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MORE CLOSE FINISHES Exciting and Thrilling Racing Is Witnessed at Oriental Park. Winners Score by Small Margins Variation First in Feature Attraction. HAVANA, Cuba, Dec. 20. Some of tho most exciting racing of the present meeting marked Saturdays program at Oriental Park. The majority of the finishes were exceedingly close and the large crowd present enjoyed themselves immensely. For a feature, a ,000 handicap for all ages, at five and a half furlongs, was provided. The speedy filly. Marionette, a popular racer here, was among the starters, and was the favorite. She ran well to the stretch turn, but then tired and was eased up when beaten. The winner turned up in Variation, which, though tiring at the end. outlasted Jewell V. D. The latter was gaining with every stride and would have won in a few more yards. The opening race produced a sensational finish when the favorite, Leslie, got up iu the final stride to get the decision over Gonwithim. The spectators were in doubt as to which of the two had won until tha numbers were up. A shout of approbation greeted the number of Leslie in the winners slot. Leslie began flatfooted and trailed to the half-mile pest. There he began to work h:s way up on - the outside and when the field turned for home he was in fifth place. Allen was riding hard, and Leslie, responding with great gamcness, finished with a cyclonic rush and just dropped his nose down in front in the final stride. San Diego displayed fine early speed and showed the way from the half post, closely followed by Gonwithim. He tired, however, in the stretch and had just enough left to save third place from Bigwig. Gonwithim ran well from a slow beginning, but was not good enough for the winner, and had to be content with second place. Momentum propped at the start. 1JELLE FAY 15 Y A HEAD. Maiden two-year-olds made the contest in the second race, the conditions calling for five and a half furlongs. It produced a finish almost as close as that in the first race, Belle Fay being awarded a head decision over Lord Vargrave. The latter was the public choice, while Vain Ellie was almost equally in demand. Vain Ellie, however, never tgured seriously as a contender and iinished fifth. Saving ground on the turns was responsible, for Belle Fays victory. She stayed close to the inner rail throughout, while Lord Vargrave swung wide. In the stretch the latter had a lead of three lengths, but the Smith filly would not be denied and, finishing with a rush, caught the favorite fifty yards from the finish and they fought it out in strenuous style, with Lord Arargrave giving way-right at the end. Bridget OGrady ran an even race, being third from start to finish.; Follow Me lived up to his name and saw to it that his opponents in the third race followed him home, the son of Jack Atkin winning by two lengths. He followed Som-erby while the latter set the pace, and when the Caimito Stable color-bearer dropped 1 back in the last eighth, tired and beaten, he-drew clear and was more than a match for Col. Pat The latter ran a good race to finish second. Two-year-old maidens made up the field in the fourth and there was strong support for St. Faust. The best the latter could do was to finish second, for Golden Ball quickly took the lead and made every post a winning one,-drawing away to score by five lengths. St. Faust was under a hard drive to outlast Cuco. MAItBLE LOSES HY INCHES. Bounce, the longest priced horse in the closing race, scored by a nose over Marble, the favorite. Powers, astride the latter, had him under restraint during the early running, but made his move too soon. Otherwise he might have won. The winner was far back during the early running, but finished with a rush and just got up in the final strides. Gail Ford finished third, but she was doing her best at the end to stall off the final rush of Witch Flower. A. W. Hammel, here with the racers of Rome Respess, tops the list of veterans in the number of years he has raced in Havana. , Eighteen years ago he invaded Cuba -with the American thoroughbred, always bringing good ones. It was he who introduced to Havana the celebrated sprinter, Halifax, tho fleetest in his day and the star at Alman-darcs course, now dotted with palatial homes. Halifax, whose fame long will endure, belonged to E. R. Thomas and Alex Shields. Ed Garrison, racing in the colors of tho lgypt Stable, his owner being an employee of the Cuba-America Jockey Club, is among the oldest campaigners here. Named in honor of "Snapper" Garrison, the ten-year-old son of Ogden Country Fraud, looks sprr, but, Continued on second pasc- MORE CLOSE FINISHES Continued from first page. like the old gray mare, he is not what ho used to be. H. D. Brown, managing director of the Cuha-Ameriea Jockey Club, is proud of the performances of Havana Electric and Solomons Kilts at Oriental Park, where both were bred, each sired by Solomon by AH Gold. Mr. Brown bought Solomon from Harry Payne AVhitney. Havana Electric formerly belonged to Mr. Steinhart, multi-millionaire, who owns the Havana Electric street railway, "said to be the best paying system in the world. Kufiyas showing on AVednesday has developed that she was sore in the morning and during the running of the fifth race, in which she finished fourth. The stewards have announced that she will not be permitted to start until pronounced fit. by the veterinarian. The poor showing of Black Dinali in. th-2 race of last Sunday was ascribed by th-i owner, L. B. Phelpg, to the mares "over-striding herself. It will be three weeks before she starts again. Conceal was claimed after she was beaten in her last start, by N. Overby for ,100.
