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TWENTIETH XMAS HANDICAP Fair Grounds Holiday Feature Has Fairly Long History Slippery Elm Initial Winner. NEW ORLEANS, La., Dec. 17. The forth- coming running of the Christmas Handicap at the Fair Grounds will be the twentieth and delving into the records of the past, shows that some sterling performers have annexed the Yuletide fixture, which had its inception at Jefferson Park in 1919. The first running of the Christmas Handicap was captured by Slippery Elm, then was followed in subsequent years by s h stars as Eddie Rickenbacker, Sands of Pleasure, Comic Song, Delante, Elector, Lounger, Arabian, Sea Rocket, Saxon, Paul Bunyan, Battle Ax, Light Mint, Pigeon Hole, Tatanne, Rip Van Winkle, Oican and Zevson scored in both of the last two runnings. On four occasions the contest was captured by a New Orleans owned thoroughbred, these being Arabian, which scored for Mrs. L. M. Holmes, Sea Rocket for C. A. Coyle, Tatanne for Mrs. John Zoeller and Rip Van Winkle for Joe W. Brown. Just what sort of a hand the Crescent City delegation will have remains to be seen, as the representation is less than in any recent year. Thomas J. Hills White Cockade and Joe W. Browns Spillway are the only likely thoroughbreds to be among those competing for the ,000 added event.
