Episode 110: Inspired by Man o’ War aka Big Red

Episode_110__Inspired_by_Man_o__War_aka_Big_Red.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode_110__Inspired_by_Man_o__War_aka_Big_Red.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill. This is the Stacy Westfall podcast. Stacy's goal is simple to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Speaker2:
Hi, I'm Stacy Westfall and I'm here to teach you how to understand, enjoy and successfully train your own horses. I'm happy to announce that it seems like the podcast survived the name change that I announced last week. So here I am. New name and that would be Train Your Own Horse with Stacy Westfall, because that's what I read every week that I'm here to help you understand, enjoy, and successfully train your own horses. This is the week of Christmas if you're listening to it in real time, Merry Christmas, and if you're listening to it after the fact, you can keep on listening. If you would like a little bit of inspiration. What I've decided to do for this Christmas episode was I was reflecting a little bit about horses and what they mean to me and how I got into it, and I got thinking to the furthest back memory I have about reading about horses, and it was actually my mom reading a book to me. Interestingly, it's not a children's book, although what I just learned this week is that it was written by an author that is best known for being a children's book author. So if you're familiar with the book series Billy and Blaze, what you might realize is that C.W. Anderson wrote those books, but he also did quite a bit with Thoroughbred and some other different books, and this one that I remember from when I was around six years old.

Speaker2:
I remember my mom reading it to me at that age or even earlier, and it is actually C.W. Anderson's favorite horse stories. So it's collected and illustrated by C.W. Anderson. And what he does in here is he'll write introductions to these collection of writings that he collected. And the book is old, and a lot of the stories in it are old. And I loved it back then when I was a kid. And I kept it all these years. And when I was remembering it, I wanted to find it. And we moved here four years ago and stuff is still in boxes. So I went up in the hayloft and I dug and dug and dug And I didn't think I was going to be able to find it. It made me really sad. And actually I jumped online and tried to find it and found a couple copies on a used book site because it's not in print anymore. And so if you would like to win one of those, go ahead and leave a comment about your favorite book or about what I read here over on Stacy. Westfall.com under this Christmas episode because I ordered the book, and then I found my copy of the book. And what I want to do is just kind of tell you a little bit why I'm reading it, and then I'm going to read just a few sections from it. And basically when I picked it up, when I found it and opened it up, there was one chapter in particular that I really, really remember.

Speaker2:
And sure enough, as soon as I went to read it, it made me kind of break up again, which is really interesting. And then the two chapters that are before that, they just kind of basically build into that final chapter. Because what this book did to me was it introduced me to horse racing on like a very personal level, meaning it made me fall in love with man o War, aka big Red, because there were three chapters in the book that were about him, and it just really resonated with me. And I know that the racing industry has its share of problems, but I want you to look at this through the eyes of a horse lover. And just I just remember from being a little kid, I remember it from growing up. This book has moved with me throughout my whole life. And then I just found it again, and it was so cool to find my copy, because when I opened it up, that last chapter that I love so much. When I opened it up. A photograph fell out, and it's a little tiny photo of my first pony, Misty, that I was obviously using as a bookmark way back when. So I hope that when you hear these excerpts that it brings up memories that you had of your childhood, or maybe a favorite book, or maybe it makes you reflect on what first helped you fall in love with horses.

Speaker2:
And maybe this will be some information you've heard now for the first time, and you want to go do more research on it. Either way, I hope you enjoy. This first chapter is called big Red and it's by Arthur Bartlett. The introduction here that I'm going to read first is by C.W. Anderson. Any anthology of horses would be incomplete if the greatest of them was not included, particularly since he was as colorful as he was great. Man o War was made for the headlines if ever a horse was. Veteran horsemen have always maintained that the final test of a true quality in a racehorse is his ability to carry weight. Many horses are pure lightning when they are carrying a feather, as the horseman has it, but under a heavier weight. He may be only one of the also rans in the handicaps. For horses four years old and up, top weight is usually 130 pounds, and only then if there are really good horses in the field. Yet, as a two year old, man o war carried 130 pounds seven times. No other two year old has ever carried such weight. At three he carried 138 pounds weight. No three year old has ever carried. So if this is the measuring rod, he stands by himself. This is an account of his life as it appeared in the profile in The New Yorker magazine, while big Red was still alive in 1918.

