Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-26
Interesting Races of United
Hunts Association at Benning.
FOUR FAVORlTES WON
Woolgatherer's Win Of Capital
Steeplechase the Feature.
NAT" RAYS FINE FINISH
Big Foot Ball Teams Ready for To-
morrow's Games-Amateur and
Professional Golf.
FOUR . FAVORlTES WO
NAT" RAYS FINE FINISH

The initial days racing Of the annual
meeting of the United Hunts Association at
Benning yesterday unusually interest
ing. as a majority of the events were close
ly contested and but few falls resulted in
taking the jumps. The ground was soft and
In several cases the ponies came near going
down while running on the grass, but while
this was a handicap to the thorouShbreds
It was appreciated by the few riders who
took choppers and landed on their shoulders
In the mud Mr. Percy Evans. who rode
Anna Bruce in the Clark cup steeplechase.
was the only amateur to fall. and he got
off with a broken collar bone and good
shaking up. Had the ground been hard the
fall might have been fatal. as he landed on
his head and shoulders at the same time.
Saffel and Bowser were the other two
" riders to take tumbles. and the former was
shaken up so badly that he had to be
hauled to the club house In the ambulance.
The jumping races have always been
favortes with the Washington people, but
there appeared to be a general miSunder-
standing among many of them that there
would be no betting. and this idea ma
terially affected the attendance Horse rae
ing of any description without betting can
be compared to eating ice cream with the
sweetening left out, and it goes without
saying that the attendance tomorrow will
be very large.
Society Backward
The club house contingent was also back
ward in turning out, although the general
impression that the races were given
principally for their entertainment. There
were representative groups from New York
Maryland and Virginia, among them being
Mr.. and Mrs Perry Belmont. Mr.. and Mrs
f. Ambrose Clark. Mr.. and Mrs. ]. l..
Kernochan. Mrs. Smith Haddon, Miss Had
don. Robert Gerry. j. r. Townsend, Z. G.
LaMontague. NJ. l.. Schwartz. j. J. O'Brien
and II. S. Page. The Virginia contingent
was well represented by Mr.. and Mrs.
James X Maddux Mr.. and Mrs Julian
Keith Colonel Robert Neville, Richard Wal
ZACH, David Dunlop. Mr.. and Mrs. Court
land Smith. DIR. and Mrs James Kerr. Miss
Aileen Kerr Dion Kerr. DR.. H. II. Kerr
and Chester Kerr. Percy and Lee Evans,
Charles Hoof. Charles Hurkamp and many
others
Everything passed off with clock-like pre-
cision and the officials of the meeting de-
serve the greatest praise for the energy
and accuracy of their work. The stewards
of the meeting are Samuel Ross, ]. E.
Widener and r. c. LaMontague. The rae
Bryan. Handicapped; Thomas II. Smith.
clerk of the scales; J. II. Bradford. jr..
starter; W. Fred Presgrave. paddock judge,
and DIR. III. Kerr physician in attendance.
Feature of the Day.
The feature of the afternoons sport was
the Capitol steeplechase which resulted in
three of the leapers going under the wire
heads apart and the fourth back only a
half length. Bound Brook went to the post
favorte. while WOolgatherer. with Nat
Ray up was heavily played by the local
contingent. The field got away to fairly
good start, and as the jumpers passed the
stand fhp ms lot Iyas
In the lead by several lengths, jockey Jack
son being unable to hold the old fiat run
ner back. BY the time the second round of
the course had been completed Setauket
had enough. and. coming near a cropper on
the jump opposite the free field. dropped
back to the rear. After the water jump had
been taken on the second time around there
was a general closing up of the real racers.
Worthwhile Maximillan. Woolgatherer and
Bound Brook going over the Liverpool al
most in compact bunch. From that point
to the finish the race was exciting. and a
grand contest to look 1t. On the last two
jumps. out in the woods, Worthwhile Bound
Brook and Macmillan went over in cavalry
fashion. and when once on the fiat for the
run home Woolgatherer joined the group
Coming down the stretch everybody was
using his whip and spurs, Mortified being
on the rail. with Macmillan leading by
half length Ray worked persistentiy on
Woolgatherer and slowly worked hts way
past Bound Brook. then Maximllian, and
finally crept UP to Northville's shoulders
In the last dozen yards 1t was a case of the
best jockey. Ray finally lifting Woolgath-
erer under the wire first by head Close
finishes In steeplechases are not common
affairs. and the crowd in the grand stand
and club house swung their hats. yelled
and danced around like Indians over the
fine contest.
A Popular Victory.
The most popular victory of the afternoon
was that of Follow On, who was magnifi-
Gently ridden by Mr.. Dion Kerr. With a
Washington horse and rider in the Alexan-
dria steeplechase. the local bettors had
hard time choosing betweens Adams, owned
10y Billy Garth, and Follow On, and as
result the bookmakers got a scorching, as
many turned to the latter jumper on purely
patriotic lines. Allegiance acted as pace
maker over the first jump, and then Pune
tual jumped into the lead. while Liffey Bank
was the next leader, Mr.. Kerr kept Follow
On in the first flight all the time. and was
evidently closely watching the favorite.
After getting over the big water jump in
front of the grand stand, Mr.. Kerr probably
concluded that Adams was false alarm -
and shot Follow On to the front. The game
whistle and came down the stretch lead
ing by two lengths over Allegiance, going
under the wire winner by the same dis
lance. Mr.. Kerr took matters easy In the
last two furlongs or he could probably have
won by several lengths, as he did not use
his whip. while Hueston. on Allegiance, was
whipping away for dear life. trying to get
his mount up to the leader.
Easy for Favorites.
In the third race Mr. ]. O'Brien put up
fine ride on Gypsic and led almost from
start to finish. The fifth race was also easy
for Palm. VINO was nicely handled by Mr.
Wilson. Spender falling and Precise not
being strong enough to put up a contest
worthy of the name
The final event. a two-mile affair on the
HAT. was won by Pete Daley. after quite
struggle to get away from Rathowen, the
others being out of 1t from the start.
Mr.. CORTLAND Smith was the winning
rider of the day. capturing both of the fiat
races for amateur riders