13.7
Man o' War: Greatest Racehorse - Category 52
stoked to snag this
beast here before top 20 lists are researched (i know the ponies are not very popular these days)
let's get this out the way - industry cred: Blood Horse, the AP, Sports Illustrated, ESPN -
all voted this cat as the greatest thoroughbred of the 20th Century.
ESPN ranked him #84 in their greatest athletes of the 20th Century poll.
he did it in sprints and routes - carrying extra weight (handicap), and ringing that register - 19 Stakes wins, turning it on when it mattered most.
he was the Babe Ruth of horseracing, even sharing "Male Athlete of the Year" in 1920 with the Bambino, himself. he was most instrumental in catapulting the game right up there alongside boxing as the #2 sport in America (baseball was king).
he was so awe inspiring and legendary that his only loss would result in two phrases still used today: Saratoga dubbed "Graveyard of Champions", as his only loss was in the 1919 Sanford Stakes up there ... the horse who beat him was named UPSET - forever etching that description of an underdog beating the odds (btw, UPSET broke the existing record by 2 full seconds that day, an otherworldly performance, lest the great one would've been undefeated).
this was the first great star of the era, ushering in a golden age for the sport.
lifetime record of 20-1, and that "upset" was by roughly a neck, by a horse who obliterated a record. his owner refused to saddle him after his 3 yr old campaign due to the ridiculous handicaps he was gonna have to carry - he actually cared about the animal, and also held him outta the 1920 Kentucky Derby for safety concerns, even though the great Man o' War was by far the best horse on the planet.
he did go on to take both the 1920 Preakness and Belmont (by 20 lengths) - he continued to dominate his remaining 3vyr old season, setting records and banking more coin than any horse previously. he ran 11 times as a 3 year old, which is unheard of these days. he won the Travers on 8/21, then returned two weeks later to deliver the greatest performance in history, taking down the Lawrence Realization Stakes by OVER ONE HUNDRED LENGTHS against the only other entrant - broke the 1 5/8th record that day by a full 1 3/5th seconds ... that time would stand for some 40 years. matter of fact, he ran three races in a 14 day span that September of '20, starting with the Lawrence ... he followed that up ONE WEEK later with another record setting win in the Jockey Gold Cup, and followed
that one up one week later with another record setting win in the Potomac Handicap (he even had to ship to Maryland for that, no problem!) - this is the greatest 2 weeks a horse has ever had, and, the way the modern game is, will EVER have.
his last outing was a match race against 4 yr old powerhouse Sir Barton, who won the Triple Crown in 1919 - this was the talk of the sports world, and captured National headlines - also the first race ever to be filmed start to finish.
Man o' War dusted the champ by a cool 7 lengths - ending his career on the most awesome note possible.
his time at stud helped establish classic pedigree, with a great deal on the broodmare side ... his line is nothing short of the river that ran through what would become modern racing.
@Zow