The evening times., 1900-05-26

NEW YORK. May 26.-In the presence Oh
25 OoO or 80 Geo excited men and women al
pc3uler Gravesend track the famous Brook
lyn Handicap will be run this aftern on
The purse is s1O.O0O. OF which the winner
Sill receive 81. GEO. the second horse 81 &c.,
and the third horse $500. and the distaSee
is one mile and a quarter.
The track will b. good and safe, and be
tween twelve and fifteen of the best race
horses. three years old and over. in the
United States will take part. They come
from all parts of the country. and every
one of them has been trained for the
struggle as a prizefghter Is trained for
championship battle. They will go TO the
post hard and At. with the pluckisst and
rraftiest riders in the world Estri6e their
wfthers. prepared to run the races oi their
lives. They will fight from the drop OF
the flag to the finish. and 20 man It's
morning can foreteI the result.
Estimates OF the form Of the dn rent
candidates have been made and each indi-
vfduaI in the crowd will have his or her
preference. and hundreds of thousands OF
dollars will change hands. The race is un-
certain. because it is 10 be try-cut OF
champions at a weight scheme aeknowl-
edged by all to be as cunning as the
Ehrewd and eminently careful haEdicapper
could devise. The winner viii be hailed
as the best horse Of his tire. and he Will
retain that distinction until the nsxt great
test occurs in the Suburban Handicap, at
Sheepshead Bay. on June 16.
The horses named as starters last night
with their weights. riders. and the bett ng
this morning, are as follows:
Ethelbert. 127. Maher. to L
Jean Beraud. 127. Turner. TO l.
Raffaello, 113. jenkins 6 to /.
Batten. 124 WINFIELD. TO 1.
Kinley Mack. 122. McCue. to l.
Box, lis. O'Connor. 8 to l.
Wait Not. IO2. Burns. to l.
Prince McClurg us Hamilton. 20 to l.
Approval ia, Spencer, 10 ts l.
PetruchiO. 80. Bansch. u to l.
The Kentuckian. 1G6. ClawsOn, 15 to 1.
Imp. 12S. p. Clay. 20 to 1.
Survivor. leo. Bullman. 20 to 1.
Herbert. 9S Mitchell. 20 to l.
Lothario. 1C9. Shaw. 30 to l.
Latson. 1O3 Littlefeld. so to l.
Strathccuan. 80. O'Reilly. loo 10 l.
The Kentuckian is a doubtful starter. If
ne does LOL 50, N4dNsOu viii rue imp II
place OF p. Clay.
When these nominations w1ee made at
} O'Clock yesterday afternoon. rain was
falling heavily and the track was quag-
uire. II was an even choice that the field
would be cut TO pieces by scratches super
iatendent Benjamin Brush. an old-time sea
captain. who sailed many years in the Eas-
tern seas and who can read weather StguS
that are hidden from ether men, thought
otherwise. He SAID that the rain would
rlear up before sunset and that he would
have all the water mOPped UP b~Sore morn
ing and he promised q good track, pro
vided no rain fell before $50 O'Clock this
afternoon the time set on the programme
for the calling out Of the Brooklyn Handi-
cap field. Mr. Brush's prediction as to tns
weather was fulfilled. The rain clouds be-
gan 10 disappear before 4 o'clock and tn,
sunset was red and promising
At O'Clock Mr.. Brush ordered all tbs
exercising CT horses stopped and got h.
men TO work. There were more than POI
IN his force. Armed with wooden Taii!
snd sponges half as big as beer kegs, the!
sailed forth on the track. The wafer va
Eucked up by the sponges. squeezed int,
the buckets. poured from the buckets inu
barrels. and carted away. For hours the!
worked without apparent results. The wa
ter poured back into the countless hors'
tracks and the ruts almost as fast as 4
could be spOnged up and haules
away. They stopped for suppel
ut o'clock. but got back L
work again at $50. and before II
o'clock there was very little water left
Then the old sea captain paid and dismiss
ed the spongers and sent them home. 4
force Of harrowers with plOdding mul'
teams and big unwieldy machines tool
their places. The track may not be ST
slow as expected, as a strong wind tOda.
Is making things dry.