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WHITNEY SILKS FIRST ♦ Habanero Finds Churchill Downs Footing to His Liking. $ Improved Weather Prevails for Sport — Sabre Slash Defeats Squeeze Out. ♦ LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 12.— Habanero, from Cornelius V. Whitneys stable, was a decisive winner over Muslet, My Blaze and three others of the better grade platers in the Silver Hills Claiming Purse here this afternoon. This was one of the test races of the afternoon, which saw the weather improved and a large crowd on hand for the racing. The winner, a four-year-old son of Blondin and Manzanita, took a fancy to the slow, drying-out track, and after following the others for a half mile, swept to the front on the elbow and wa*s complete master in the final quarter. The early racing witnessed a bristling duel for the pacemaking honors, which were shared by Coral Beach, Plumage and Muslet, but once the winner got under way, he soon had his rivals well beaten. In the stretch he steadily drew away until at the finish, which he approached well in hand, he was two and one-half lengths before the lightly weighted and younger Muslet. The latter was three lengths better than My Blaze, which might have finished closer up, had he escaped interference on the stretch turn. Plumage and Coral Beach tired swiftly after three-quarters and Epidemic was well back of the leaders after the first three-eighths. Gilbert Elston piloted the Whitney colt and he had confident backing. Auf Wiedersehn, racing for W. F. Knebel-kamp, opened the racing in popular fashion when he easily accounted for the first race, a three-quarters dash for plater three-year-olds. He went to the post a pronounced choice and, while Princess Queen, Through Omond and Playing On led him for half the distance, he slipped through into the lead near the stretch and from that point to the finish had matters much his own way. Through Omond came on to finish second and Thistle Tom was third. Princess Queen ruined her chances when she ran out badly on the stretch turn and Playing On, which was rushed to the leaders in the first quarter, quit badly in the stretch. The winner, bred by his owner, entered the race a maiden. He was saddled by the former jockey, Tommy Murray. Canfield and Crumps Impel, ridden by L. McDermott, who had the mount on Why-mask, which scored at the longest odds of the meeting yesterday, furnished the chief upset when he outraced Pharamaid, King Faro and nine other maiden two-year-olds at four and one-half furlongs in the second race. He yielded 3.24. Although the winner made most of the pace and but for a few strides at the turn, where Pharamaid got to the front, was the leader, the race was sharply contested. Some crowding developed in the stretch, where, in bearing over, King Faro impeded Pharamaid and Sumggled In, which finished fourth, and, but for the interference, Pharamaid, which was the favorite, might have been closer up. As it was she lost by three-quarters of a length and achieved second by a head. In one of the most stubborn battles of the day, Agincourt outgamed Uncle Matt to take the third race by a nose. They went at it furiously for the entire distance, first the winner and then Uncle Matt showing in front. The latter had the advantage entering the last eighth, but Agincourt again headed him before the final sixteenth was reached, then tired and barely lasted. They finished a length before Smear, which nosed out Traitor, the favorite. Approaching the finish, Traitor had Smear "bottled up" on the inside and directly behind the leaders. The winner, owned by B. O. Hickman, was ridden by H. Schutte. Squeeze Out, one of the shortest priced favorites, failed to account for any of the honors in the fourth race, which resulted in a victory for Sabre Slash, the second choice. He took the lead from Cherry Time on the stretch turn and came on to beat the latter by a length. Betty Wee, which enjoyed a brief stay in second place in the stretch, aided Cherry Time in retrieving that position by swerving in the final stages. Taken back soon after the start, Squeeze Out never recovered a contending position and was almost five lengths away from the winner and fifth at the wire.
