It was an all-Pennsylvania triumph when Jester's Moon, an 8-year-old bay gelding owned by Mrs. John Strawbridge Jr. of Paoli, won the Maryland Hunt Cup in his first attempt. His rider, Bill Dixon, hailed from Newtown Square and trainer Don Jacobs from Valley Forge.

The favorite, Mrs. William J. Clothier's 11-year-old Pine Pep, was seeking to retire the challenge trophy with a third straight victory, but tripped over a fallen runner after taking the 11th fence and was eliminated. On the previous two weekends, he had won the Grand National and My Lady's Manor "practically as he pleased."

It was the time first since the 1949 Grand National that the Pine Pep-Smithwick combination lost in Maryland.

Maryland-bred Pine Pep retired the trophy the next year with Smithwick up.

Delaware Park increased the New Castle Handicap to $50,000 added, making it one of the richest filly and mare races in the world, according to an announcement from Donald P. Ross, president of the track. There are only two other $50,000 races in America for mares and fillies: the Beldame at Aqueduct in the fall, and the Santa Margarita at Santa Anita in February.

So that the New Castle would truly be of championship caliber, the distance was revised upward from 11⁄16 miles to 11⁄4 miles.

West Virginia's new mile track, Waterford Park, was set to open in May near Chester, along the banks of the Ohio River, with Marylanders expected to play an important role. "Not only is the beautiful plant, and youngest in America, maintained by a one-time Marylander, Al J. Boyle . . . it will draw heavily from the Free State for officials, owners, trainers, jockeys and Maryland-bred horses."

Sold and renamed Mountaineer Park in 1987, it was the first racetrack in the U.S. to install slot machines in 1994. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in December 2002.