Ward of the Youngstown Vindicator newspaper, devoted a considerable amount of space in his May 7, 1943 sports column to addressing this aspect.

Ward continued, saying that Burnt Cork met all Kentucky Derby requirements for inclusion in 1943 and that there were no complaints at all from those who had also entered their horses in the race.

[12][13] As a 2-year-old, an $800 yearling purchase at Saratoga, Burnt Cork won the $5,000 Prairie State Stakes at Washington Park Race Track in Chicago, Illinois, on September 5, 1942.

[15] Burnt Cork ranked behind Count Fleet in Jack Campbell's Experimental Handicap list of top juvenile thoroughbreds of 1942.

Back during the November 8, 1942 show Jack Benny's character had bought a horse named Leona from Andy Devine in response to World War II gasoline rationing.