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If . J I" t ■ 1: » v : j ■ ,v t t , , | , , , j j ! j 1 1 1 ; I 1 1 1 ! i NEAR: THE HALFWAY MARK 1 1 a ■■■*—«- First Pari of Havana Meeting Successful in Every Way. Best Racing Yet to Come with Decision of Most Valuable of the Stake Attractions. .— — 0 — 4 HAVANA. Caha, January i:.. The preaeat 1 accent fill racing neaSOfl at Oriental Park is rapidly ap-proachiag the halfwaj aiark, aad if the second per tion prove- a- BBCCeaafal .1- the first : h re will lie bo ca.is- for complaint. Coder Ihe present arrange nii-nt of si day- of raciag each week the meeting, which is acaodncd to terminate Sunday, March 38, when the 313.008 Cuban Derby will be decided, will comprise Hi7 racing days, a- compared with 110 last year. The hitter half of the meeting a- a rule outstrips tin- first aalt, both in the matter of atteadaaee and the quality of the racing, for it is dariag t u 1 period that ail of tie- valaahk* stakes in.- decided. These include the Cuban Derby and Grand Prize of Cuba Handicap, both valued at 5,000; tke Graad Naticnal Handicap aad Cuban Produce Stake-, ea.h with an added nion.-y value of 0,008; and tin President Za.v.is aad Independ once Handicaps, both ty,888 added aaaae] affairs The CoaabiBOd added money value of the thirteen -rakes ye; :,, !„- decided amount- o the respectable total of 377.580. Tiie adoptioa of th.- row regalatioa that elimi-i.ati- the Jockey agent, ami uiii.-h was enforced at the common, -enieut of ih« BMetiag is working oat to the entire sati-f.ic,ion of judge John Hachmeister and racial! retary Martin Nc ; 11 111-011, its spon-01-. although it has caused dissatisfactioa among bobm of the horsemen, which is 1. 1 • expected where any innovation in ntrl regulations is adopted. Certain it is the new rule has doae away with a, certain amount ..f sharp practice that formerly was prevaleat. and it is believed that whea given a fair trial it will prove satisfactory to the great aaajority of horsemen. One of 1 lie classes that cininiends the m-w regii- laiions to all lair minded horsemen is to tie effect that no person shall be permitted to hold a contract on a Jockey or apprentice unless he is in control or possession of SUCh .1 stable of ,101 se- as Would. iii the coin ion of ihe stewards, warrant the employment of a contract Jockej or apprentice, la-stead of making a riding engagement with a boys .gent trainers are now required to make sack ea gagement u i lit an off.c.al of tie Jockey Club statioaed in the secretarys office. Outside pu ragesneara of Jockeys under contract shall be made by their contract employers In wrttiag upon blanks provided in the r.-.. -ing secretary V office. MUST DECLARE WITH ONE OF ENTRY. The stewards have also adopted a rule that Whea an owaer has an eatrj of more than one horse In a stake or purse race, ami instructions are issued to declare to win witb one of the eatry, notice to this effect must lie made known at fin-time of Weighing Ike jo, key oat for the race, and 1n fiiiiire men instructions will be published on rhe bulletin board The need of Jasl sack a rule was manifested recently in a race in which trainer Freak Bray had Cydoaia and Cltiaae entered He had iastrncted Joekej M fingblia on Cltimo to ride a wiaaias 1 1 e, hut if he saw th.it Cydonia wonhl win. to lei him do so. Consequently McLaug eased ap lis mount at the finish. This regulation of •ieciaring to win with either one of an entry is general on the . merian and Canadian tracks, but was not included in the Cuban raciag rules. .1. O. Keene. prominent Kentucky breeder and owner, after a pleasant and profitable Cuban trip. will have in a few days for New Orleans for a vi-it of several weeks, after which he will leturn to his home in LeSiagtOB. He expects to Cotne back to Havana to vvi.uess the running of the Cuban Derby, in Which be expects either Llewellyn or Lin-know will carry tiie Keene Brothers colors. The horses now turned out at Keeueland farm are Jeanne Bowdre. winner of the Colden Kod Stakes ,-t Leaisville, So-ret GteeUaga and baaaaaa, and four two-year-olds by Luke M-Luke. One of the latter is a biotlier to Lotianna: another is a half sister to Barry Kelly, being from the mare Wood-] lane, the dam of Woodtrap; a third is a sister to LackaOW, and Hie remaining one is from the Lnglish mare Forest Lady, being that mares first foal. Those horses will be transfered to Churchill Downs Bheau Februarr IS to enter upon their spring train- lag. Col. II. L. Baker has decided that this will be tin- last year of racing for his good hreadwiuuer Meltora. and in the spring he will send her to Kiuney Nichols farm, near Lexington, to mate her with King Gotla. Mcliora is a finely bred mare, being by TTtinius — Aliora. and her owner believes she will make good as a brood mare. John I. Smith, trainer of the good filly Startle, is a recent arrival in Havana, but is here on BIBBS- BTC aaly. This is the first vacation he has had tn a goad many years and he is enjoying himself ini- mensely. Mr. Smith stated that Startle was doing; well in winter aaaurkara and that he expected she would be in fine trim to engage in the spring racing in Kentucky. He has a fine hand of two-year-olds belonging to H. H. Hewitt and he expects that a number of these will develop into first class race horses. _ •-
