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r y of P P c g j c 1 f a ! c i t ; i . t " ; j . t j 1 0 a j : it t , " " , 0 e t e it, to q 0 j e d r s. - to o lc n ie it PARIS JUMPING SEASON ON 1 Huge Crowds Turn Out at Enghien 1 and Auteuil for First Racing. Form Decidedly Awry as Steeplechasers Open . Ifcw Year at French Capital Outsiders Dominate the Sport at Both Courses. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE. PARIS, Feb. 20. After the "usual interval two months, steeplechasing has begun i again in the neighborhood of Paris. Despite the. fact that only moderate cards were presented at the first meetings, huge crowds of : people attended, all of them determined ap- : parently to see the start of another season. The first gathering took place on the little course at Enghein, to the north of Paris, on Saturday, and one of the biggest crowds ever seen there assembled. Unfortunately for the backer, the book is unreliable at this time of the year. Recent form is only available respecting the horses who have run at Nice and Cannes, and so mcst of those who crowded Enghiens course must have been prepared I for a few shocks. And it was well they did so, for outsiders, Sabord and Mirebeau, walked away with the first two races. In the third race, the Prix Killarney, re-: cent form indicated Boabdil, which on the : Riviera won the three races in succession, but : notwithstanding the fact that he was backed 1 down to evens he gave a miserable perform- ance and came in third, lengths behind The ! Osprey and Rainfall II., a rank outsider, which filled the second place. ORICAX WINS EASILY. Orican, which gained an easy victory in the 2 Prix Sauveur, figured prominently in sev-; - eral of the principal races on the Riviera, but the opposition there was a little too strong for him. In this race, however, he 2 achieved a virtual walkover, for after waiting - until the last hurdle but one he forged 1 ahead and left Plouvain and Thistlo several 1 lengths behind. The going at Enghien was hard and the e continuance of a bitterly cold spell made the e turf as hard as a brick for the reopening ? at Auteuil on Sunday. Owing to this fact t many owners decided to keep their horses s at home rather than risk their legs on the e hard ground and this resulted in small fields. :. There is a well known racing adage: "The e bigger the field the bigger the certainty," and 1 this was proved again at Auteuil. In one race there were only two runners and in two o other races there were only three runners and yet in each case the outsider won. OBERTAS BEATS NINETTE XI. In the" Prix OEneas, when only Olbertas s and Ninette XI went to the post, odds were e laid on Ninette XI. as though she were the e greatest certainty since Pretty Pollys day. ,-. Throughout the race the two animals kept to-y I- gether, but toward the end Ninette XI. be-t !" gan to falter and Obertas went on to win by a length. The principal events on the card were the e Prix Beugnot and the Prix Robert Hennessy. r. In the former race Clafouti, the biggest out- t- sider but one of the field, romped home by y eight lengths from Hallier, with the favorite, e, Lagobctte, a bad fourth. In the Prix Robert Hennessy the hot favorite, Bapeaume, e. could finish no nearer than a bad second, 1, being preceded by four lengths, by Saint it Quentin. Altogether it was a disastrous day y for punters. Many of the large crowd which assembled id at Auteuil also had their first glimpse of 3f - Continued oti twelfth pase.
