NOT FOR A MILLION DOLLARS

When Man o’ War was well into his retirement, Hollywood film mogul Louis B. Mayer offered Samuel D. Riddle $1,000,000 for the stallion. “The price of $1,000,000 far exceeds anything that ever has been offered for a race horse or a sire in the history of the American or English turf,” wrote The Chicago Tribune on January 12, 1939.

But Riddle turned the offer down flat. “I don’t know what Mr. Mayer wanted with Man o’ War, but I thought he might want to use him in pictures. And I would not want that. They would not know how to treat this old fellow. He is happy and contented where he is, and that is the way I want it,” Riddle said, as quoted in the Tribune.

The Tribune also reported that Riddle considered Man o’ War “as he would a member of his family”: “I have made a trust fund for Man o’ War,” Riddle said. “In the event Mrs. Riddle and myself go before him, he will continue to have the same care he has been accustomed to so long as he lives. We all love him. He will never leave our care.”