The Rowe Memorial Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run between 1930 and 1954 at Bowie Race Track in Bowie, Maryland. A six furlong sprint run on dirt, the event was open to horses age three and older.
First run on April 5, 1930, the race was originally named to honor James Rowe, a widely respected trainer and future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee who had died in 1929. However, his son James Jr., who had successfully followed in his father's footsteps, died from a heart attack in 1931 at age forty-two and the race name would be shortened to the "Rowe Memorial" to honor both men.
Historical notes The inaugural James Rowe Memorial Handicap was won by Battleship, a son of the legendary Man o' War. He was bred and raced on the flat by Walter Salmon but who would sell the horse to Marion duPont Scott at the end of 1931. She had Battleship trained for steeplechase racing and in 1934 he won the American Grand National, the most important steeplechase event in the United States. Sent to race in England, in 1938 Battleship became only the second American-bred horse to ever win the world's most prestigious steeplechase race, the Grand National. A 1969 U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, through 2021 Battleship remains the only horse to have won both the American and English Grand Nationals.racingmuseum.org Hall of Fame Horses"
Following the United States government's imposition of World War II rationing, the restrictions saw all four Maryland tracks having to run their 1944 spring meets at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course. The April 12, 1944 Rowe Memorial, raced on a muddy track, was won by the increasingly powerful Calumet Farm stable with their colt Pensive who won by a head over runner-up Porter's Cap owned by Charles S. Howard of Seabiscuit fame. Pensive went on to win the May 6, 1944 Kentucky Derby and a week later, the May 13 Preakness Stakes.
The Rowe Memorial was run for the last time on April 17, 1954. For owner Constance Pistorio and her trainer J. Bowes Bond, it marked their third straight win of this event.
Records Speed record: 1:11.00 @ 6 furlongs: Tuscany (1952)
Most wins: 2 – Tuscany (1952, 1953)
Most wins by a jockey: 2 - Silvio Coucci (1934, 1935) 2 - Jack Westrope (1937, 1947) 2 - Nick Shuk (1953, 1954)
Most wins by a trainer: 3 - J. Bowes Bond (1952, 1953, 1954)
Most wins by an owner: 3 - Constance Pistorio (1952, 1953, 1954)
Winners Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer Owner Dist. (furlongs) Time Win$1954Brazen Brat6Nick ShukJ. Bowes BondConstance Pistorio6 f1:11.40$7,1001953Tuscany5Nick ShukJ. Bowes BondConstance Pistorio6 f1:11.00$7,7001952Tuscany4Sam BoulmetisJ. Bowes BondConstance Pistorio6 f1:11.60$7,4801951Call Over4Robert J. MartinEdward J. YowellBedford Stable6 f1:12.00$5,3951950The Pincher4Ronnie NashGeorge MohrHenry H. Hecht6 f1:11.80$6,2751949Nearway4Nunzio ParisoThomas H. Heard Jr.Claude C. Tanner6 f1:11.60$7,6001948Repand4Logan BatchellerJames J. RowanSylvester W. Labrot Jr.6 f1:13.80$8,1751947Scholarship5Jack WestropeKenneth L. W. Force Jr.George G. Gilbert Jr.6 f1:13.40$7,1751946Swiv6Arnold KirklandLeo G. O'DonnellHarold C. Genter6 f1:12.00$6,3751945Harford5Carson KirkPhillip BradyRuth McClanaghan6 f1:13.00$3,2001944Pensive3Conn McCrearyBen A. JonesCalumet Farm6 f1:15.00$6,3751943 Race not held1942Cape Cod4George WoolfRaymond B. ArcherGrover C. Greer Jr.6 f1:12.60$4,6001941Omission3Don MeadeJ. P. "Sammy" SmithVictor Emanuel6 f1:14.00$4,2251940Honey Cloud6Danny DriscollAlbert J. AbelDorothy Abel6 f1:11.80$4,1751939Rough Time5Hilton DabsonJ. Yancey ChristmasJ. Yancey Christmas6 f1:13.20$4,5751938Sun Egret3Alfred ShelhamerH. Guy BedwellA. C. Compton6 f1:13.80$4,2501937Mucho Gusto5Jack WestropeRobert F. CurranAraho Stable (Mr. & Mrs. Walter O'Hara)6 f1:13.60$4,1251936Bright Light3Harry RichardsJohn J. Greely Jr.Shandon Farm Stables (Patrick A. & Richard J. Nash)6 f1:14.00$2,7701935Good Harvest3Silvio CoucciHirsch JacobsB B Stable (Isidor Bieber)6 f1:13.80$2,5301934Soon Over3Silvio CoucciWilliam BrennanGreentree Stable6 f1:13.00$2,9001933 Race not held1932Towee3John BejshakJoseph H. StotlerSagamore Farm Stable6 f1:13.00$3,4801931Mynheer3Arthur RobertsonWilliam E. Caskey Jr.William E. Caskey Jr.7 f1:26.20$3,3901930Battleship3Louis SchaeferJohn R. "Jack" PryceWalter J. Salmon Sr.7 f1:27.00$3,380
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