view raw text
CARPENTER SILKS FIRST Capitalist Outruns Alkali in Head-liner at Oaklawn Park. Races at Arkansas Spa Well Filled Despite Departure of Stables for Other Points. HOT SPRINGS, Ark., April 2. Capitalist, from the stable of F. H. Carpenter, Ohio turfman, captured the fourth and best race on todays featureless program. The six-year-old beat Alkali, Grattan and four others over the Oaklawn course and ran the distance in 1:09. Off well, Capitalist raced close to the pace and under steady restraint to the stretch and there set sail for Alkali, which had shown the way from the start. At the eighth post the Carpenter representative caught Alkali and then drew, away to win by a length. Alkali hung on gamely after being passed and took second place a length and a half before Grattan, which worked his way up from far back to get third place a half length in front of Small Change. The others, First Try, Evening Gown and Deferred never figured strongly in the decision of the race. The winner was ridden by R. Montgomery. The general exodus of horses continues to have no notable effect on the quality of the sport as it is offered here and, although the claiming clause was attached to each of the seven races, they provided interesting contests. Today marked one of the few times during this meeting that the card had no particular feature, although the fourth race did seem to stand out over the others. The first four races were over the Oaklawn course and the remaining ones over the more popular route distances. The fifth was decided over a mile and a sixteenth and the last two over a mile and seventy yards and all three of them contained plenty of contention. All seven races brought out well filled fields. The weather was slightly cooler this afternoon, but not uncomfortably so and the crowd was up to the usual size for a week day. The skies were clear and the track fast.
