Editing Man o' War (section)

{{short description|American Thoroughbred racehorse}}
{{About|the horse named Man o' War|other uses|Man o' war (disambiguation){{!}}Man o' war}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox racehorse
| horsename=Man o' War 
| image = [[File:Manowar1920.jpg|250px]]
| caption = Man o' War, 1920
| sire = [[Fair Play (horse)|Fair Play]]
| grandsire = [[Hastings (horse)|Hastings]]
| dam = [[Mahubah]]
| damsire = [[Rock Sand (horse)|Rock Sand]]
| sex = [[Stallion (horse)|Stallion]]
| foaled = March 29, 1917<br />Nursery Stud,<br />[[Lexington, Kentucky]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1947|11|1|1917|3|29}}
| country = United States
| color = [[Chestnut (coat)|Chestnut]]
| breeder = [[August Belmont Jr.]]
| owner = [[Samuel D. Riddle]]
| trainer = [[Louis Feustel]]
| record = 21: 20–1–0
| earnings= $249,465
| race = [[Keene Memorial Stakes]] (1919)<br />[[Tremont Stakes]] (1919)<br />[[United States Hotel Stakes]] (1919)<br />[[Youthful Stakes]] (1919)<br />[[Grand Union Hotel Stakes]] (1919)<br />[[Hopeful Stakes (United States)|Hopeful Stakes]] (1919)<br />[[Hudson Stakes]] (1919)<br />[[Belmont Futurity Stakes|Futurity Stakes]] (1919)<br />[[Withers Stakes]] (1920)<br />[[Stuyvesant Handicap]] (1920)<br />[[Dwyer Stakes]] (1920)<br />[[Kenner Stakes|Miller Stakes]] (1920)<br />[[Travers Stakes]] (1920)<br />[[Lawrence Realization Stakes]] (1920)<br />[[Jockey Club Gold Cup]] (1920)<br />[[Potomac Handicap]] (1920)<br />[[Kenilworth Park Gold Cup]] (1920)
<p>
'''[[United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|Triple Crown]] wins:'''<br />'''[[Preakness Stakes]]''' (1920)<br />'''[[Belmont Stakes]]''' (1920)</p>
| awards= [[American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt]] (1919)<br />[[American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse]] (1920)<br />[[American Horse of the Year]] (1920)<br />[[Leading sire in North America]] (1926)
| honors = [[National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame|U.S. Racing Hall of Fame]] (1957)<br />[[Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame]] (2020)<br/>[[Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century|#1 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century]]<ref name="secretariat">{{cite news | url=http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/sports/Horse-of-the-Century-Man-o-War-vs-Secretariat-201932431.html | work=nbcbayarea.com | first=Scott | last=Ross | title=Horse of the Century: Man o' War vs. Secretariat | date=April 18, 2013}}</ref><br />[[Statue|Life-size statue]] at [[Kentucky Horse Park]]<br />[[Man O' War Stakes|Man o' War Stakes]] at [[Belmont Park]]<br />[[Man o' War Boulevard]] in [[Lexington, Kentucky]]
}}
'''Man o' War''' (March 29, 1917 – November 1, 1947) was an American [[Thoroughbred]] [[horse racing|racehorse]] who is widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. Several sports publications, including ''[[The Blood-Horse]]'', ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'', and the [[Associated Press]], voted Man o' War as the best American racehorse of the 20th century. During his racing career, just after [[World War I]], Man o' War won 20 of 21 races and $249,465 ({{Inflation|US|249465|1920|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) in purses. He was the unofficial 1920 American horse of the year and was honored with [[Babe Ruth]] as the outstanding athlete of the year by ''[[The New York Times]]''. He was inducted into the [[National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame]] in 1957. On March 29, 2017, the museum opened a special exhibit in his honor, "Man o' War at 100".

In 1919, Man o' War won 9 of 10 starts, including the [[Hopeful Stakes]] and [[Belmont Futurity]], then the most important races for two-year-old horses in the United States. His only loss came at [[Saratoga Race Course]], later nicknamed the Graveyard of Champions, where he lost by a neck to a colt fittingly named [[Upset (horse)|Upset]].

Man o' War was not entered in the [[1920 Kentucky Derby]] because his owner, [[Samuel Riddle]], did not believe in racing at the distance of {{convert|10|furlong|m|spell=in}} (one mile and a quarter) 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 Upset by {{frac|1|1|2}} lengths. Man o' War later won the [[Belmont Stakes]] by 20 lengths while setting a world record. Throughout the summer and fall, he continued to dominate his fellow three-year-olds, setting multiple records while conceding large amounts of weight to his rivals. The only time he faced older horses was in the final race of his career in a match race against [[Sir Barton]], who had won what would later be known as the [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)|American Triple Crown]] in 1919. Man o' War won easily by seven lengths in the first horserace to be filmed in its entirety.

Riddle originally intended to race Man o' War in 1921 but decided against it because Man o' War would have been assigned record weights in the [[Handicap (horse racing)|handicap format]] used in almost all races for older horses at the time. Instead, Man o' War was retired to stud, where he became a [[Leading sire in North America|leading sire]] whose multiple champions included Triple Crown winner [[War Admiral]]. He was the grandsire of [[Seabiscuit]] and his sire line continues today through horses such as [[In Reality]], [[Tiznow]], [[Da' Tara]] and [[Tourist (horse)|Tourist]]. Also successful as a [[broodmare]] sire, Man o' War is found in almost all modern American pedigrees.