the final race of the day. in -wiiicif 1TrnrsttiiiT-- lion?csr rstW--tiK-nviiiuJrjr line yyith. less than ii half length separating them. Austral "vnn --winner, a head in advance Of. Flare, which was a similar distance in front of Timothy J. Hogan, while he in turn had but a length to the good of Zodiac and High Tide. Aus-trals victory was of the sensational order, as lie closed an immense gap to overtake the leaders in the stretch and beat them to the wile. Itlauche Donaltons victory in the third was in the nature of a surprise. She was neglected in a betting way, the public dividing its support between Brown Prince and King of the Scarlets, which finished second and third respectively . Iilanchitn and Circulate furnished a closely contested duel in the fourth, with the result in doubt until the final strides, the first named just barely lasting long enough to get the judges eye. Circulate would have won in another stride. The track had dried out considerably over night and the footing, although firm, was far from being fast. With the settled weather now assured, a fast track is the probability for the next two months. Jockey Joe Petz has arrived from New York. He came iiere to ride for George P. Burke. Stuart Polk lias added the plater Dione to his string. He made the purchase from II. K. Leigh. Jockey Gnrgan was suspended for five days and fined for impeding Circulate today.