Speaker2:
The race tracks of America were in the doldrums. The world war had engulfed the country. People were busy and preoccupied. Attendance at races had slumped tremendously, and purses which are dependent on attendance had shrunk proportionally. Major August Belmont, chairman of that ruling power of the Metropolitan Turfdom. The Jockey Club, had retired from racing to devote himself to military service, and his trainer, Louis Feustel, had gone to work for Samuel Dee Riddle, who was seizing this opportunity to build up his racing stable. Up to that time, riddle had been one of the minor figures of the Thoroughbred world. He and his wife, heiress of a Philadelphia textile manufacturing fortune, had always been part of the Hunt Club set outside of Philadelphia. He owned Glen Riddle Farm in Berlin, Maryland, and had raced a few fair to middling horses for a few years without any spectacular successes. A solid, expansive man, then approaching 60 with a florid complexion of the sportsman and easy assurance of the wealthy he endured, enjoyed the camaraderie of the surface greats without being quite one of them. He needed horses that would bring more glory to his black and yellow colors. With that hope. He and Fustel went to the annual sale of yearlings at Saratoga in August 1918 and bought two colts. One was named Gun Muzzle and the other Man of War. The Colts were part of Major Belmont's crop of 21 yearlings bred at his nursery stud farm in Lexington, Kentucky, and their militaristic names were a reflection of the Major's preoccupation with the war.

Speaker2:
Before consigning them to Saratoga sale, he had offered the whole lot to. Riddle at private sale for $42,000, an average of 2000. Each. Riddle had declined, but he bid up to $5,000 for. Man o War when he went on the block. This was only in the middle range of the sale. Colts, which never particularly distinguished themselves afterwards, brought prices ranging up to 14,000. Man o War was a gangly, big boned, long legged golden chestnut sired by Fair Play, a great money winner. His dam McCullough. I have no idea how to pronounce that, though of impressive bloodlines, had only won one paltry $700 purse in her entire racing career. Robert L Gerry, who was the most persistent of those bidding against riddle, thought thought the colt a good steeplechase prospect because of his long legs. Many others at the ringside thought he was too big and awkward for a runner. Few still broke man o war. That afternoon, in a paddock outside the riddle stable at Saratoga, as soon as the jockey was lifted into the saddle, the colt gave a mighty buck and the jockey flew off for 15 minutes. Man o War pranced and bucked around the paddock. Finally, Fussell and his helpers caught him in a corner and held him until he quieted down. He never gave any trouble about being mounted after that to Fussell and his stable foreman, George Conway.

Speaker2:
Man o War was just another colt. Fussell, then in his 30s, was one of the youngest trainers in the business. He had gone to work for Major Belmont at the age of 11 as a chore boy, and had grown up among the horses. Like most professional horsemen, he and Conway were taciturn, poker faced men who handled the horses with as little emotion as hard boiled hospital interns handle clinic patients. They shipped man o war with yearlings bought at other sales to the farm in Maryland, where he was ridden a little bit each day to learn the meanings of the reins, walked in the walking ring, rubbed, washed, and put back in his stall. Occasionally with the other colts, he was ridden in a sprint of an eighth or a quarter of a mile under wraps, and it was in these sprints that he soon proved himself the most promising yearling on the farm, because of his long and powerful stride. In his prime, it was two feet longer than the average thoroughbred. Special notice began to be given to the colt, and the stable boys started calling him big Red. All chestnut horses being red in the stable lexicon. He has been big red or just plain red ever since. To owners, trainers, jockeys and grooms, only strangers address him as man o war. Adjoining Glen Riddle Farm in Maryland is the training farm of Mr.

