Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-23
CRAZY HORSE
SPOILS STAKE
CHAPULTEPEC RUINS JACK
ATKINS CHANCES
King James Comes from Behind ir
Stretch and Wins Going Away
in Speed Handicap-Rose-
ben Second
BY JAY DAVIDSON

The greatest crowd that ever attend
ed the races on the coast witnessed the
first running of the Speed handicap at
Santa Anita yesterday afternoon, and
despite the fact that Jack Atkin and
his running mate, Chapultepec, prac-
tically were left at the post and about
100000 of public money was burned up
thereby, neither horse running in the
money, it was a great race and one
which created much enthusiasm.
King James, running with Smiley
Corbett as the Hildreth-Cahill entry,
won the race in the final sixteenth by
making finish that brought the grand
stand crowds to their feet with wild
cheers. Smiley Corbett went out in
front at the start and led into the
stretch by two lengths, but did a
Smithy Kane stunt thereafter and fin
iShed seventh. However, he succeeded
in killing off Dominus Aroi and Colo
guy in this half-mile run and retired
a pair of most dangerous contenders.
When Smiley quit, Roseben and Dom
mus Arol took up the running, but only
for a jiffy, as King James, which had
been tagging behind, avoiding the early
pace, came along and caught them at
the paddock. In the final sixteenth
Roseben seemed to have a chance to
stick for the long end of the $4,000 purse,
but King James was fresh and full of
O1lg 1llO Tic WClSIdIl SIlOHSNI
weakness when it came to the final
drive. King James went on surely and
certainly to victory by two lengths,
while RoSeben was under a hard drive
to stall off the closing rush of Maga-
zine. They finished in this order.
Just as the barrier arose, says Jake
Hoffman, the starter, Chapultepec
wheeled and bolted into Mark Antony
II, which was knocked against Jack
Atkin, the humping match throwing all
three out of the running and, inciden-
tally, causing a big loss to the public
Chapultepec is notoriously bad in his
post actions and is just as apt to
break backward and jump over the
fence as he is to break properly and
run decently. He is the limit of per-
VerSeneSs at the barrier and his pres
ence in the rich stake event assuredIy
broke it up badly, caused the public a
big loss and probably brought about
an untrue result in the greatest stake
event, excepting the Burns, run on the
coast during the winter season.
1t was particularly unfortunate for
the looks of things that Chapultepec
had to act so indecently. Had any
other horse cut up that way and put
Jack Atkin out Of the running there
still would have been a chance for the
entry to have fulfilled expectations by
winning, as either was regarded as
good enough to deliver the goods, and
in view of the time made by the win
ner it looks like a cinch that either
could have won. Yet it appears that
no blame can be laid to the door Of
any official, jockey or owner, and it
becomes one of those unfortunate and
regrettable affairs that must be clasSed
as racing luck
The event was a high weight handi-
cap, owing to the great class and eX-
treme speed that was eligible to start,
and the time, Iii As, while rather dis
appointing to those who have been ac-
cuStomed to seeing this distance done
in far better time, is easily explained
in the fact that nearly every horse in
the race was carrying from ten to
twenty pounds greater weight than or
dinarily is prescribed for them. The
race probably would have been more
exciting had Jack Atkin and Chapulte-
pee got away and tried for the purse,
but notwithstanding the practical alb
sence Of these speedy and classy sprint
ers the event excited keen enthusiasm
and interest and fifteen to eighteen
thousand pairs of eyes were riveted
upon the struggling mass of class and
speed as it flew from barrier to wire
The second feature of the card was
the Anniversary handicap at nine fur
longs, and it was won by the popular
favorite VoX POpuli, with comparative
ease, while Montgomery, second choice
and we'll played, was second. The fact
that Vox Populi recently set the world
record for this distance with almost
the same weight up caused the general
public to support him, and ii was a
popular victory. Arasee set out to
make a runaway race of it, but quit
badly in the stretch and was lucky to
be third. The time was ISL As.
w. B. Jennings pulled down a pair
of purses with Prince Gal in the first
and Julia Powell in the sixth Both
outclassed their fields and won romp-
ing. There was little else of feature
Importance during the afternoon. Bar
ring the upset in the stake race the
public got away with the money, but
this upset probably gave the books a
nice balance for the days operations.