Walter Farley's (admittedly partially fictionalized) book "Man o' War" is a really good book. Farley was the author of the Black Stallion books, which eventually became a movie.
The footage of jockey (looks like Johnny Loftus), holding the head of horse is not of Man o’ War. Wrong silks, wrong markings on horse. I know the History Channel’s “History of Horse Racing” documentary used that footage, but they were wrong (which is frustrating because it’s great footage😩). I’ve seen a few photos floating around in fandom, too, credited as Man o’ War but are not of him. People forget how big a deal he was in pop culture, for a good 50 years. People would sell fake souvenirs of him - label a pic of a chestnut horse as Man O’ War & sell it, and now these fakes are circulating among collectors. It’s frustrating for those of us who love Red & want to keep his memory & story alive & with accuracy.
Excellent point! Never thought of that aspect of bogus things sold as MOW items in the early days. (How about that “foal photo”? The guy with him is clearly the wrong era.). I don’t know if that is Loftus but he was banished by 1920, so I doubt it. Film was not common for tracks yet. The silks DEFINITELY not Riddle, and while I can’t be sure of the horse himself, the bridle makes me doubt it. I never noticed MOW having anything but a plain leather bridle. Looks to me the bridle here is decorated to look like the silks, which would definitely be wrong if so.
@@theOlLineRebel yes, filming races was not common, but Man o’ War was not a common horse and film was still a new craze, so any excuse to film…😁 But that footage is definitely not Red. The horse doesn’t even have the narrow, broken stripe. Seems like the jockey is Earl Sande.
It irritates me when it isn't mentioned that War Admiral was the Biscuit's uncle. Seabiscuit's father was Hard Tack, a son of Man O War. The fact that Seabiscuit beat War Admiral shouldn't be too surprising.
Man O’ War may be the best ever, but Sir Barton was struggling with his chronic hoof problems at the time of that race. Supposedly War Admiral was also having some minor issues at the time of his race with Seabiscuit, but Riddle felt pressured to run him anyway because of the build up. The same thing happened with Swaps at the time of his race with Nashua. Match races seem to get won by the healthier horse.
Note to channel administrator(s ): for some reason...and this glitch might only be temporary??? but this video re MoW , won't let me mark the "like" icon, nor did the quantity of " like " voters change , when I pressed the icon.... ( April 21, 2023, 7 am E Coast time)
My older brother is Secretariat's biggest fan. Man O'War was my childhood hero. We've had many discussions about Big Red and the "other" Big Red. It's really hard to compare them, because of the big advances in equipment, the invention of the starting gate, and track surfaces.