Speaker2:
and Mrs. Walter Jeffords. The latter Riddle's niece. Two racing establishments, while training and racing under separate colors, were always closely associated. One custom was to give the Colts from the two farms their first real trials after the fall, training in sets of two, one from each farm. Man o war's first race was such a trial. A colt named Golden Broom had emerged as the year's favorites at the Jeffords. String and his handlers were sure that he could beat the big, awkward colt that the riddle's crowd talked so much about. They were right. The two colts were matched in the trials. Golden broom got away fast, and man o War slow in getting into his stride. Never caught up with his reputation thus sullied, big Red went into winter quarters. Nothing more in the way of speed was asked of him during the cold weather. Eating was his main job, and he took to it with so much greed that few still had to put a bit in his mouth at feeding time to keep him from bolting his food. That voracious appetite was one of his great assets. Many racehorses get finicky about eating in their condition suffers. Big Red has always loved to eat, and this accounts in large measure for his strength and consistently rugged health. He filled out that winter into a handsome two year old, deep chested and with muscles that made his coat ripple. In spring training, he showed that he liked to run about as well as he liked to eat.

Speaker2:
The main trick to training is bringing a horse to the top of his efficiency at the right time. The first workouts are light as the spring progressed. Man o war and man o war was worked harder and faster. He became so eager to turn on speed that the exercise boys had to only get into the saddle and hang on to the reins. A big brown hunter named Major Treat was the training pony at the farm, and it was his job to lead the high strung. Thoroughbreds from the stable to the track. On the theory that his familiar. Placid figure would be a calming influence and keep them from running away. As soon as the old decoy had been let off, man o War was always raring to go. At Pimlico early in the 1919 season, he had his first lesson in leaving the. Barrier and track followers for the first time had reason to suspect that a colt. Named man o War was fast. A number of other promising colts were getting the. Same lessons that morning, and most of them broke away faster than man o War. But settling into his big stride, he rapidly overtook them and had left them all. Behind at the quarter mile mark. Johnny Loftus, the jockey who was riding for riddle that year, liked the way. Man o War finished but was critical of the way he started.

Speaker2:
Loftus began working on him, trying to make him excited about getting away from the barrier as fast and hitting his stride. Loftus was so successful that man o War developed into one of the most impetuous horses at the barrier in racing history. Always so impatient to break away that he often delayed the starts by his rough behavior and once held up a race for 12 minutes. His first official race was at Belmont on June 6th, 1919, and was one of those program fillers that are arranged overnight, and the winner's share was $500. Few people remember the other starters in that race. Retrieve. Needham. Devil. Devil dog. Gladiator. Lady Brighton American Boy, man o war's name meant nothing to most of the spectators, but the Wise Ones had heard enough about Riddle's promising colt to make him a favorite in the betting at 3 to 5. He justified the odds by running away with the race, leaving his nearest competitor six lengths behind. Three days later, he came out again, this time for the Keene Memorial, worth $4,200, and was stiffer, stiffer competition. He streaked ahead of the field and led it home by three lengths. Two weeks later, he won his third race. Two days after that, he was at the aqueduct, winning his fourth. His next appearance was in the Tremont Stakes, a three quarter mile race. He won that by a length. The next month at Saratoga, he won the important United States Hotel Stakes worth $7,600, his sixth consecutive victory.

Speaker2:
By this time, man o War was distinctly a sensation. His groom, Frank Loftus, no relation to his jockey, was warned to never let him out of sight during his workouts in the evenings, Fustal, Conway and their friends set up a table in front of his stall for a nightly game of pitch. When the game was over, Conway went to bed next to the stall after every race. Fustel examined the horse minutely to make sure he had not been cut or scratched. Andy McDermott, the stables blacksmith, fitted his shoes with special care, though big Red never needed anything but regulation plates. Clyde Gordon, the ex-jockey who exorcized him, was the envy of every swipe in the stable. Yet his was a strenuous job for man o war. Gentle as a cow in his stall, I had no idea cows were gentle in stalls. Was transformed into a dynamo as soon as he was out. Jockey Loftus, who took over the job of exercising him one morning, had one of the wildest rides of his career, breaking out of a jog. The colt reared on his hind legs until he stood nearly erect, then bounded at least five feet in the air, took two more great leaps, and settled down to run a half a mile in 47 seconds. The world record is 46 and a fifth. Loftus, one of the most experienced jockeys of the day, was white and shaking when he got back to the stable.

