Mrs. H.M. Warner’s King Rhymer, a 2-year-old from the first crop of Mrs. S.M. Pistorio’s Maryland-based The Rhymer, set a world record of 32 seconds for three furlongs at Santa Anita in February, as he clipped three-fifths of a second off the old record.

• The Board of Directors of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of the United States unanimously approved the lip tattooing brand method of identifying horses, requiring in 1948 that each Thoroughbred be tattooed before it would be permitted to race on a TRA track.
  Developed by the U.S. Army and advanced by Spencer J. Drayton’s Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, the lip tattoo was developed as the final answer in protecting racing against horse substitution or “ringer” cases.
  
  
• The Maryland Jockey Club purchased controlling interest in Laurel racetrack. At the time of the sale, former president of Pimlico Henry A. Parr, stated that Pimlico’s officials felt that Laurel was a good investment and that there was no intention of eliminating Pimlico from the group of four major courses in the state.
  
  The purchase of Laurel was speculated to be an “insurance” policy in the event that Pimlico would be unable to complete a deal for the property it leased in Baltimore, as the lease was set to expire in 1949. In that case, the Maryland Jockey Club could shift its meetings to Laurel while a new site for Pimlico was sought or while building was in progress.