... Final Part of a Two-Part Series ...
Photos provided.
THE ROAD TO IMMORTALITY
It was the dawn of the Roaring Twenties and this beast was ready to roar. This was a decade to remember in the sports world. Major League Baseball found its greatest hero in one George Herman “Babe” Ruth. Not to be outdone, professional boxing saw the rise of the immensely popular Jack Dempsey. An American Indian, Jim Thorpe excelled in a myriad of sports. So talented, he was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century.
Horse racing was not to be outdone. Man O’ War was ready to embark on an unprecedented assault of the record books. He was about to become a very big star. After a seven month layoff, “Big Red” made his first start as a three-year-old in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. He was an easy winner there. Then it was on to Belmont Park, where he set a track record for a mile in a tightener for the Belmont Stakes. It was here that his run of Herculean efforts began. He took the Belmont by an astounding twenty lengths, breaking the world’s record for the mile and three eighths event. A little-known fact: The final leg of the Triple Crown was not contested at a mile and a half until 1926. Only one other colt was entered in the race. This would become typical for the rest of his career.
In his final nine starts Man O’ War’s competition was a mere thirteen entrants. In six of those races, as with the Belmont, he faced only one opponent. The bookmakers that made the odds long before pari-mutuel wagering, knew how special he was. Unheard of odds were offered on him. He was made a one-to-one hundred favorite in two of his races. This meant that you would need to bet one hundred dollars to win one. He drew massive crowds whereever he raced. Thirty-five thousand showed up to see him win the Miller Stakes here at Saratoga. Two weeks later the attendance for the Travers was so large that the infield was open to accommodate the overflowing crowd. One must remember this was a time long before the Northway. The automobile was in its infancy. Yet he drew crowds reserved for the great Secretariat a half of century later.
Man O’ War was now a household name. He won the Lawrence Realization at Belmont that fall by an astounding one hundred lengths. In so doing he shattered the track record by almost seven full seconds. Back on the same surface he took New York racing’s most important event, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and a new course record for two miles. Trainer Louis Feustel then sent the big horse south to Maryland, where at the fabled Havre De Grace racetrack he easily set a new track mark for a mile and a sixteenth, carrying a crushing load of 138 pounds. It was to be his last race here in the states.
In October he met Sir Barton, winner of the 1919 Triple Crown in a match race at Canada’s Kenilworth Park. Sir Barton had seen better days. He was no match for the greatest thoroughbred on the planet. Man O’ War never looked back, demolishing the existing track record for the one and a quarter mile distance. A stunning gold trophy crafted by Tiffany’s was presented to Sam Riddle for winning the race.
Of interest to Saratoga horse race fans…
The Man O’ War cup as it became known was donated in 1936 to be used as the permanent Travers Stakes trophy. This treasure is kept here at the National Museum of Racing. It is a fitting tribute. Six of his twenty-one starts were contested here. Add to that a track record of 2:01.3 when he romped in the 1920 Travers. That mark held for forty-two years, when it was finally broken in the famous Jaipur Ridan duel in 1962.
Man O ‘War was retired at the end of his three-year-old campaign. His connections were aware that the weight that would be assigned to him as a four-year-old would be astronomical. They thought, and rightfully so that it would not be fair for the horse to be burdened in this manner. Besides, what was left to prove. He had done it all. In eight of his last ten races he had decimated existing track and world’s records by incredible margins. So, it was off to Kentucky and the good life. It was here in 1934 that he sired his greatest offspring War Admiral. This guy would make his father proud.
In 1937, he won horse racing’s Triple Crown and stands high on the list of America’s premier thoroughbred race horses. Man O’ War died in 1947 at the age of thirty. It would be hard to find a quote that sums up his life better than this one. His longtime groom and caretaker Will Harbet had these poetic words to say about him.
“The mostest horse that ever was.” The immortal Man O’ War!
Man o’ War 1949 Owners version of the Man O’ War Cup.
