Pimlico’s rebuilt race course proved to be extremely fast during the fall meet and a number of track records – and one world record – were set during the 13-day span.

The world mark went to Mill River Stable’s Miss Grillo, who toured 2 1⁄2 miles in 4:14 3⁄5. Maryland Horse Breeders Association president Henry Straus’ homebred Pilaster set two track marks, one of 2:55 3⁄5 for 1 5⁄8 miles in the Gov. Bowie and one of 3:39 2⁄5 for 2 1⁄16 miles in the Exterminator Handicap. The latter was all the more remarkable because the race was run on a muddy oval. 

Pilaster, a 4-year-old gelding by Pilate, rang up five stakes victories during Maryland’s fall racing season. 

It was a breakout year for Pilaster, who would go on to win 14 stakes while racing through age 9.

• Three of Maryland’s most prominent racing stables were spreading out across the country for the winter – Alfred Vanderbilt’s Sagamore string to Santa Anita in California; S.W. Labrot Jr.’s headed to the Fair Grounds in New Orleans; and the Bobanet Stable of R. Bruce Livie racing in Florida. 
  
  
• Maryland-bred Scattered was picked third of all 3-year-old fillies in the Daily Racing Form’s best horse polls, behind Miss Request and Bewitch. That she ever made it to the races was a miracle.
  Foaled at Mrs. Charles W. Williams’ Stadacona Farm, Scattered experienced internal hemorrhages as a yearling. It was reported: “[She] spent most of one day lying flat on the floor of her stall, with two or three veterinarians pumping glucose and what-not into her. Several times her pulse stopped, and the vets would have stopped too, except that she was by Whirlaway from the fine mare Imperatrice.”
  Scattered was Imperatrice’s second foal, and first of the mare’s six stakes winners. In 1973, the year Secretariat (out of Scat­tered’s winless half-sister Something­royal) won the Triple Crown – Scattered’s great-grandson, Quarter Horse legend Dash for Cash, was born.
  
  
• Alfred Vanderbilt’s creativity was again evident following the release of Sagamore Farm’s annual list of yearling names. Among the gems: Jam (Impound—Cherry Orchard), Bed o’ Roses (Rosemont—Good Thing) and Next Move (Bull Lea—Now What).
  Maryland-bred Jam was the nation’s champion steeplechaser of 1952. Next Move and Bed o’ Roses, both foaled in California when their dams were bred to *Beau Pere and *Alibhai, respectively, dominated the female divisional ranks from 1949 through 1952.
  
  
• Maryland’s fall sales market was down, but in line with the national trend. “A lot of horses were being sent down the drain pipe, but whenever anything with a touch of class or promise showed up it got attention. Many of the animals sold were on their way out of the Thoroughbred breeding picture.” For the first time the Maryland auctions were under the direction of the Fasig-Tipton Company of New York. George Swinebroad officiated as auctioneer “in his usual crisp style” with Milton Dance Jr. occasionally stepping in to give him a rest. Dance’s “startling ability to pump out a steady stream of ‘the chant’ while hardly drawing breath enough to shoo a fly drew a round of brisk, spontaneous applause.”
  
  
• The Grayson Foundation compiled reports in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania regarding prevention and control of future threats of what was known as “swamp fever” and the setting up of a project to fight equine influenza. The Grayson Foundation was organized in 1940 and operated on funds provided by tracks, owners and others interested in Thoroughbred horses.