Happy 100th Birthday to an Old Rival ... · 1:58pm Mar 29th, 2017
Happy 100th Birthday to the mighty MAN O' WAR!!
Born March 29, 1917 
Man o' War "Big Red" a chestnut with a white star and stripe on his forehead. He was foaled at Nursery Stud near Lexington, Kentucky and was bred by August Belmont, Jr.
Sold to Samuel D. Riddle for $5,000 as a yearling, Man O’ War won 20 of 21 races in his life time. His only defeat came in the Stanford Memorial Stakes to the appropriately named Upset
Among his biggest wins were the Dwyer Stakes, the Travers Stakes, Withers Stakes, Futurity Stakes, Stuyvesant Handicap and the Jockey Club Stakes (now known as the Gold Cup).
American Champion 2-Yr-Old (1919)
American Champion 3-Yr-Old (1920)
American Horse of the Year (1920)
Leading Sire in North America (1926)
Inductee Racing Hall of Fame (1957)
At stud, he sired 64 stakes winners. He fathered American Flag and Crusader, consecutive winners of the Belmont Stakes in 1925 & 1926 along with Clyde Van Dusen, winner of the 1929 Kentucky Derby.
His best son on the track was War Admiral, our 1937 Triple Crown winner. Another son of Man O’ War was Hard Tack, sire of the great Seabiscuit. War Relic would be the best son of Man O’ War at stud and also the main source of the continuation of the male line to today.
War Relic would sire Battlefield, Relic and Missile but his most influential son would be Intent. Intent would sire Intentionally who would in turn sire In Reality. In Reality was the sire of Relaunch. Relaunch would sire Honor and Glory and the Breeder’s Cup classic winner Skywalker (sire of Bertrando) and Cees Tizzy (sire of Tiznow). Tiznow is the leading link to the sire line of the great Man o’ War
Man o' War was born a hundred years ago and many call him the greatest ever.
Will Harbut, best friend and groom of Man O’ War, said it best “He was da mostest hoss there ever was”.
Hold your strength till the barriers fly,
then close with the leaders eye to eye.
Thundering hooves and the mad jammed race,
blood in the nostrils, sweat in the... face.
And children, remember wherever you are,
you carry the blood of Man o' War.
- Anonymous
Shared from Whirlaway's Facebook page.
That horse is more of a man than I'll ever be.