Speaker2:
People were beginning to talk about man o War as unbeatable, but there were still many who doubted it. With the competition getting more keen as the season went on, man o War, because of his previous victories would have to carry more weight than the newcomers. Harry Payne Whitney's trainer, Jimmy Rowe, was sure he could win with a colt named upset Who? Man o War had beaten in his last race, and Mike Daly, the Jeffords trainer, still had faith in Golden Broom, whom he had recently been bringing on. On August 13th, man o War was to meet Golden Broom and one of Whitney's colts, upset in the Stafford Memorial at Saratoga. Miss Mrs. Riddle, who had been coming from Pennsylvania for all man of war races, showed her scorn for the challengers by planning a party and having a cake made with man o war's name and fancy frosting for the victory celebration. Man o War was a favorite in the betting at 2 to 1 at the barrier he began cutting up as usual or worse than usual. The regular starter had been replaced temporarily by an assistant, and when the assistant gave the word to star, man o war was turned around almost completely in the wrong direction. Jockey Loftus headed him around, but not until four of the other horses were away ahead of him. Upset took the lead, but Golden Broom passed him and led at the half mile mark by a head.

Speaker2:
Setting a terrific pace. Man o War struggled to break through the massive formation of flying hooves, but succeeded in passing only one horse in the first half mile. Loftus did not move him to the outside of the track. Apparently he meant to find a hole through which to maneuver, but man o war was still blocked as they approached the stretch. Only then did Loftus move him outside. It was a stupendous task. He was asking of the colt to go out around the leaders in that short remaining distance, but big Red undertook it. He passed two of the four horses as soon as the track was clear ahead of him up front. Golden broom was wilting and upset was taking the lead. Man o War roared on left. Golden broom behind. Drew up on upset. His nose was just passing. Upsets flank as they crossed the finish line. 3 or 4 more powerful strides and man o war flashed by too late. It was the only official race he ever lost, and track followers still argue about it. Some blame Loftus for bad judgment or worse. Others insist he just didn't have racing luck that day. Riddle let him ride man o war's remaining three races of the season, but the next year the Jockey Club refused to renew his license. Man O war's other three races that year included the Futurity at Belmont with a winner's share of $26,650. He won them all handily before increasingly bigger crowds.

Speaker2:
Nearly every major track drew more people that year than in the ten years past. The Futurity drew one of the largest crowds that had ever come to Belmont Park. As evidence of man o war's parting part in drawing them there, so many pressed into the paddock that as he came out trying to get more and more intimate glimpse of him, that his handlers could hardly push through the mob. Few still in Conway by now were actually fussing over the horse in an unsportsmanlike way. His first meal was at 330 in the morning, then he took it easy in his stall until 730, when Frank Loftus, his groom, massaged him with a hairbrush, went over his mane and tail with a corn brush, washed his feet and face, and sponged out his eyes and nostrils. At 830 half the horses in the stable had been exercised and man o war went out with the second set three days a week. He jogged half a mile and galloped a mile and a half. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays he was given fast workouts on the track. After these workouts, he was walked until he had cooled out, then bathed with a mixture of alcohol, arnica and witch hazel to keep his muscles from getting stiff. His feet and hooves were washed again, and the bandages which he always wore except when racing were changed. Then he was put back into his stall, which had been cleaned and covered with fresh straw.

Speaker2:
At 1130 he had lunch. At four he was let out for half an hour's walk. At 515 he got his final meal of the day. His total consumption of oats was 12 quarts on an ordinary day, 12.5. On days, he raced three quarts a day more than what the average horse in race training. After the Futurity, Phil Chin and Montford Jones, two southern breeders, offered riddle $100,000 for man o war. He turned down the offer without a second thought. The colt had now become one of the most valuable pieces of horse flesh in the world. The 1920 season went far beyond that of 1919. In attendance at the track's breaking all records, and man o War was a great hero at every race. The crowd surged around him so densely that cordons of police had to make way for him to get to and from the track. Sportswriters all through the seasons kept coupling his name with that of Babe Ruth as the one who was reviving a waning sport by his lusty and colorful performances. Riddle, excited and eager for even greater triumphs, began holding what the newspapers termed board strategy meetings with his friends to discuss the races in which man o war should be started, and how the jockey should be instructed to ride. Fusal, temperamental and proud of his part in the horse's career. Resented this as meddling in his field. The result was a series of minor squabbles.

