One week after Cormac won the Grand National over Pine Pep, the two W. Burling “Burley” Cocks trainees lined up to battle it out at the Maryland Hunt Cup. 

 

Cormac, owned and ridden by 16-year-old McDonogh School student Gene Weymouth, had the lead after 20 of the 22 fences, but stopped with a severely cut tendon before reaching the 21st. Pine Pep, carrying the colors of Mrs. William J. Clothier of Philadelphia and winner of the My Lady’s Manor a few weeks earlier, flew home with plenty to spare under top timber rider D. Michael “Mikey” Smithwick.

Pine Pep proved a worthy Hunt Cup champion when adding the 1950 and 1952 runnings to become the third horse to retire the race’s challenge cup. Cormac’s freak accident was caused by a broken beer bottle found in the tanbark fill that covered the road crossing. The 6-year-old, one of the few entire horses to compete in the Hunt Cup, was saved for stud duty and became a major sire in the sport (see 50 years ago).

Bowie’s successful 12-day early spring meet included an impressive performance by Taylor Leatherbury’s 2-year-old Roman colt Eastern Flyway in the Bowie Kindergarten. 

Purchased by Leatherbury the previous fall at Keeneland for $9,500, Eastern Flyway raced four seasons, won nine times and earned $26,020. He retired to his owner’s Craftwell Farm in Shady Side, Md., where he sired two foals before dying from forage poisoning. Both foals were winners, led by stakes winner Eastern Hobo, trained late in his career by the breeder’s young son, King T. Leatherbury.