“Racing stable replaces Romper Room for Nancy and Bert Claster” was the headline, as the Clasters’ stable, trained by Charlie Lewis, continued to grow. It was a new venture for the Baltimore couple, who in the early 1950s “decided that a good educational program for preschoolers was needed,” created Romper Room with the ever-enthusiastic nursery school teacher “Miss Nancy,” and saw it catch on with young children. 

After going to the tracks for many years, the couple bought their first racehorse, 3-year-old filly Wear a Red Rose, for $4,000 in 1972, and watched her win six of her first eight starts. In 1973, the Clasters won their first stakes with Mountain Eagle, a horse they claimed at Pimlico. 

“Just owning our own horses has been a lot of fun for us,” said Bert Claster. “We’ve always worked together and now we have a sport we can enjoy together.”

• Hurdle champion Tuscalee enjoyed a new life in the hunting field after a steeplechase career. Considered a small horse for steeplechase racing – the Maryland-bred was an even 16 hands and weighed 1,000 pounds – Tuscalee was ridden in 80 percent of his races by Joe Aitcheson Jr., started 80 times, won 37 races, earned $129,022, and was hurdle division champion in 1964, brush division champion in 1966 and 1970, hurdle and brush champion in 1971, and steeplechase Horse of the Year in 1966. Alfred H. Smith Sr.’s 14-year-old homebred champion was being foxhunted by the owner’s 13-year-old granddaughter Joy Ketts.
  
  “He is a different horse now, loves the children and has a whole new way of life,” Smith said.
  
  Tuscalee, who set steeplechase records for the most wins in a single year (10) and career (37), was inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame in 2013.
  
• Maryland-bred Preakness winner Bee Bee Bee was retired and sold by owner Will Farish to Japanese interests to stand at stud. The 5-year-old son of Better Bee became the seventh Maryland-bred to win Maryland’s classic when taking the 1972 running over a sloppy track.