Speaker2:
Fustel was particularly annoyed when he discovered that, despite the careful watch he and his helpers had kept over man of war, riddle had hired a private detective to watch them. Man o war's triumphs overshadowed such petty matters for the time being, but Riddle and Fustel parted company as soon as the horse stopped racing. Clarence Kummer, a jockey who had made good record the year before, was engaged to succeed Loftus as Man o war's rider for the 1920 seasons. He got $1,000 for each race he rode, except the final one of the year, which he got $5,000. Man o war's first start that year was in the Preakness at Pimlico. His old rival and only conqueror upset was also entered, and man o War beat him by a length and a half. Then he went on winning race after race regardless of distance, weight or competition. After his first appearance of the season, he was a 4 to 5 favorite. The odds on him dropped steadily until they reach an all time low of 1 to 100. In his fourth race, it began to be taken for granted that he would win, and betting almost stopped. No one wanted to bet against him, and there was little to be made in betting on him. Chicago O'Brien, an ex bricklayer who gambled his way to a multi-million dollar fortune, did succeed in making $1,000 on him in the Belmont Stakes. He did it by putting up $100,000.

Speaker2:
Man o War won the race by 20 lengths. Owners began scratching their entries in his races for no other reason than man o War was running in his first race of 1928. Other hopeful three year olds started, but after that, three was the most that ever came to the post against him. And in the sixth of 11 races that year, he had only one other contestant. Horsemen don't like to see their most promising horses beaten. Many of them think it breaks their heart and with 1 or 2 exceptions, they had no hope of beating man o war that year. Second, money was the only lure. Only once that season was big Red even pushed Harry Payne. Whitney and his trainer, Rowe were still hopeful of beating him. They had lost with upset, but their trump card was a horse named John P Greer, who they had carefully been bringing along for a meeting with man of war at the aqueduct. Many horsemen say the resulting race was the greatest ever run for a mile. The two horses raced virtually, even matching stride for stride when they passed the mile post. They had equaled the world's record of one, 35 and 4/5. There was only an eighth of a mile more to go. At this point. John P Greer struck, stuck his nose out ahead, and the crowd roared, certain that man o War, the wonder Horse of the century, as the newspapers now called him, was beaten.

Speaker2:
Come here. Come here. Pulled the whip and big Red felt its sting. For one of the few times in his life. He leapt forward less than a hundred yards from the finish and pulled ahead. He crossed the line a length and a half ahead. In his other races, he was almost always being pulled up at the finish. His lead safe. By the time the Lawrence realization came along late in the season, it began to look as if man o War would have to run all by himself. Only one horse had been entered against him, and his owner thought better of it and scratched him. To save the day, Mrs. Jeffords entered one of her horses, hoodwinked, and Kumler was instructed to hold Red back as much as he could so the Jeffords horse would not look too bad. Kumler rode the whole race, pulling on the reins, and man o War gave hoodwinked one of the worst beatings ever administered on the major racetrack, leaving him a full 100 lengths behind. The photographers had to aim their cameras straight up the stretch to get him in the same picture with the winner. The final race of the season and man o war's career, was a special match in Canada with a famous four year old Sir Barton for $75,000 and a Gold Cup winning by seven lengths. Man o War cost the track a whole lot of money when he paid $2.10 for $2, the shortest odds possible under the Canadian laws.

