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MERRY SEASON AT HAVANA Racing Takes On New Importance at Cuban Course L. Dean Makes Good as Starter. HAVANA, Cuba, Jan. 3. With the Christmas holidays past and the advance guard of tho winter tourists rush arriving daily, the interest in the hundred-day meeting held under the auspices of the Havana Jockey Club at its magnificent course at Marianao has quickened perceptibly. Never before in the history of the association has a season so early in the year given forth the promise that the present one does. The prosperity of the island is untold and the excitable, pleasure-loving Cuban has sought out the track as a means of letting loose his enthusiasm. That his venture has been a prosperous one goes without saying. The new year brings out a new official to major racing in the person of Lester Dean. The latter is dispatching the. fields in the place of James Milton, who was called to his home in Baltimore on pressing business. Dean, who hails from Dallas, Texas, received his starting instructions under Mars Cassidy on the metropolitan tracks and last season blossomed forth as a starter at several of the meetings held on the tracks throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. His work quickly aroused attention and when the officials for the Havana meeting were selected his name was mentioned. He was appointed patrol judge and when Milton was called away stepped into the stand. His work at the barrier has been uniformly good and already has caused favorable comment. Robert Shelley has taken over Mr. Deans duties as patrol judge in addition to his other duties in the office during the morning hours and has acquitted himself in splendid fashion. RACING IS FORMFUL. Racing on the whole at Oriental Park has been of a formful nature and brought about some spirited finishes in which the verdict was in doubt until the official placing was displayed. Despite the lack of competent jockeys, which condition is being experienced at most meetings nowadays, the firmness of the stewards, in meting out punishment ha3 eliminated rough riding to almost a rarity. Cuba appears to be a fertile racing ground for Canadian-breds. The warm climate and long lazy hours of sunshine appear to suit the produce of the Canadian farms, and of those that are here the majority are winners at the meeting. Chief Sponsor, which was bred by Harry Giddings at Oakville, Ontario, is still the holder of the track record here for one mile. Chief Sponsor ran the distance in 1:3S in 1922. With the opening of the Almandares Hotel, which is situated in the choice residential section of Havana, and within view of the ocean, the gaiety of the American colony j?nd tourist population will shift to that point. " The Almandares is a modern hotel in every respect; The new Sevilla Biltmore will also be open before the meeting closes. Many reservations have poured into the management of the two hotels from New York and other points for accommodations during the months of February and March, in which Havana on Sunday celebrates the Mardi Gras. i
