James F. Byrnes, director of War Mobilization, called for racing to cease across the country Jan. 3. Reporting from Florida, Don Reed wrote: “To say that this was a shock to the hundreds of horsemen in this area is putting it mildly. Apparently, there had been no warning to the leaders of the sport, for everyone down here was caught flatfooted when the news came over the press wires.”

Reed continued: “Everyone agreed that if the war effort was to be helped or that closing of the sport would shorten the war by even a single day, then racing should be ready and willing to make the sacrifice, even though it meant personal hardships for many of the owners and trainers.”

Racing resumed in May, just after the cele-bration of V-E Day, May 8.

• William Brann’s *Challenger II became the first Maryland sire to lead the nation by 2-year-old winners, with 15 from a crop of 31 registered foals. The Glade Valley stallion also recorded his seventh consecutive title as Maryland’s leading sire of year, with progeny earnings of nearly $340,000, edging Sagamore Farm’s Discovery by less than $5,000. The Glade Valley stallion once again appeared on the cover of
  The Maryland Horse.
  
  
• Christiana Stable’s 3-year-old Megogo, sent out by trainer John A. Healey, won the 21⁄2-mile Pimlico Cup in an easy gallop. The race was “revived after a dozen years’ lapse. . . now at the true cup distance,” noted Humphrey S. Finney. Megogo was a son of “the sprinting Menow from Negoporte, by *Negofol, whence the stamina exhibited at Pimlico.”