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: j NOSE FINISHES THE ORDER Four of Seven Winners at Tijuana Friday Score by Small Margins. Ask Jessie and Joe Blair Duel Long to Be Remembered May Maulsbys Sensational Closing Rush Brings Victory. SAN DIEGO, Cal., December 23. Noses were fashionable today. The horse with the longest facial appendage stood the best chance of reaching the winning line first, so it seemed. With spectators aroused to a wild pitch of excitement, throwing all decorum and effete manners to the four winds as they pulled as a real race fan can pull, with mere "rustlers" of the turf slapping staid bankers on the back, with the magnates of money "putting right in with them," the closest finishes Tijuana has had in many days racing took place yesterday afternoon. It was a gripping card, climaxed in four instances with mere " "whiskers" determining the winner. It was ladies day and a big outpouring of the fair fans responded and were held spellbound throughout the afternoon. The races of nose finishes gave W. G. McClintock, Ask Jessie, My Rose and May Maulsby as the winners. None of these was favorite, there being some price associated with each. Long will the dash of five-eighths, the fourth race, live in the memory of those fortunate enough to have been present. Real demons of speed hooked up here and it was only after the most strenuous stretch drive that Ask Jessie was able to keep a scant nose in front of Joe Blair as the end was reached. Ask Jessie, a fast mare at the Reno races, had the advantage of a better post position than that drawn by Joe Blair, a hero in defeat. Joe Blair was made an odds-on favorite, with Ask Jessie tfhe second choice. The speed brushes the two hail at Reno were renewed with the rise of the barrier. It was a speed duel. Joe Blair was further handicapped by the fact that Noon Hour, a speedy colt from the C. B. Irwin barn, elected to help set the pace. Joe Blair could not get near Ask Jessie until Noon Hour retired and then it was a ding-dong race with two heads bobbing in tmison from the head of the stretch to the finish. It was a grand race, the time being 1:01. W. G. McClintock. when he got his nose decision in front of Gen. Byng in the opener, ran back to his Omaha form. He paid the most lucrative price of the afternoon. MY ROSI2 BY INCHES. Had Summer Sigh not tired in the stretch, his nose would have been first to the finish in place of My Rose. This was in the sixth race at a mile and an eighth, both My Rose and Summer Sigh being outsiders, with Prince Direct, the favorite, being beaten off. Spectacular as were .these three nose verdicts, the pinnacle of excitement arrived at the finish of the concluding dash. An eighth out May Maulsby did not appear to have a ! chance to get up. but in an heroic effort of lieetness the mare, finishing on the outside, was first past the judges by a nose. Then came Phrone Ward just a nose in front of Anna Regina, A blanket would have covered these three at the end. Unless all signs fail jockey Ralls is ticketed to become one of the real aces of the American turf. His riding is extremely spectacular and, best of all, he handles his mounts with rare judgment of pace and distance. C. B. Irwin added another horse to his mammoth string when he claimed Prince Direct out of the sixth race for ,400. Thursday Irwin lost Rosa Atkin via the claiming route and the empty stall was filled witli yesterdays acquisition. So numerous and of such good class are the apprentice riders here that the older riders without the live-pound allowance have been getting little saddle work. In an effort to give them more opportunities to show their horsemanship, manager J. P. Atkins intends carding claiming races each week without the apprentice clause. The tropical rains of the last two weeks, coupled with the benevolent sunshine, have resulted in the infield springing into a blanket of verdant green. Track superintendent Rhinehart some time back planted this in California timothy. A velvety expanse will soon cover the area inside the course and add much to the attractiveness of the picture.