Speaker2:
Thousands of dollars had pulled in, actually making the odds much shorter than they showed in the payoff. The day before the race, man o War breezed a quarter mile in workouts. Various track followers clocked him as they are always doing at workouts. The slowest time any of them caught was 21 and one fifth seconds. Others insisted he went the distance in 20 and 2/5. In any event, as motorists figure speed, he was touching somewhere around 43 miles an hour, and it was faster than any other horse has been known to run with or without competition in most of his races, he could have made faster time than he did. His jockeys were usually restraining him. Nonetheless, he set five new American records. His time of 214 and one fifth for a mile and 3/8 under 126 pounds. Established at Belmont Stakes, still stands as both the American and world record. His Lawrence Realization time of 240 and 4/5, despite being restrained the entire way under 126 pounds, stands as the American record for a mile and 5/8. He is also co co-holder with Sir Barton of the track record for a mile and a quarter at Saratoga two minutes, one seconds and 4/5. He had in two years raced and beaten the 50 best horses of his age and in Sir Barton, one of the best older horses then racing. He had won $249,465. It made him the biggest money winner of American racing up to that time.

Speaker2:
Since then, with track patronage having reached new heights, the same races which he won would have paid much more, and other horses have won much more money than he did. He stands 15th in the world's money winning race now, but if each of his races paid as much as they had paid, then he would still be in the top of the list. It would have totaled around 600,000. Riddle could have doubled the amount that the horse had made him if he was willing to sell. Then the late W.T. Waggoner, owner of Arlington Downs Track in Texas, offered him $250,000. He turned it down as he did an offer of $100,000 purse for a race in England made by Freeman Bernstein, a New York promoter, and other propositions of similar size. He was besieged with offers to put man o war on exhibition and into the movies. One movie proposal almost reached the stage in signing papers, and Fussel, who was ready to be signed too, was irritated anew at his employer when riddle finally turned it down. They were going to write a villain into the story, said riddle. And there aren't any villains in man o war's story. Riddle did consent to an exhibition among his friends and neighbors at the Rose Tree Hunt, just outside Philadelphia. Souvenir hunters clipped so much off his mane and tail that Philadelphia police sent a sergeant and ten men to guard him. After that, riddle shipped him down to Lexington, Kentucky.

Speaker2:
He went, as he had gone to his more recent races, with only his old companion, Major Treat, as equine company in the horse car. It was just such a conveyance as those in which he had always traveled a horse car with straw on the floor, chartered for the journey, but where is a car will accommodate 18 horses? Man o War had become too important to be crowded at Lexington. He ran an exhibition mile at the track with Major Treat pacing him, then was retired, definitely and permanently. He might have gone on to win many more races. Horsemen of this generation will argue about that until they die. A good many think that man o war's legs were going back on him, and that he wouldn't have been much of a four year old. Others say that he would have been a great one, but that the handicappers would have broken him down in his next to last race, when he cracked the track record for a mile and 16th, he carried 138 pounds, which is only a few pounds away than any American handicapper has asked a horse to carry in modern flat racing. Inevitably, his handicap would have been stiffer the next season. One thing is, sure riddle wanted Red to retire a champion. And that is what big Red was when he quit racing. Man o war's place of retirement is Faraway Farms, a few miles north of Lexington.

Speaker2:
Except for short stay on another stud farm when riddle was building this one. He has been there ever since his racing career ended. His stud fee is $5,000, and he has been bred to 25 mares each year. His total registered get was 277 up to January 1938. Of these, 236, about 80% had started in racing a high average. Among the best have been Mars, Crusader, Genie, American Flag, and this year's sensations sensation War Admiral. Although his sons and daughters have won 2,400,000. Riddle, however, has grown more and more central mental about man o War and refuses to discuss him in financial terms, insisting it would be virtually sacrilegious. He wants the horse considered a public institution rather than a business venture, and to some extent he has managed him on that theory. Several times he has waived the $5,000 stud fee when he thought some particularly good result might come from breeding him to a mare whose owner could not pay the price. Nevertheless, man o war has probably made over $1 million for him in prize money. Stud fees and sale of foals. That does not take into account the money that riddle has won with sons and daughters of Man o War, and he has bred him to his own mares more than to outsiders, and has kept more foals than he has sold. Whether or not this has been to his profit is questionable. Many foals, which would have brought good prices on man o war's name alone, have failed to develop and have been written off as a loss.

