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BEST OF THE MEETING Fair Grounds Last Day Marked by Great Racing Best Pal Takes the Stake Race RaceWith With All Ease Vast Crowd CrowdWitnesses Witnesses the Sport NEW ORLEANS La February 13 His Majesty Rex King of the Carnival gra ¬ ciously released a goodly number of his loyal subjects from further participation in public revelry after the Rex Pageant with its gor ¬ geous and stupendous floats had wended its way through the principal sections of the city and taking advantage of the kingly favor many instantly forsook masks and Mardi Gras costumes and joined the im ¬ mense throng that steadily made its way to the Fair Grounds where the prospect of good racing was more alluring to most than the high jinks of thousands in the downtown section sectionThe The spacious fair grounds was taxed to its utmost the crowd equaling that of the opening day when a record was established establishedThe The immense attendance was well re ¬ warded for its loyalty to the sport and for foregoing the spectacle of merrymaking in the city for no better racing has been on tap anywhere than that which was witnessed here This afternoon Summer weather was a contributing factor in the holiday making The betting pavilion was a seething jam and called for considerable labor to buffet ones way through The fiftyone layers were literally swamped with the volume of busi ¬ ness tendered them themCLOSE CLOSE FINISHES IN ORDER ORDERClose Close finishes featured and the contenders were cheered to the echo and the winners on their return to the scales proclaimed in vo ¬ ciferous fashion The carnival spirit was maintained throughout the afternoon It was a fitting climax to a successful season of racing at the Fair Grounds in which the sport has been firmly rehabilitated and has overcome the adverse criticism of last year The meeting has probably not been as suc ¬ cessful financially as in several former years but the many new converts it gained could not be estimated in dollars and cents centsSecretary Secretary Joe McLennan worked untiringly for a banner program as a getaway offering and succeeded better than he expected for all the racing stars in these parts engaged in the various contests contestsBest Best Pal clinched his title to being the best horse in these parts when he carried off the 5000 Mardi Gran Handicap in easy style under the heavy impost of 126 pounds Following him several lengths off and fight ¬ ing it out nobly with Olynthus came Royce Rools The remainder of the field were fairly well separated with Calcutta in fourth place Royce Rools scurried into a good lead with Best Pal his closest attendant Romanelli on the latter keeping him re ¬ strained and saving him well There was a changing of positions behind this pair with Sir Thomas Kean falling completely out of the front rank after going threequarters Royco Rools maintained his lead until the stretch turn was in view where Romanelli called on Best Pal and that stouthearted son of Helmet Padula raced into the lead at once and for the final eighth simply can ¬ tered in advance of the others Olynthus began pressing Royce Rools for second place but the veteran withstood the challenge in resolute style The net value of the stake was J3510 and added to the other winnings that Best Pal has accomplished since be ¬ coming Sam Holmans property he now does not cost his present owner anything anythingCOMEDY COMEDY OF ERRORS ERRORSThe The Carnival Handicap at threequarters furnished the chief incident of the afternoon and also a comedy of errors in which jockeys Thomas and Barnes enacted the stellar roles Thomas was astride LEITare second choice and pulled him up when he thought the horse had broken down There was nothing wrong with the horse but at one time he gave the impression that he had fallen lame for he seemed to favor a leg badly for an eighth of a mile mileBarnes Barnes ride of the favorite Centimeter contributed an incident Centimeter is not the good racer he was and Barnes is a natu ¬ rally bad rider Tippity Witchet furnished a surprise by winning from Barracuda Centi ¬ meter landing in third place placeThe The threeyearold mile handicap in which Louisiana Derby eligibles met was produc ¬ tive of a hardfought duel between Shamrock and Edward Gray all through the stretch Shamrock winning by a half length There was a good deal of doubt after the race if he was best under todays weight arrange ¬ ment for Edvard Gray suffered extensively from the winners interference and from be ¬ ing in too close quarters through the last eighth In a former race Edward Gray was Continued on twelfth pace BEST OF THE MEETING Continued from first page I disqualified for fouling after he had finished first Many expected that the stewards would set Shamrock back but Wallaces claim of foul was tardy and the oflicial sign was up before he decided on making a pro ¬ test testIn In the Proteus purse the consistent Ser ¬ vitor was enabled to add another victory to his score when he won from Runquoi with Episode in third place Jack Hare Jr in this came back so badly lame that he was led to his stable with dilliculty It probably terminates his racing career careerTerminal Terminal an outsider accounted for the opening race after leading for the entire way Sandalwood and Minute Man following him home homeThe The concluding race fell to Mountain Rose II which came away to win with speed in reserve from Little Ammie and Natural Mein had the mount on Mountain Rose II and it enabled him to take the gold watch of ¬ fered by the Business Mens Racing Associa ¬ tion to the rider having the most points dur ¬ ing the last two days of the meeting Cor ¬ coran carried off the riding honors of the meeting as lie did at Jefferson Park ParkThere There will be but few losses from the rac ¬ ing throng with the close of todays meeting T J Shaw will take a rest and suspend operations until the opening of the eastern racing season The other layers here will continue continueJoseph Joseph A Murphy will go to Chicago next Saturday to be in attendance at the turf dinner to be held there Monday in which it is hoped to formulate final plans for the restoration of racing on a big scale in Chi ¬ cago cagoThe The Maple Heights program book compris ¬ ing the first thirteen days of the meeting was distributed to owners this afternoon
