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GOOD HAVANA PROSPECTS Higher Class of Horses Expected at Marianao Course for the Coming Season of Racing Prospects for a successful season of racing in Havana have never been so auspicious prior to the opening of the Marianao track as they are this year. The announcement that stake events closing long before the day of running, with their accompanying nomination fees had been abandoned for the coming meeting, aroused wide interest among owners and the recent news that rates on horse shipments to the island have been materially reduced has operated as a further stimulation. The location of Oriental Park is ideal. Not far from the city of Havana, one of the most pisturesque municipalities this side of the Atlantic, the track has become the center of a colony of American-owned and operated I ventures. The Casino and the hotel estab- j lished by American capital have become pop- I ular resorts of visitors from the States and many persons, whose interest in racing is at best cursory, have made the Cuban metropolis a regular winter stop. Cuba holds particular interest for Americans because it is a protege of their home government. Many of the improvements and governmental works which make Cuba a pleasant spot for a winter sojourn were undertaken and executed under American administration during the period of occupation. ISLAND EASILY ACCESSIBLE. The island is easily accessible from New-York, both by rail and water. Several of, the large steamship lines plying between the American metropolis and Central Amer- ican points touch at Havana and opportu-1 nity for a pleasant sea voyage is afforded horsemen and racegoers who plan a Cuban trip during the winter. Railroads run trains to Key "West, the closest American point to Havana, and it is a short trip by boat from there to the scene of Cuban racing. From the response of horsemen to inducements offered by the Cuba-American Jockey and Auto Club thus far, officials of the Marianao track are led to believe that there will be a greater number of horses available for racing this year than ever before. Of course, few horses of the summer meeting caliber are expected, but the quality of those which have already been promised for the coming meeting would indicate a far higher class of racing than has characterized those held in the past. Ordinarily a large proportion of the horses which race at Havana are those which have campaigned on the half-mile tracks during the summer, but this year the men who have been doing missionary work for the meeting have found a strong interest among the horsemen at the larger tracks as well. On the metropolitan race courses a number of owners have promised to send horses there for racing and the larger tracks on the Canadian circuit have also been a source ! of many recruits. In Kentucky the response has been generous and a number of the Blue Grass stables will be represented this year which have not previously campaigned at the Cuban track. Representatives of the Cuba-American Jockey and Auto Club who have been arranging shipments to Havana for the horsemen have framed a schedule which will make it possible for horsemen in various parts of the country to send their horses south in the most expeditious manner pos-1 Bible.
