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SPEEDY OLD JOE BLAIR . Crack Sprinter Takes Main Race at Tijuana Friday. Kimono and Mistress Polly Victorious in Closest Finishes of Afternoon Double for W. Pool. SAN DIEGO, Cal., December 2. Over a track which was fetlock deep with mud the veteran sprinter Joe Blair showed a turn of speed yesterday at Tijuana which was fairly dazzling and captured first honors in the sixth race, at five-eighths, in the fast time of 1 :02. It was not long ago when Joe Blair could measure strides with the fastest sprinters in the country, but that was when youth was his. Yesterday this eleven-year-old son of Bonnie Joe met a fair band of short-distance runners and showed his heels to them from the rise of the barrier to the finishing post. From a racing standpoint his performance was the best of the afternoon, as his time over a track which would try the heart of any thoroughbred was excellent Joe Blair is a prime favorite with the western racing public and in consequence he drew the bulk of the speculation and paraded to the post a stanch favorite. The start was a fast and good one and the speculators who placed their faith in the ability of the old horse to turn the trick had but a moment of anxiety before they saw the old horse sizzling in front with a gap between him and the remainder of the field. Jockey M. Fator rode him wisely, taking a snug hold of him until turning for home, where he allowed the horse free rein to do his best. Pueblo, which had followed in the wake of the speedy winner, made a valiant effort to overtake him in the final rush, but to no avail. Second place was the best that Pueblo could do. Bill Blackwell, the second choice, came from the rear to take the consolation part of the purse. EXCITING AND CLOSE FINISHES. The closest finishes of the day came in the second and fifth races, which were won by Kimono and Mistress Polly respectively. In both of these dashes the results were in doubt until the official numbers had been displayed. Kimono barely managed to outlast Chick Barkley, a long-priced outsider, while it took the hardest kind of riding of jockey Stevens to land Mistress Polly a nose in front of Dora. Jockey W. Pool, the flashy Kentucky apprentice rider, scored his first victory at Tijuana, when he landed Marion Zorrian, from the W. L. Stanfield stable, a winner from Ar-gonne Forest and Cave Man in the opening dash, at five-eighths, which was for maidens. He made it a double for the day when he piloted the odds-on choice Honest George, in the concluding race of the afternoon. Tho G. W. Atkinson colors were much in evidence in the fourth race, which was exclusively for two-year-olds, when Silver Maid, with jockey A. Claver up, made a show of her opponents and made every post a winning one. In this race Poor Puss was backed almost to the exclusion of all others, but the inability of jockey H. Long to get his mount away in the first flight ruined her chances, and after the miss had raced up to forward contention the effort to make up the lost ground told and she faded completely out of the picture. Bob Grady of Philadelphia, one of the best-known trainers in the country of the harness horse, will be here in a few days to pass the winter. A telegram to this effect was received by starter Harry Morrissey yesterday. EFFICIENT BREAKS DOWN. The six-year-old horse Efficient has probably seen his last racing day. In the third event yesterday the well-backed third choice broke down hopelessly and for a time it was feared that he would have to be destroyed. Charley Lyons, known as one of the most influential legislators in California, is playing host to a big party of Los Angeles people for the week-end racing. The horses of Colonel R. L. Baker arrived here today from Lexington, Ky. Those in charge of the car reported that Georgie, the star of the string, shipped in splendid fashion. Jack Elrick, a wealthy mining man of Nevada, arrived with several friends for an indefinite stay. Inasmuch as Elricks inter- Continnctl on twelfth pose. SPEEDY OLD JOE BLAIR Continued from first page. ests are in Nevada he is paying more than passing attention to the horses which Georgo V. "Wingfield, a close friend, has quartered, at the track. He reports that Mr. Wingfield will come to Tijuana as soon as his business will permit. Jockey Eddie Duggan, a former crack American rider, who journeyed to Russia to ride and eventually was held a captive for three years by the Bolsheviki, is here and haa announced that he will resume riding as soon as he gets into fit condition. Colonel R. Li. Baker received advices that his horses which have left Lexington, Ky would arrive here today. Dr. T. J. Ogle reported today he has fired the horses Pluzey and Cacambo for ankla trouble in front. Yukon and Salgeorge woro nerved, by the same veterinarian. Among the enthusiastic visitors of the opening day was the veteran turfman C. C. JlcCafferty, once known as the "man with the halter," on account of his penchant for claiming horses and bidding them up. It was this one-time shrew horseman who saddled Dr. Leggo when he won the 0,000 Burns Handicap, in
