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HORSES AT ORIENTAL PARK Several Hundred Already in Training- at Havana Course. Many Improvements Completed, Further Enhancing the Ucauly of Cubas Attractive Racing Grounds. : HAVANA, Cuba, Xov. 17. With the reopening of Cubas winter racing season on .November 29, less than a fortnight away, Oriental Park, one of the most beautiful racing plants, is already resounding to the hoof-beats of the thoroughbreds, several hundred of which are training here. Other shipments from the United States will in a short time bring the total to 700 head, capacity of the plant. After a lapse of five years the Cuba-American Jockey Club is again under the active direction of H. D. Brown, its genius and builder. Associated with him are a corps of racing officials who are well known by reason of their veteran service at the larger meetings in the United States. As for Oriental Park and its environs, which long have been a show spot for tourists in Cuba, the seemingly limitless and lavish outlay which has gone to beautify them, has again been increased. The result has been to make this course and its tropically-parked environs beyond doubt the most favored beauty spot in the winter tourist area of the western hemisphere. The Casino, which now compares favorably with these at Monte Carlo, Deauville and Biarritz in the Old World, has been additionally beautified. The club rooms have been enlarged. Here in the salons of dancing, dining and club play, upon which, by the way, there is bestowed the protection of the Cuban government through its legalizing statutes, will be seen during the winter a group of turf enthusiasts comprising well-known names in society, sportsmanship, the arts, finance and commerce. GLASS ROOF BUILT. A glass roof has been built atop the clubhouse, thus making the redezvous of smart Havana, where parties are held nightly, immune even from the rarely seen tropical shower. An internationally known orchestra has been engaged. In addition there are to be frequent concerts by the famous bands of Cuba the Municipal Band and the Camp Columbia Military Band. President Zayas and President-Elect Machado of Cuba, both of whom long have been box-holders at Oriental Park, are taking the liveliest interest in the return to active direction of managing director Brown, and both he and his associates are assured that this winter of all winters will be Havanas gayest and most colorful, both from a racing and recreational standpoint. As to the racing itself, the offerings enumerated in the program book promise some excellent sport here during the winter. The feature of the first day will be the Inaugural Handicap of ?1,200, to be run on Saturday, November 29. The meeting, of course, will continue until March, 1925. Both managing director Brown- and his general manager, Frank J. Bruen, are known throughout Cuba and the United States as devoted to the interests of the horsemen who race and the public which patronizes the meetings here. In addition, they enjoy to : the highest degree the confidence of Cubas business and official leaders, thus marking a restoration to high popular favor here of the sport which was brought to Cuba under their direction eleven years ago, and which they are almost solely responsible for developing to its present high state of popularity. In Cuba Volsteadism and other cumbersome restrictions which hamper tourists are unknown, so the material prosperity Of the island republic this winter has combined as a factor in racing favor. LIST OF OFFICIALS. The complete roster of officials here, as announced today by Mr. Brown, is as follows : Managing director, II. D. Brown ; general manager, Frank J. Bruen ; - assistant manager, James F. Milton ; secretary and treasurer, H. W. Boyer ; assistant treasurer and auditor, E. F. Krugel. In the government of the racing itself, the names in the roster of officials are men of international prominence in this branch of sport. Mr. Brown will be the presiding steward. In the stewards stand with him will be Martin . Nathanson and William H. Shelley as associates. Goodloe McDowell will be special steward; James F. Milton, starter; C. Cornehlsen, presiding judge ; W. H. Shelley, associate judge and racing secretary; S. S. Bender, assistant racing secretary and ;clerk of the scales; W. W. Lyles, paddock judge ; Dr. F. W. Ashe, timer and veterinarian, and Lester Dean, patrol judge. Messrs. Nathanson, Conehlsen and Shelley will constitute the board of handicappers. Several new hotels have augmented the accommodations in Havana, where rates have always surprised tourists accustomed to the higher tariffs at winter resorts closer to the north. These will contribute to the enjoyment of first-time visitors.
