Good Sport in Cuba: Big Crowd Sees Saturdays Racing at Oriental Park, Daily Racing Form, 1924-12-07

article


view raw text

j 1 i , . 1 I GOOD SPORT IN CUBA t Big Crowd Sees Saturdays Racing at Oriental Park. . Lack of Outstanding Attraction Offset by Spirited Contests and Close Finishes. HAVANA, Cuba, Dec. 6. There was an unusually i large crowd at Oriental Park today. 1 Probably the fact that there will be no racing i Sunday, because of Maceo Day, a day of mourning in Cuba, was in a measure responsible to this afternoons great outpouring. I While Saturdays program lacked any out- standing attraction, the well matched and even calibre of the contestants making up the fields in the different races provided , some of the most interesting racing seen at Oriental Park this meeting. The finishes in i . nearly all the races were close and the re- , : suit in doubt until the last few strides. The opening dash was productive of a good contest. Gold Leaf was the winner, outlasting Brush All in a spirited finish, after the latter had appeared to have the : " race at his mercy entering the stretch. 1 There was another sparkling race in the second, Neopolitan, an outsider in the bet- ting, coming from the rear to get up in J the last few strides. Louise Wagner, the favorite, finished third, with Liege separ-1 ating the pair. Again in the following race the winner came from behind when Witch Flower caught Star Red in the last quarter and 1 drew clear at the end. Tubby A. was third, e beating Forewarn by a nose for the short 3 end of the purse. Harry Callahan, jockey, disproves the im-s pression that the average jockey is without 1 ambition to excel in channels foreign to a I race course. He is college trained, paints II portraits, carves, speaks Spanish, knows the e drawing room and is a finished dancer. Harrys brother, Johnny Callahan, himself a skillful" rider, now in the employ of W. R. Coe, inspired his development. Johnny, a a always thrifty, being the owner of several - farms, elected to guide the destinies of the e youngest member of the family, beginning i- by placing him in school. His reward was it Harrys appreciation, reflected in his varied d accomplishments. Harry is confident he will have a banner 2; season at Oriental Park. He is in condition, I- due to his style of living. Only once has he d encountered a mishap in racing. That was le when he went down in a fall in the East, sustaining an injury threatening the impair-1, ment of the vision of his right eye. At that is time he was under contract to E. F. Whit-le ney, an associate in the banking house of is J. Pierpont Morgan. o The lure of the turf is irresistible. Jack 3- Stafford, back to his first love, is at Oriental it Park to remain until the season ends, h Before the World War Stafford was promi-y nent on American courses, sending to the ie lis Continued on twelfth page. It . ; GOOD SPORT IN CUBA Continued from first page. races many performers of merit. It was he who raced the first get of Rapid Water. This was when he trained for G. W. J. Bis-sell, multi-millionaire stove manufacturer of Pittsburgh. Staffords patriotic service in behalf of his country related to his assignment at Gulf-port, where he selected and directed the shipment to France of thousands of horses. Following the armistice he handled all horses sent back, disposing of them for the government. Stafford bestows high praise on Oriental Park. He says it is one of the most beautiful he has seen. It is his belief throngs of American tourists will be here to enjoy the sport. Florida, he explained, is at the crest of prosperity and visitors there will extend their travels to Havana. Judge Herman Goecke, prominent in affairs at Louisville, Ky., long-time patron of the turf, visiting the track on the second day, picked all winners, save in the opener, which proved to be Captain Kinnarney, a horse named in honor of a man known on every race course in Kentucky. Judge Goecke played him for the place. Captain Kinnarney paid 0.70 for . It happened that James B. Brown and Bill Head were in different races, so the judge played them, being well rewarded. James W. Brown is a Louisville financier, and W. O. Head, after whom Bill Head was named, is a former mayor of the Falls City. Lige Brewster has Twilight Hour and Muscoyia ready lor the races.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1920s/drf1924120701/drf1924120701_1_3
Local Identifier: drf1924120701_1_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800