The Pimlico Cup Handicap was an American horse race for Thoroughbreds run between 1919 and 1961 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. A long-distance race on dirt for stayers age three an older, twenty-three of its twenty-five runnings were run at more than two miles.
Historical notes Future U. S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Exterminator won the first three runnings of the Pimlico Cup beginning with the inaugural edition on November 13, 1919.
The race of November 15, 1924, won by Altawood, was run in a snowstorm so heavy at times that the horses were barely visible and the colors undistinguishable.
The Pimlico Cup was not run from 1931 through 1943 as a result of cutbacks necessitated by the Great Depression. Restarting was delayed further by the December 1941 entry of the United States into World War II. On its return in 1944, Megogo set a new track record for miles with a time of 4:20 1/5.
In 1947 the filly Miss Grillo, trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Horatio Luro and owned by the Mill River Stable of Josephine Douglas, won the mile Pimlico Cup by forty lengths. Nearing the finish, Jockey Conn McCreary eased Miss Grillo then stood up in the stirrups and waved to the crowd. The next year Miss Grillo won the race again for Josephine Douglas. Her winning time of 4:14 3/5 broke the world record for miles by two seconds, a record which had stood for twenty-six years.
Pilaster won the November 12, 1949, edition of the Pimlico Cup running temporarily under the name of trainer Frank Bonsal because owner Henry Lobe Straus had died in an October 25 airplane crash.
Wise Margin's time of 3:37 flat in his 1956 win broke the track record for two miles and a sixteenth. Four years later Beau Diable broke Wise Margin's record when winning the 1960 Pimlico Cup in 3:35 3/5.
The final running of the Pimlico Cup took place on December 9, 1961, on a racetrack covered with snow. It was won by Sunshine Cake owned by Bayard Sharp, a founding director of Delaware Park Racetrack and a former president of The Blood-Horse Inc.
Records Speed record: 3:52.20 @ miles : Edith Cavell 4:14.60 @ miles : Miss Grillo
Most wins: 3 - Exterminator (1919, 1920, 1921)
Most wins by a jockey: 2 - Conn McCreary (1947, 1948) 2 - Nick Shuk (1951, 1956) 2 - Karl Korte (1958, 1959)
Most wins by a trainer: 3 - Horatio Luro (1946, 1947, 1948)
Most wins by an owner: 3 - Willis Sharpe Kilmer (1919, 1920, 1921)
Winners Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer Owner Dist. (Miles) Time Win$1961Sunshine Cake3Tommy LeeCharles PeoplesBayard Sharp23:38.80$6,9551960Beau Diable7Steve BrooksGeorge P. "Maje" OdomLaudy L. Lawrence23:35.60$13,6461959Cross Channel5Karl KorteEdward A. ChristmasHowell E. Jackson III12:33.40$7,7031958Cross Channel4Karl KorteEdward A. ChristmasHowell E. Jackson III12:11.20$7,146 1957 Race not held1956Wise Margin6Nick ShukSam N. EdmundsonSamuel Tufano23:37.00$9,6001952 - 1955 Race not held1951Pilaster7Nick ShukFrank A. BonsalMrs. Henry Lobe Straus24:29.40$20,3251950Double Brandy4Frank BoneNorval L. SchwartzC. Ewing Tuttle24:24.00$11,0251949Pilaster5Carson KirkFrank A. BonsalFrank A. Bonsal24:20.00$11,2251948Miss Grillo6Conn McCrearyHoratio LuroMill River Stable24:14.60$20,7501947Miss Grillo5Conn McCrearyHoratio LuroMill River Stable24:29.80$19,2001946Rico Monte4Ruperto DonosoHoratio LuroW. Arnold Hanger24:25.20$23,3501945Stymie4Robert PermaneHirsch JacobsEthel D. Jacobs24:35.20$21,6001944Megogo3Kenneth ScawthorneJohn A. HealeyChristiana Stables24:20.20$22,0501931 - 1943 Race not held1930Mirbat5Willie CannonJames W. HealyEdward R. Bradley24:04.40$9,0251929Diavolo4James H. BurkeJames E. FitzsimmonsWheatley Stable23:54.80$9,0501928Edith Cavell5Alfred RobertsonScott HarlanWalter M. Jeffords Sr.23:53.00$9,5251927Display4John MaibenThomas J. HealeyWalter J. Salmon Sr.23:56.20$8,8251926Edith Cavell3Ovila BourassaScott HarlanWalter M. Jeffords Sr.23:52.20$8,3251925Rockminister6James WallaceS. Miller HendersonAudley Farm Stable23:58.00$8,9001924Altawood3Ivan H. ParkeG. Hamilton KeeneJoseph E. Widener23:57.00$7,9501923Hephaistos4John Callahan Frank E. BrownFrank E. Brown23:58.60$6,9501922Captain Alcock5Linus McAteeJames E. FitzsimmonsQuincy Stable23:53.40$7,1001921Exterminator6Albert JohnsonWillie KnappWillis Sharpe Kilmer24:08.20$6,8001920Exterminator5Lavelle EnsorWilliam L. McDanielWillis Sharpe Kilmer23:53.00$7,1001919Exterminator4Clarence KummerHenry McDanielWillis Sharpe Kilmer24:13.00$3,450
External links Story & photos of Miss Grillo's 1947 and 1948 Pimlico Cup Wins
References