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DRAB DAY AT ST. JOHNS .Rainstorms Keep Crowd Away Elston and Gilbert Star. Dr. Syntax Accounts for Outstanding Race on Program Freakish Prices on Placed Horses. JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 22. For the second day of the St. Johns Park meeting of the Florida Jockey Club, conditions were anything but favorable. Heavy rainstorms in both Jacksonville and St. Augustine resulted in a meager crowd being out, while the sport was given over to the cheapest of the platers. Some of the finishes were excitingly close, and that was the only atonement for rather a drab day of sport. Harvey Elston scored a double when he rode both Strait Jacket and Marabou to .victory. Both of these were short priced starters, though Strait Jacket took a bit of riding before he beat the big band of maidens which he opposed. Then during the day J. Gilbert equalled that record when his winners were Essie and Estin, and with each he had to fight it out desperately to earn the victory. CLARE BEE SECOND. The Hotel Everett Purse, run as the sixth race and over the mile distance, brought out the best field of the afternoon and resulted in an excellent contest, with Dr. Syntax, the castoff from the Joseph E. Widener stable, winner over Clare Bee, while George Strates Iron Czar closed a big gap to save third from F. E. Moores Home Work. The start was a good one and Home Work and Common were the ones to set the pace. Dr. Syntax was not far back of them, while Iron Czar dropped out of the running badly in the first half mile. Howee moved into contention and as the turn out of the back stretch was reached Common was being closely pressed and Dr. Syntax was racing strongly on the outside. In the stretch Common tired and Dr. Syntax took command, but at the same time Clare Bee rushed into contention to send the son of High Time to a hard drive to stick it out and be the winner by three-quarters of a length. Iron Czar had closed a big gap to be a fast-finishing third, right at the heels of the first two. The pay-off in this race was one of the most freakish of the meeting, when the winner paid .60 to win and .40 to show. Clare Bee was 8.60 for place and 36.30 for show, while Iron Czar paid 0.60 to show, while for a good part of the time he was no better price to win on the board. STRAIT JACKET GRADUATES. The opening race brought but a dozen maiden juveniles to race a half mile. It brought a good contest with Joe Edwards Strait Jacket the winner over Herbert M. Woolfs Col. Cloister, while Lloyd Gentrys Nuns Way, one that sold in the field, saved third from Social Bee. There was little delay at the post and H. Elston got Strait Jacket away fast to have him force the pace. Nuns Way was soon racing closely after him, while Lady Bridget moved up on the inside and the three were well lapped as they turned out of the back stretch and headed for the final turn. Lady Bridget had enough as the turn for Continued on tenth page. DRAB DAY AT ST. JOHNS Continued from first page home was made, but Nun3 Way hung on well until a sixteenth from the finish, but Strait Jacket held his lead. Right at tho end, Col. Cloister camo with a burst of speed on the outside and, catching tho filly, he was overhauling tho Edwards gelding with every stride. Elston went to the whip and tho son of Wrack was past the line the winner by a neck. Col. Cloister had beaten Nuns Way by a length and a half for second place and Social Bee was a fast finishing fourth, just another half length back. There was a tedious delay In the second race. This brought out fourteen three-year-olds and a good percentage of them were unruly. The finish proved a fighting one when Jane Ellen just got up to score over George Arvina Gan Lee and George Collins Thistle Telce, a field horse, was third before Spanish Flirt. Gan Lee was the one to set the pace and Jane Ellen chased after him, whilo Nonana was in the front division and Spanish Flirt, for a time, was a contender. When the stretch was reached Nonana tired badly and it was there that Gan Lee and Jane Ellen staged a furious battle with the filly just dropping her nose down in the final stride. In the meantime Thistle Telee had worked her way through on the inside to outfinish Spanish Flirt for third. Bokie B., after being responsible for the long delay, was badly pinched off at the start and had no chance. Harvey Elston rode his second winner of the day when he scored with R. F. Coppages Marabou in the third race, also fashioned for the cheap ones. R. J. Morans Stupendous finished second and Harum Scarum saved third easily from Deerfield. From a good start Harum Scarum was first to show away from the barrier, but she jumped in the air slightly and it was not long before she was headed by Marabou. Then in the back stretch run the daughter of Mad Hatter stumbled badly and dropped back out of contention. In the meantime Marabou went along in the command that he was not to surrender. Through the stretch the winner drew out easily to have four lengths to spare at the end. Stupendous easily outfinished the others when she was second by five lengths and Harum Scarum had closed a big gap when she came again, to take third from Deerfield. The race that occupied the feature position on the program was the Andrew Jackson claiming purse, a six-furlong test for cheap ones, but it did not have the same appeal as the Hotel Everett Claiming Purse, run as the sixth race. In the fourth race the limit number of fourteen went to the post, and most attention was directed toward Ed McCuans Essie. It was Essie that was winner, though Gilbert had to do some good riding to earn the purse. Pollys Folly, a horse sold in the field, raced to second place in a close finish with Light Nun and best Maifou. It was Light Nun and Beige that set the pace, while -Essie was in rather close quarters back of them. The pace took its toll of the leaders when the stretch was reached, and Beige dropped out of it badly as Gilbert brought Essie through with a rush that landed her the winner by a length and a half. Pollys Folly was lucky to find an opening next to the rail in the final stages to drop her nose down in front of the tiring Light Nun in the final strides. One of the closest finishes of the day was in the fifth, in which Gilbert hung up his double by slipping through on the inside to drop the nose of Estin down before Patrick Callahan, another of the field horses in a day that was remarkable for the number of field horses that played a part in close finishes. In this, Jimmie L. was a close third. Jimmie L. and Patrick Callahan were the ones to cut out all the running and they were fighting along in front until into the stretch. There Jimmie L. weakened slightly and Patrick Callahan looked the winner, but Gilbert was working his way up on the rail with Estin and it was in the last stride that the old son of Westy Hogan just dropped his nose down in front. Jimmie L. was just another neck away and Tat was on the heels of the first three. S. F. Murphy will ship the horses which are raced in his wifes name, to Aurora. He will be accompanied by jockey Johnny Leyland and apprentice J. Ferguson.
