Cigar..one of the greatest horses to ever wear hair...and of course I must include Ghostzapper ( the best ever from 6f to 1/14) in that rare air who blew away and wired the greatest field ever assembled in the Breeders in 1:59 and change winning horse of the year over Smarty Jones in 2004.
Thanks! Great footage!. I knew, played with + loved Secretariat, was on the far turn at his Derby, but Man O War won by 100 lengths,never ran full out, only lost once due to his jockey. Never had a bad race. You can tell, like Secretariat, that he had presence + knew he was somebody, loved cameras.
My top five greatest racehorse's of all time no cap and doesn't matter the sex or DNA. .#1.dr.fager .#2.zenyatta. #3.rachelalexander.#3mano'war. #.4.bigred. .#.5.ruffian
To call her the best is a bit far fetched. Australian Mare "Black Caviar" between 2009 and her retirement 2013, won 25 straight without ever loosing a race. also Australian Mare "Winx" won 37 of 43 career starts, including, between May 2015 and her retirement in April 2019, her last 33 races in succession. "Zenyatta" the greatest? definitely debatable. Been a lot of great horses around the world.
And he raced on tracks that weren't improved as today's. He carried more weight than competitors. Can't compare his racing conditions to the efficiency of modern tracks. And more advanced food of today's horses. And medical care.
Zenyatta gets my bid for first and second. Her 2009 race was unbelievable but 2010 against an even more loaded field of males she made up 18 lengths behind from the backstretch and overcame being held up by Quality Road at the final turn and still was running Blame to the ground and would have passed him the next step past the wire and would have kept going! She beat every male she faced and just needed a better ride in 2010 to knock Blame out. I still feel sad as it was said Zenyatta seemed confused as she was led back to the paddock instead of the winners circle! She had never lost before in 20 races.
He will NEVER be less than the perfect animal God made. Carried 138 lbs Wore steel shoes not aluminum. Ran every three days in many outings NEVER truly extended himself in any race. Into the stretch of every race, his jockey would stand in the stirrups trying to slow him so not to embarrass his competition. His times in all his races never showed his real ability. Despite record times, Man O' War still was never let to run full out. The track today has been made for horses to run faster. Look it up. All that is TRUE.
Mine to, I also read that book. What they put him through no one can ever match him. People do these fake comparisons, without taking in account all the weight that was add on him. I don't like the horse racing or show horse industry because a lot of animals are sbused.abused. most of the greats of today are his great great etc. grand horses.
At least there are some old photos and awful film footage….mostly in retirement. There’s no film footage of him running down the length of a stretch …..only short snippets. Why didn’t anyone film him running an entire race or at least the stretch run? I know it was 1920 but they had the camera technology. I always found that odd. He was supposed to be the greatest race horse of the time, but no one thought to film him running over a distance? Always found that strange. I’ll bet someone has film footage like that but it’s sitting, locked away in a storage box. There has to be more then what’s here on RU-vid?
Man O' War and Secretariat were heads above any other race horses that ever lived. There will probably never be another horse as great as these two were. Big, Strong, and fast. Would have been amazing to have seen them race each other. I will never compare the two, as in my mind they were kindered spirits and both beautiful animals. Interesting they were both nicknamed "Big Red" I bet if you had been able to see them side by side, they would have been almost identicle.
Pure magnificence ❤ I'm also happy to notice, that in most images I've ever seen of Big Red, whether still photos or motion picture / film... the owner / trainer/ whoever made such decisions, seem(s) to have found a simple bit such as a snaffle bit, perfectly effective. No need for any more painful, harsh type of bit
You’ll also notice he never, ever needed special equipment in any race. No blinkers, no shadow roll, not a single bandage, not even a nose strap! Pure racing machine, all about running, no extra control needed.
ManO'War was a great horse, but how does anyone dare to say he was better than the great Secretariet who holds the track record in ALL THREE Triple Crown races FIFTY YEARS ON!! In a side by side comparison of Secretariet vs ManO'War, Secretariet beat ManO'War in every catagory!! CASE CLOSED!
No, not case closed. It IS hard to compare very different eras, (was printed in articles in 1920 also) but note it is also hard to compare daily on different tracks. Hence Beyer Speed figures, etc. so your times don’t mean much in direct comparison…and MOW has faster times in a few, if you want to use that argument. MOW is probably the greatest record-setter ever. When he finished 1920, he was on the American Record list 5x. Before him, that hadn’t happened even more than 2x. Sec was only at best on the American (Dirt -strictly qualified by surface, MOW was not) 2x. I doubt any other horse has had more than 3x on the list but I’d have to check. Also, MOW was on the American record list STILL for 1973. And, interesting note about Belmont: almost every single distance track record from sprints through 1-1/2 miles was broken and also tied in 1973 itself. Amazing.
