A look back at the great Man o’ War
It was 100 years ago that the great race horse Man o’ War was foaled.
We tend to recognize meaningful anniversaries, and this one has as much pertinence now as ever.
The Kentucky Derby is coming up, so it’s a good time to remember that the horse many perceive as the best to ever step on a race track not only never won the sport’s penultimate race but wasn’t even entered in it.
And, much of
Man o’ War’s history took place right in our territory. He was purchased, for the bargain price of $5,000 at Saratoga’s yearling sales in 1918. He raced here five
times.
And, of course, it was at Saratoga where he suffered one of the greatest upsets in the history of the sport.
In fact, his loss resulted in a new description for a shocking defeat of a heavy favorite.
The word “upset” became part of our sporting lexicon when a colt of that name was the surprise winner of the 1919 Stanford Stakes, a race for 2-year olds.
By then, the horse that was known as “Big Red” already had six overwhelming victories on race tracks and was considered nothing less than the most-lopsided of surethings.
Instead, the Sanford was Man o’ War’s only defeat in his 21-race career, and came with considerable controversy.
It all comes to mind because the 100th anniversary of Man o War’s birth is being commemorated with a well-done display of his history and memorabilia at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs.
The museum is one of our area’s hidden gems, located on Union Avenue, directly across the street from our thoroughbred race course. While it’s not as all-encompassing as, say, baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the quality of what the racing museum does is as high as any other sport’s display of history.
Man o’ War’s nook area encompasses a couple of display cases, some wall space and a nicely done video presentation.
Admittedly, there isn’t a wealth of related memorabilia. There are a couple of horse shoes from his racing days, a pair of jockey silks, some photos and a well-done painting.
But, racing just doesn’t produce the material available from other sports, and whatever might have been used around Man o’ War nearly 100 years ago just wasn’t kept.
There is some, but, as one can imagine, there is next to no video from those days. However, there is enough for a 10-minute loop, much of it archival photographs superimposed with the words spoken about the big horse.
And, there is about a minute from his last appearance on the track, as high-quality a match race as there ever was, with Man o’ War going against Sir Barton, the Triple Crown winner of the previous year.
The clip doesn’t show the 1920 race in its entirety, but there’s enough of it there to see that Big Red pulled away without a problem, and was easing to the wire while winning by seven lengths.
Man o’ War probably would have duplicated Sir Barton’s Triple Crown success. He won the 1920 Preakness and Belmont.
But, he bypassed the Kentucky Derby, reportedly because his owner, Samuel Riddle, did not believe in racing at the 10-furlong distance so early in a young horse’s career. Instead, Man o’ War made his three-year-old debut in the Preakness Stakes where he defeated second-place finisher Upset by 1 ½ lengths.
Man o’ War later won the Belmont Stakes by 20 lengths while setting a world over the distance on a dirt track that stood for 71 years.
But, it’s the one loss that stands out in an otherwise perfect racing career, particularly in these parts.
The date was Aug. 13, 1919 and after six overpowering juvenile victories, Saratoga’s Sanford Memorial looked like just another routine run for the sport’s budding star.
Instead, what transpired was one of sport’s all-time greatest surprises, and one of its most controversial.
There are a number of theories about what happened. What is known is that there was no starting gate used in that era. Instead, horses lined up behind a rope that was dropped to signify the race’s start.
Saratoga’s regular starter was out sick that day, so an elderly replacement starter took over.
There are probably none still around who witnessed the race, but a family member, my wife’s uncle Toby Lyons, a long-time Troy City Councilman, was there.
Lyons, who passed away in the early 1990s, was about 20 years old and watched from Saratoga’s rail the day Man o’ War suffered his only loss. He was a great raconteur, and often related, to me, what he saw.
Lyons confirmed that the race’s start appeared to be unfair, that Man o’ War had his head turned when the starting rope dropped and that the field was off and running for several lengths before the favorite took his first stride.
With no chance of getting its accustomed early lead, Man o’ War attempted to rally but had traffic problems throughout and had to swing wide by several paths in the stretch in his attempt to run down Upset.
The final charts show Upset’s winning distance by half a length, and my uncle says it was even closer than that. Had the race gone a few more yards, Uncle Toby contended, Man o’ War would have prevailed.
“...Looking back across the years, I know now that Man o’ War was one horse which should’ve retired undefeated,” Upset’s jockey, Willie Knapp, has been quoted as saying. “Never was a horse like him. He could do anything — and do it better than any horse that ever lived.
“If I’d moved over half an eyelash that day at Saratoga, he’d have whipped me from here to Jaloppy and never had a losin’ scratch against his name. Sometimes, I’m sorry I didn’t do it.”
Instead, it was the perfect day for an “upset.” Man o’ War carried a significant amount of extra weight (15 pounds more than the winner), was the victim of both an unfair start and race-long traffic problems and, then, was boxed in during the stretch run until it was too late.
It remains one of racing’s most-memorable moments, and one of its most-controversial results.
And, now, it’s part of the story of one of the sport’s all-time greats being told with a nicely done display at the racing museum just a couple furlongs removed from where it all happened.