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SUPERB SARATOGA RACING Three Great Stake Contests Provide Pleasing Entertainment. Edict Takes Spinaway Stakes and Devastation the Merchants and Citizens Handicap. SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. T., August 26. Although there was no running of the proposed sweepstakes by Bunting, Kai-Sang and Pillory, it was a. remarkable card that was offered this afternoon by the Saratoga Association, with the Spinaway Stakes, Merchants and Citizens Handicap and the Saratoga Steeplechase all down for decision. Each of these resulted in a stirring finish. The Rancocas Stable took the Spinaway Stakes with the filly Edict, that has been running in selling stakes. Stephen Petits Devastation took the Merchants and Citizens and Joseph E. Widepers Houdini was first in the Saratoga Steeplechase. In each the result was in doubt to the closing strides and seldom has there been better racing. The track was heavy from a rain that fell last night and that was the excuse for the postponement of the three-year-old race until Tuesday. DEVASTATION WINS BY A NECK. This track condition resulted in Hildreth withdrawing both Grey Lag and Mad Hatter from the Merchants and Citizens. John Paul Jones was scratched by Roy Waldron, leaving Bon Homme to race for the Xalapa Farm. Then Willis Sharpe Kilmers old cup champion Exterminator was added, but scratched again before post time. This reduced the iield to three, with Prudery and Devastation racing against Bon Homme. The race was worth ?G,800 to the winner. No time was lost at the start ana Bon Homme and Prudery went out to make the pace. Fator saved Devastation back of them. A fairly good pace was maintained through the backstretch and Schuttinger would not permit the filly to get away, keeping Bon Homme right at her throat latch. After leaving the backstretch Bon Homme moved away from Prudery, but at the same time Fator called on Jevastaticn and closed up on the outside. Swinging for home Bon Homme made a wide turn, forcing Devasta- j tion out, but the son of "Wrack continued to gain and an eighth from home was close after him, but Bon Homme was still clear. By this time Fator was hard at work on Devastation and closing up stride by stride he wore Bon Homme down until at the end he was a neck to the good. This final battle through the stretch resulted in Prudery being beaten off a full eight lengths. AVhile the steeplechasing during the Saratoga meeting has been such that Mr. Wilson ordered - the remaining overnight races through the field be declared off, the running of the Saratoga Steeplechase, which was worth ,600 to the winner, did much to atone for the races that have gone before. Joseph E. Wideners Houdini, under a perfectly timed ride by Dolly Byers, was the winner by a length from Bullseye, with the Greentree Stables Peccant a distant third, and he was the only other one to finish. H. W. Maxwells Decisive was the first one to go wrong when he refused at the thirteenth fence. Then Mrs. F. Ambrose Clarks Minata stumbled badly at the Liverpool, which was the sixteenth jump. The other was Wisest Fool, a stablemate to Houdini, which made a bad landing over the last fence and unseated C. Jones. Fortunately no rider was hurt and the mistake of Wisest Fool cost his stable third money. EDICT PROVES HER WORTH. Edict showed her real worth in the running of the Spinaway Stakes, one of the most prized of the two-year-old races of the year, when she was the winner in the best field of fillies that could be mustered here. At the end she outgamed Harry Payne Whitneys Fly by Day to win by a neck, and two lengths away came Bud Fishers Brocade, another miss that was not generally believed to belong in such fashionable company. Starter Cassidy lost little time at the barrier and the start was a good one, but Cresta, the top weight, was so sluggish that she had scant racing chance. Runelise and Fly by Day soon showed in front and when leaving the backstretch she had raced into a good lead. Edict was holding Runelise, and Brocade was racing well back of her. Before the stretch was reached It was apparent that Runelise would not do, but Edict was sticking in real race horse fashion and when swinging for home she was close alongside Fly by Day. All through the long stretch the fillies ran closely lapped and one and then the other showed her nose in front, until right at the end Fly by Day tired and Edict won a neck to the good. Fly by Day beat Brocade a couple of lengths and then Betty Beall outfinished the others to beat Sallys Alley. Robert L. Gerrys Bees Wax was winner of the opening three-quarters dash, a race for three-year-old fillies. May Blossom, from the stable of Cornelius Fellowes, raced to second place and third was the portion of Evil. The only other starter was Frank J Farrells Nancy F., going to the post for the first time this year. For ine fifth race the offering was a mile for platers and Mrs. E. D. Springers Normal proved an easy winner from Ira Wilson, while Carmencita finished third. All three were widely strung out at the finish and it was the first offering of the day that did not result in a fighting finish. At the end of the program a five and a half furlongs handicap for two-year-olds produced a good finish when H. C. Proctors Daniel, the lightweight, won from Shamrock, with Doughoregan a distant third and Newmarket fourth. It was a good day for the Rancocas jockeys when Fator rode Bees Wax, Devastation and Normal to victory, while SanJe piloted Edict home first in the Spinaway Stakes. The success of Edict in the Spinaway Stakes was her fifth straight victory. She lias been declared out of both the Hopeful and the Futurity, the declaration having been made before Hildreth discovered just how good a filly he had in his stable. Trainer Baird added blinkers to the equipment of Miss Marie Mahlers Carmencita in the fifth race and James. Fitzsimmons tried the Quincy Stables Caveat Emptor with the same help. Trainer Garth raced J. S. Cosdens Henna without blinkers in the Spinaway Stakes.
