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RAIN AND MUD PLENTIFUL Heavy Track Probable to End, of Fair Grounds Meeting. Mountain Rose II. Beaten in the Long Distance Race Alma Louise Wins at Long Odds. - NEW ORLEANS, La., February 25. A continuous hard rain for most of the afternoon made racing conditions here the worst of the meeting and caused a big decrease in attendance. The program was literally riddled by withdrawals and small fields were the rule in all the" dashes. The mile and a half dash brought out five starters to battle for the ,000 purse, and it resulted in an unsatisfactory contest, due to .Mountain Rose II.s defeat, in part through bungling riding on the part of Dursch. who brought him or allowed him to come extremely wide into the stretch while holding a good lead. The loss of ground he incurred by the wide sweep helped, in his defeat, Queen Apple winning from Puts and Calls, with Irregular following. Dursch was interrogated at length, by the judges after the finish, and he claimed that "thehorse had run out despite his effort to prevent him. Patrol judge Conkling corroborated the riders statement and Dursch.. on the, strength of it, was given a clean bill of health for the Mountain Rose II. incident, but his license was withdrawn because of having in a previous race taken hold of Trustys saddle cloth.. while he was astride Valerie West. His effort, at "coasting" did not avail him much, for Trusty freed himself in twenty yards and sprinted away to win as his rider pleased, Valerie West failing at the end to .get a portion of the purse. Ztjlt. w-ahgjflr3tMrart. fot;Valerie- Wesr-in- over :i year, Tier last appearance being on the occasion that she threw jockej- Walls and put hiinvout of commission for an extended period. "Valerie West then broke her nose and injured her stifle, but recently has been going well in her trainins, and on the strength of some good wort was made a pronounced favorite for todays race. Despite the disagreeable weather some of the racing was interesting, with close finishes assisting. Backers of favorites got off to a good send-off when Ragazza, with Rowan in the saddle, won the initial race. Toombeola, another choice, succeeded in the second iriice. Trustys victory was also costly to the layers, and Queen Apples success was also attended with a deficit for .them. Alma Louise was favored by the sloppy going in the fifth and cantered home in advance of Regreso. Her victory was unexpected and she was the longest priced winner of the afternoon. TWO STRAIGHT FOR PROGRESSIVE. Progressive, in the next race, started out to make a runaway but tired fast and just managed to last long enough to beat Grumpy and Jason. The closing race resulted in a duel between-Tito and Hondo, with the former winning by u half length. Jockey C. Robinson Jias advanced sufficiently to be removed from the hospital and Is now at his home. The fracture is not as grave as at first thought and the injured arm will probably be mended in time for him to accept mounts within a month. Knebelkamp and Howerton have bought Al rierce from J. Marjno. . , . Captain Dunn, representing the Camp Shelbv team of officers that will oppose a team from Camp Beauregard, was among the -visitors and made preliminary preparations for his men and guests who will be hero to view the running of the return race for military officers. The race, because, of track conditions, has been abbreviated to five ami a half furlongs instead of the mile originally intended. Herman Conkling. who is looking after the interests of the Plmlico spring meeting, distributed the blanks to owners this afternoon and received a big initial entry. The Preakness Stakes, for three-year-olds,, with .its 5,000 added, is the headliner of the stake offerings,, and for the fifteen days racing the association advertises to distribute 43,150 in stakes and purses. There will be no purse of less value than ,000. Weights for the Martin Behrman two-mile handicap, which features next Saturdays racing, were announced this afternoon by .Secretary McLennan. Bolster is given top impost of lli pounds. Mountain Rose II. follows with 114; Paddy Dear, 112: Lord Herbert. 109, and Frank Shannon carries the minimum allowed, 85 pounds.
