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FINE RACING IN PROSPECT i » ■ Best Horses at the Fair Grounds to Clash This Week. ♦ New Orleans Two-Year-Olds Inferior — Young Rider Owens Makes an Impression. i — i NEW ORLEANS. Uu, February 19— "With the opening of the annual carnival MUM this licet and visitors pouring into the eity from all directions. tin- Fair Ground* racing will take on additional interest. The outlook is for the best sport of the meet ins Bit the final eight days. Bf forts will be made to set the topnotchers in every division into action aid this is certain lo he achieved if the present brand of weather continues. The track was faster this morning than at any time this win-. ter. The sensational victory of Guy yesterday, and the riding of jockey E. Barnes, who piloted four winners, was the chief topic of conversation wherever turfmen gathered today. It was the general opinion that tiny would win the Proteus Handicap, but not in the thrilling manner that he did. His performance stamped him as the most impressive horse of the year to date and reflects great credit ui on trainer J. P. Phillips, who developed him. The improvement in Gourmand since Philip* took him over is evidence that Guys success must be due in part to his training. The present week will mark the first time this winter that the two-year-olds here will be called upon to race at a distance further than three-eighths of a mile. On next Saturday the youngsters will be sent three and a half furlongs, while the final days of the meeting will witness their racing a sixteenth of a mile farther. Unless a two-year-old of evident gc- d class i- uncovered soon, the crip here this ye;ir will have to be rated as quite ordinary. Itaeing secretary Joe McLennan is receiving entries for the ,000 added Mardi Gras Handicap, the feature race of the closing day. More entries are now in than were made for any of the other headline attractions here this winter. The entries close Wednesday and the weights will be announced Saturday. This race will be contested over the respectable route of one and a quarter miles. The past week was a poor MM from a viewpoint of successful favorites, as only twelve of them won in forty-two nice*. Tins was the smallest number of any similar jH-riod since the meeting opened. It served to reduce the percentage of victorious favorites to .39. the lowest it has beea this winter, lu 291 races at the Fair Grounds thus far 110 favorites have proved best. Five odds-on choices went to the post last Week and three won. It has been almost a 50-50 break with horses ;it less than evens throughout the meeting and the score now stands M won and 22 beaten. Form has htwi better observed here in the mud than on a dry track. HALT FOR C. W. CLARK STABLE. The C. "W. lark stable again failed to win a pajtae last week, but it is still resting comfortably .it I he top of the list of winning owners. Fast track racing halted the lark establishment, which seemed to have a monopoly on the feature races while the course waa muddy. Every member f this rtehte seems best in soft going and they took profitable advantage of the long rainy ■yell. To date they have piled up a total of tlg.lM for their owner. In forty-two days The Banriaeaa Mens Bw ing Association has added JJ31.700 in the purse money and SSI winners have cut in on it. This is a new record for a winter race track. The most successful turfmen next in order to lark are: .lohn M. lioode. ,307: .1. S. Hays. .750: W. ] . Bernhardt. .4»:3; G. Drumheller, ,017: Marshall Bros., ,033: J. Cuniffe, $.",.981; J. P. Phillips. 13.473; W. Daniel. $"..100; P. J. Lavin, §5.042, and Montfort Jones, $."..031. Jockey C. Lang slumped during the past six days, riding only four winners. He showed his poorest form of any time since the meeting began and sccral close decisions went against him that would have gone in his favor had he Ik-cu riding up to his usual standard. His leadership of the jockey list for the meeting is assured, as he lias scored fifty times, while A. Wilson, who is next in order, has won thirty -one races. This appears to lie too large a gap for Wilson to bridge in eight days. A fast improving lightweight rider here is J. Owens, practically unheard of when the meeting began, but he has shown such good form that his services are now much in demand. He has won nine races in sixty-three mounts and veteran horsemen who have observed jockeys for years, predict that he will be one of the leading riders of the year. Owens is only sixteen years of age and can scale as low as ninety younds. He is a native of Memphis. Tenn., and a brother of former jockey 1. Owens, who rode with a fair measure of success for W. C. Weant several years back. R. T. Dick Watts, who saw considerable saddle service, is the I possessor of Owens contract and he will take him from here to Kentucky. Ninety-two jockeys have accepted mounts here since the first of the year and forty-two piloted one or more winners. The horsemen here are making their plans for spring now. A large number will participate in the Mobile. Ala., meeting and most of those who pass up that meeting will remain at the Fair Grounds until the weather breaks in the North and Fast. Tijuana and Havana will get a few which entered in the rich stakes at the two i oints, but a majority of the owners and trainers will be glad of the opportunity to rest their charges for a while. e
