The Washington times., 1911-10-08

BALTIMORE, Md, Oct. S-The an
cient brand of Pinlico weather, with its
accompanying fIills of rain and mud,
put in an appearance yesterday and
figuratively and literally threw a wet
blanket over the usual festive proceed
ings of opening day at the old hilltop
track.
The chilling blasts and lowering skies
took the edge off what had promised to
be a big attendance, and thinned out to
degree the amateur and society
element which always makes Pinlico SO
distinctive among race tracks. While
the boxes and grandstand did not pre-
sent as brilliant a showing as they
would have done with more propitious
weather, a big bustling crowd was on
hand and made rgs lively on the
lawn and in the betting ring.
There was some speculation as to how
far the attendance was affected by the
rival attraction at Laurel, but apart
from some losses from Washington 1t
was not believed the new track had
made any serious iI3roads on Pimlico's $
patronage.
A card of seven races, with the In
augural SteeplechaSe, the Baltimore
as features, was served up and went
well throughout.
The steeplechase. always attractive to
the Baltimore public, was the feature
of the afternoon. A field of ten made
pretty contest. Old Thistledalc, hero of
many a hard-fought battle over the
rails, and which is having its second
timd on earth, set the pace AMI led to
the last jump. where he had to succumo
to the insistent challenge Of Vilhalla,
nF Sn1Nr nt tA1 URf N W n
has been showing great form through
the Canadian circuit. Gwynn Tomp-
kins' ancient bread winner, Jimmy
Lane. always there or thereabouts, an
neXed the show money.
Billy" Garth started a green one in
Sinfran. but it fell early in the game
Anthony Alien saddled another green
enc in GaTternan. which showed lois
of speed and may turn out 10 be good
racer.
The favOrites, Waterspeed and Water
way, did not d. much. The latter pulled
up lame.
PrisciIiian, which won the opening
event of the day, so far outclaSScd his
field that all interest was taken out Of
the contest. One 20 eight was TIE best the
bookies would chalk up against the
Belmont crack and the play was all for
the place horse. The race was merely
romp for Priscillian. Shackelton vas
a contender for most Of the way but he
was beaten out right at the finish by
Theo Cook which closed with a rush.
This was Priscillians seventh start
this season and its seventh vlctory1
Fourteen two-year-Olds started in the
second event and they made a prcty
race.
Light o. My Life, Western colt. was
served up as the real good thing in this
race. Every man, woman and child on
the track seemed to have the tip and
rush was male for the bookies the
minute the odds were marked up.
Light % My Life made good, and
brought home the bacon. The West
erner set the pace from the start, but
at the close was challenged by Cherry
Seed and in a drive Just managed to
squeeze home by a neck.
Light o. My Life ran a nice race at
Laurel Wednesday in the stake, and
finished a bang-up third under bung-
ling ride. Its showing then did not
escape the students of the dope for the
next time out.
The third race furnished another
winner which so far stood out as to
overshadow the field. Res
tigouche went to the post a / to % shot,
and the race, as the betting indicated,
was a walkover for the winner.
The Baltimore Club Cup was annexed
with great ease by Apache ridden by
Mr.. Tucker.
Bob" Taylors Ursa Major had a
backing, but would have
been an unusual horse to have beaten
Apache as they were weighted. UrSa
Major, a four-year-old, was carrying
1853, while Apache, a six-year-old. and
a pretty classy animal, had up fifteen
pounds less
AS it turned out, Apache won handiIy.