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NOTES ON THE "BIG WEEK" R T Gala Period of French Racing Marred by Bad Weather. French Steeplechasers Show Superiority How Grand Prix it Was Won by Kefalin. d ci si SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE. tl PARIS, France, June 27. The big week C is over and we were not favored with sea- jj no sonable weather during any part of it. j Nevertheless the crowds were large on all n the special days; but on none of them was o a record made. You have had my letter " with the story of the Grand Steeplechase, so 51 a I will get right on to the Grand Hurdle race. u Fourteen went to the post. I cannot say that the field was a representative one for this event. The best part of the race was the finish, a short head being the verdict between tho favorite, Fauche le Pre, and the 13 to 1 shot, Orican. Le Morier was third, fivu lengths off. Young Ferre rode the winner and deserves every credit for the way he did so. Pendennis looked like winning rounding the last turn and might have won but he turned a plate and Mitchell pulled him J1 up. The first three were all four-year-olds. Drag day dawned cold and threatening. s. There was a fine attendance for this society c outing when tho bell rang for the first race. Seven coaches met at the Place de la Con- c corde and were received at the gates of Auteuil by tho commissaires of the steeple- : chase society. They drove into the grounds . 1 and unhorsed. It wa3 a pleasing sight these seven coaches with well-matched 1 teams, smartly-dressed women and well turned out men. WATERFORD TAKES PRIX DES DRAGS. 1 Tho event of the day, of course, was the " Prix des Drags, and Due Decazes Water- j ford, well ridden by Willie Head, was an . easy winner. The crack English steeplechaser, Sir Huon, made an ordinary showing, again bearing out my repeated statements 1 that the jumpers here are a better lot. At the finish of the day it fairly poured, and everybody was soaked, much to the sorrow of the women. It was a real old-fashioned t Brighton Beach storm. What the amount of i loss in dresses was it would be hard to say, for every woman at the course had a new one on. i Now for the Grand Prix. Another cold and overcast day. By noon the entire in- 1 field was well crowded and by half-past I twelve the cars began to start going out. i It took me about a full half hour to ge. from the Eloile to Longchamps. " I am an old hand at a Grand Prix and ; have stopped asking anybody to go with me. I grab a taxi and give the chauffeur -twenty-five francs to take me there, discharge him, and when ready to come bacu after the races go out and get hold of an unengaged taxi, argue a bit, and am brought : in at the most for thirty francs. Am in town by live-forty, and many owners of : Rolls Royces and Hispanos are still looking for their cars at seven oclock along the i different avenues of the Bois. INTERNATIONAL RIVALRY LACKING. " While it was threatening nearly all the : afternoon the rain held off. The crowd was i large, but I have seen larger. The international - rivalry was absent this year. Everybody was satisfied Buclcs Hussar and I Baton Rouge, from England, had no chance : against the native talent. Fifteen runners were carded. Kefalin, with Steve Donoghue up, was a strong favorite . and his victory was pretty well conceded. - An unhappy effort of the starter at the second attempt sent the field nicely away r excepting Tribord and Ramus, the second I favorite. These two were away poorly, and I Ramus was bumped by Tribord as the tapes 3 went up, so that they were both at least t ten lengths- behind. I must fairly say that they joined their horses by the time the j turn was reached, and they did so when 1 there was no pace. The. stable companion of Ramus, Zariba, ridden by Garner, went at once to the front t and made the pace all the way over the 2 hill. Mont Blanc and Algerien were nicely rated behind her, and tho rest of the field 1 fairly well together. Down the hill Algeriea j went into second place just behind Zariba, Mont Blanc third, and Kefalin fourth. ALGERIEN LEADS IN STRETCH. 5 In the stretch it was Algerien, Mont Blanc 1 second, and Kefalin nicely place, Ramus in fourth position, coming through on the rails. Stern elected to do so and was s favored by good luck. For a couple of seconds it looked as though Algerien was going to come on and win. At the lower - stand tho cry was heard "Algerien !" It was ? . 3 brief, however, as Kefalin soon assumed . command, and Donoghue was going for the ,e , finish post with the smallest delay possible. Suddenly Ramus and George Stern dropped from the clouds and became a real danger. Kefalin is a game horse and stands an awful drive. He was equal to the call of Steve, 3 and was home, I should say driving, by a r scant three-quarters of a length, Ramus ? beating Algerien a head, and Tribord fourth, e a length off. Would Ramus have won had he been away : well? I do not think so. He saved distance Ti coming on the inside most of the journey 1 and I am told had a smooth passage. Kefa- 1 lin had a bump or two. Wallie Davis, his ; trainer, told me, at the head of the stretch, i; i Form ran true, taking the French Derby as r, j a lino. Certainly Kefalin and Ramus are 2 j the best of the three-year-olds, and I, like 2 everybody else, overestimated the value of 0 j Mont Blancs two wins at Longchamps this spring. ! President Millerand and Mme. Millerand j attended, and their entrance after the second 93 13 race in the state barouche, with postillions 97 17 and outriders, was really a fine sight. The 97 7 center gates were opened for them, and 97 17 their horses came into the grounds on a 95 5 fast trot. 95 93 After all, there is only one Grand Prix, and Paris. Once again 90 ,0 one Longchamps one 90 10 we are in a normal state, so far as big 90 10 weelvs and all such gaycty. Today at Mai-I sons-Laffitte the two-year-olds took the center of the stage. The Prix dEssai des Poulichcs was the first event of the kind. Twenty-one young fillies went to the post. Murphy started a well-tipped one from the Macomber training ground. Reports said that she had worked as fast as Phusla had done in 1920 for Duke. There was a fine filly from the Widener barn, Natures Smile, by Rabelais Nature. Her elder brother is well known in the States. It was ONeill against Crump. A short neck was the verdict in favor of Ma-combers. The winner is by Hesperus, a brother to Hollister. The dam, Ready, was in foal to him when she arrived in France in 1920. It was a fast race, and both tne owners, who were present, were well pleased with the showing of their fillies. I would have liked to see McGee on the second one. He had promised to ride, but Clement Duval at the last moment decided to start one of the Edouard de Rothschild representatives. The colt division of this race resulted in a runaway victory for Pavilion, by Verwood Roselys, belonging to Mme. Blanc. He won so far off it makes me wonder if there was anything behind him amounting to much. His win was almost as startling aa the manner of his doing it.
