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ORIENTAL PARK STAKE RACES i Remarkably Large Entry List to Future Feature Events. Close Finishes Distinguish Yesterdays Racing Thurber Rides Two Winners. 4. 1 HAVANA, Cuba, January 3. Notwithstanding that there has been more than the usual amount of rain to contend with, the Cuba -American Jockey Clubs fifth season of winter racing is coming up to the high expectations entertained in advance in all respects, except in the one item of the general caliber of the horses that have been furnishing the entertainment to date. The muddy track conditions which have been prevailing as a. result of the intermittent rains since the middle of Decerning have served to keep the better class of horses with which the stables at Oriental Park are so well filled out of the racing action to a disappointing degree, and the daily cards during the past week or two have been composed largely of the cheaper grade of horses, the owners of which are not so averse to running their charges in the mud as are those who own the horses of higher class. It should not be inferred from this that there has been anything like steady rain here. The rain which has fallen has come at Intervals of several days, generally in the night, and has caused no inconvenience to the American visitors here, except the horsemen whose stables are deficient in mud runners. Hut the intervals between the showers have been insufficient to permit the track, with JtsrelvJpiise.ressivSiQfiiio!v;j;iUlry cat thoroughly at any time since the first rain gave it a thorough soaking on December 15. The natives declare that the rain which has been falling of late has come to make up a deficiency which marked the usual rainy season, ending in November, and that it will cease altogether presently, if the exicrienco of the past is to be relied upon. It is unusual to have any rain at all in Cuba at this season of the year, and. so horsemen who had no mud runners are confidently looking forward to h long spell of fast track conditions In the near future, which will relegate to the rear the mud horses that have been enjoying unexpected opportunities for the winning of purses during the past two or three weeks. With the Christmas and New Years Handicaps a matter of history, the- next stake event scheduled for decision is the Cuba-American Handicap of ,200 added, a three-quarters of a mile dash for three-year-olds, the running of which has been set for Sunday. January 5. The ellglbles for this race number thirty-one, and include the following: Heck Martin. Omeme, Honstelle, Tippler, Surplice, Weymouth Girl, Hoiover, Avion. Equerry, Comfort, Suffrage. Gilder, Fleeing Sheik, Charlotte, Mar-zella. Little Ed. Carey Maid. Umbala, Precious Jewel, McLane, Lucky Lady. Honest George, Home Coming, Corson, Silvery Light, The Gleamer. Jane Pennybaker, Tetley, Ambassador III., Legacy and La Kross. NUMBER OF NOMINATIONS. The thirteen stakes which will be run at Oriental Park during the season all filled remarkably welj. The Christmas and Xew Years Handicaps each drew forty-one entries, and the figures for the remaining stakes, in addition to the Cuba-American Handicap, are shown below: Havana Handicap, ,000 added, for three-year-olds and over, one mile and one-sixteenth; fifty-seven. President Menocal Handicap, 2,000 added, for three-year-olds and over, one mile and one-quarter; forty-one. Independence Handicap, ,000 added, for three-year-olds and over, one mile and one-eighth; thirty-eight. Oriental Park Handicap, for three-year-olds and over, 1.500 added, one mile and one-sixteenth; forty-one. Carnival Handicap, ,200 added, for three-year-olds and over, one mile; fifty-one. Marianao Handicap, ,200 added, for three-year-olds and over, three-quarters of a mile; fifty-nine. Moro Castle Handicap, ,200 added, for three-year-olds and over, three-quarters of a mile; thirty-eight. Antilles Stakes, claiming, for three -year-olds and over, ,200 added, three-quarters of a mile; sixty-three. Caribbean Stakes, claiming, for three-year-olds and over, ,500 added, one mile and one-sixteenth; seventy-two. Cuba Juvenile Stakes, ,200 added, for two-year-olds of 1010, one-half mile; nineteen. The stake program is by far the most attractive in the history of Cuban racing, both in respect to numbers and quality. Driving finishes came with the running of a majority of the races at Oriental Park tills afternoon, improved track conditions brought a corresponding Improvement in the sport, which was witnessed by a large attendance. F. 1. Weir, whose horses have been running particularly well here, added another purse to his credit when Suuningdale won the first race. Jockey Thurber rode- two winners today, his mounts being Tokalon March and Leoma. His riding was in a great measure responsible for both victories. Jockey Fator, the lad that Stuart Polk brought from the west, had his first mount today on Pauline Crowley, which started in the third. His beginning was not auspicious, for he suffered si fall when the filly stumbled and fell after passing the three-eighths post Bully was leading at the time, but broke down, anil this was responsible for the accident. E. T. Zollicoffer, who has been racing several horses here in charge of A. Kent, has arrived from the States. The Xarvez Brothers claimed Xib for 00.