Perennial argument. I think MOW was the greater, definitely more consistent and even set a record of time records! Sec did not break records quite the level that MOW did. Certainly MOW did not need any special equipment to run, either. In the pure sense MOW beats Sec, most of the time.
I hate doing this on many other comments section I have explained in depth & detail of the Great Champions of the late 60's & 70's I was personally around them Secretariat (never a fan) Forego RUFFIAN Seattle Slew ALYDAR Affirmed Spectacular Bid All Along Fort Marcy Key to the Mint etc all great Champions BUT! there was & is only one LEGEND (allow me to say a gift from GOD ALMIGHTY) that Legend is MAN O' WAR None his equal I know you are hooked on the above as I was until I moved to Saratoga and did research NOBODY and I mean NOBODY ever came close besides a LEGEND you can honestly say HE was IMMORTAL
Actually MOW was very square, had huge forward-placed shoulders and big yet thin hips. He even naturally held his head straight up unlike any horse besides his sire. Secretariat built more like a quarter horse, very beefy and a bit long.
Man o War....... The absolute greatest race horse there ever was....bar none. There will NEVER be another like him........A streaking comet from the heavens he was in all his glory and our amazement
Dave is to Dave fans as Christ is to Christians. He can sing like shit, dress like a hobo that raided the dumpster of a thrift store, dance a soft shoe, and they still want to worship him. Plus he stops every show to yell at the audience like he’s a tough guy. Sammy fans on the other hand will say that Dave was good back in his day, but they prefer Sam. It’s night and day between the fan groups. One is oddly a bunch a zealots. The other are rock fans that like both, but prefer the other. I have no idea how you can see Dave’s late performances and think “He’s still got it!!!”. The VH’s were desperate at the end. Sad thing for one of the best rock bands ever, that had the best guitarist, and arguably the best drummer.
I have said this many times before...say what ya want about Dave, he is over the top , he is ALWAYS ON and blah blah blah. He is also a HUGE REASON Van Halen was able to attain superstars. His antics, showmanship, fronting and melodies were a beyond HUGE contribution. The Mighty EVH was otherworldly and Dave was the icing. R.I.P. Edward Van Halen
@@jackbell5206 Those are track records (one, very retroactively). It's great, don't get me wrong. But it's not the end-all be-all (specifically his Belmont, which invariably is the only thing mentioned in quickie comments on the horse). MOW summary for 1 season of 11 starts: 1 ETR, 2 NTR, 2 NAR, and 3 NWR. Sec 1 year of 12 starts: 1 ETR, 3 NTR (1 retro), 1 EWR, and 1 NWR-dirt only (retro; not recognized so in '73, just as American dirt). MOW was still on the American dirt record list in '73. MOW also was 5x on the (unqualified) American time records list by his last race 1920. A feat rarely if ever done in history.
@@theOlLineRebel I'm not discounting MOW, there's no doubt he was a great horse but statistics mean little, otherwise betting would be a sure thing. I have my favorite and you have yours and nothing will ever be proven without an actual race, and obviously that will never happen.
@@jackbell5206 Definitely can agree with you on that. (Except "statistics" include data points such as the times of races.) We all have our opinions; I just happen to think MOW would win most of the time, any given (dirt) race. There is no doubt Secretariat is way up there. Funny how we really only argue who is the very greatest, out of all this hundreds of seriously great horses.
Is that actually MOW? He didn’t even have nose straps from what I recall. As it is, the jock is definitely not in the Riddle colors. Not even close to mistake. It could be one of his jockeys saying hello to him, but I am not sure the horse is even MOW (kind of like that “foal” photo, which clearly the man is from the ‘40s, not the teens).
Oh come on Zenyatta’s 2009 win is the greatest ever! Last to first, she came from double digits back, only mare to win the classic. Alphabet Soup upsetting Cigar that has to make the top 10
Many of these horses and editions of the BC are legendary, but the only one I watched live on TV was Zenyatta coming up short by a head to Blame. You can literally hear people screaming like the world was coming to an end in the stands as Zenyatta was trying to close the gap with Blame down the stretch after being 18 lengths behind early in the race. I was huge fan of Zenyatta and always will be...and this is her greatest race she ever ran even after being unbeaten in the first 19 of her career.