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. i I • , , j • i I j I FINALE AT LOUISVILLE Kentucky Handicap Main Event of Churchills Getaway Card. Morning Rain and Wet Track Affect Attendance — Arabs Arrow Vindicates Backers in Feature Race. LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 20— The nineteen-day spring meeting at Churchill Downs came to a close this afternoon with a card of eight races, featured by the twenty-first running of the Kentucky Handicap, a run of a mile and an eighth for an added purse of ,500. Only a small field contested this distance fixture for older horses, but the promise it gave of proving an interesting contest helped to attract one of the largest crowds of the meeting. Rain off and on all morning, and even past noontime, and a wet racing surface, tended to hold down the size of the attendance somewhat, but still a. gathering of approximately 10,000 persons was on hand to see the final days racing in Kentucky until Latonia opens its summer meeting on June 29. The meeting will go down as one of the most successful Churchill Downs has had in a number of years, and its Derby Day attendance on May 6 went over 80,000 to establish a new crowd record for the occasion. During the nineteen days fans of this sector were treated to sport of the highest order, and a total of nine stakes were presented. The success of the current meeting has prompted Col. Matt J. Winn, head of the track, to propose further construction work to increase the seating capacity of the already spacious plant, his ambition still being to see a crowd of 100,000 assembled at the Downs on Derby Day. ATTRACTIVE PROGRAM. Surrounding the Kentucky Handicap this afternoon were seven other attractive races and close finishes were the rule rather than the exception. The hard-running Arabs Arrow, which performs under "the colors of Mrs. Louise J. Hickman of this city, displayed his versatility by coming back after two stakes victories on firm footing to win the twenty-first running of the Kentucky Handicap in the slop. The son of The Porter — Hedemora, whose next scene of activity will be Delaware Park, led over every inch of the mile and one-eighth, and, with 122 pounds in the saddle, ran the distance in 1:54% to win by a length and one-quarter. M. J. Schmitts Sortie Star was second, and Shandon Farms Burning Star, which shared favoritism with the winner and also shouldered 122 pounds, was third, a length farther back. Mrs. R. J. Murphys Knee Deep beat the only other contestant, Dan Lehans Jeffersontown. Arabs Arrow, which won the Clark Handicap and was locked in a dead heat for top honors with Kings Blue in the Churchill Downs Handicap, was ridden by Carroll Bierman, who made no mistakes with his mount. He rated his charge in front cleverly and when Sortie Star moved to Arabs Arrow in the stretch Bierman put his mount to a sharp drive, which eventually enabled him to draw into the clear once more. Sortie Star was closest to the winner from soon after the start. Lightspur, speedy three-year-old in the stable of John Marsch of Chicago, got away with the chief supporting attraction, the Au Revoir Handicap, at six furlongs. The son of Blue Larkspur — Chicleight, making his third start" of the year, led from start to finish and in running the three-quarters through the slippery going in 1:12% won by a neck as Janice beat Southland Beau a little more than a length for second place. Lightspur, guided by Charles Kurtsinger, was perform-i ing as the favorite and carried top weight of 112 pounds.