Speaker2:
On the other hand, the big winners, like their sires, go on to make money as they propagate more of the horses for years after they leave the track. Man o War as keystone and controlling factor of this continuing family has made riddle one of the great men of the turf. The $5,000 he paid for the colt is probably the most sensational investment in turf history. Nearing 80 now, riddle has recently built a small house just a few steps from man o war's barn, where he and Mrs. Riddle can go for a few days or a week, occasionally to be near the founder of their racing fortune. It pleases riddle that people still drive out to see the horse just as much as they did when he first retired. 3000 a month come on average, except in the winter, and he likes to talk to the visitors about the horse and to share his glory. Man o War was 20 years old last March 1938. That is old age for a horse, but his life is little changed from what it was when he was first went to stud. His weight has increased from 1,000 pounds to around 1375 and the fine racing lines have given way to a slightly pot bellied appearance, but he is still strong and vigorous and still likes to run. He lives in a box stall 20ft square, which is always covered a foot deep in straw.

Speaker2:
Three similar box stalls fill up the rest of the stud stable. Two of them are occupied by big Red sons, cruiser and American Flag, and the third now stands vacant, waiting for the time when War Admiral will retire to stud. Other horses have come and gone. Among them was Golden Brum, Big Red's early rival. But Golden Broom wilted and lost his race to man o War as he had lost another. He died in 1935. Man o War shows no signs of senility. From the 1st of October until the close of breeding season late in June, he is under saddle. Just as in his racing days, he's worked up to peak condition by gradual increase in exercise, first walking and jogging, then getting up to galloping 6 to 8 miles a day, and at the end of the season he is unwound, just as he used to be, by a tapering off of exercise. He has a private two acre pasture in which he rambles as he pleases all day if the sun is not too hot. Otherwise, at night out there he plays with the farm dogs, challenging them to come in, then chasing them out. He eats three times a day at 5:00, 11 and four. At each meal he gets three quarts of heavy rolled oats. His hay, a mixture of red clover and Timothy, is shipped in from Michigan. His green food is the Kentucky bluegrass in his pasture.

Speaker2:
He is just about the biggest stallion in the bluegrass country, and would eat even more if he could get it. He has never lost his appetite. His groom is now William Harbutt and his son Robert, who rides him. A stable man and a night watchman insured for 500,000. He is under the eye of one of these three men every minute. Most of the time during the day harbor, or one of the others is in the barn or standing outside. They have a room in an adjoining building in which they can go when it is cold. It has extra large windows which command a view of the side door of the barn and the front door. At such times is locked on the inside. If a visitor appears, a man is quickly at their side, ready to show them around, but watchful. At 4:00, visiting hours are over and at five. The night watchman comes on duty and stays until the others return at five in the morning. Big Red's old companions of racing days are scattered now. Few still trains horses in Maryland and gradually faded into the background of the turf, waiting in vain for some horse even approaching man o war stature to lift him again into the limelight and the big money. Conway, the former stable foreman, is Riddle's trainer now, but seldom gets to the stud farm of the jockeys. Kumar is dead and Loftus is a trainer in the north.

Speaker2:
Frank Loftus, the old groom, moves from track to track, caring for other horses, but the old warrior is still the wonder horse of the century. Signposts on the roads outside Lexington point the way to his home in 1934. A sculptor came from Paris to immortalize him in bronze and gold plate, and every once in a while, while some new attempt is made to lure him away from the bluegrass to appear before a public that still lionizes him. The last big offer was for an appearance at the Century of Progress Exposition. Riddle will never let big Red leave faraway farms, and to ask any question which suggests that the horse will sometime die means sure banishment from Riddle's presence. Will Harbert, in showing him off to visitors, always takes them first to see each of the other horses in the stable and recites their triumphs. Then he leads the way to the big chestnut stallion. There's a trace of a courtier in him as he waves his arm, and a trace of a side show barker. And here he announces, is man o War. His self. This chapter is called man o War versus upset, written by Willie Knapp and the introduction by C.W. Anderson. Here's the introduction. Man o war's only defeat has been the subject of much discussion, for it is clear to all horsemen that he towered over all his opposition. This is the true version of that race from the man who saw it all up close.

Speaker2:
Willie Knapp, the rider of upset. On that day. Here it is, in his own words, as told to a turf writer. There were seven horses in the Stanford with man o War held at 11 to 20 odds. But when the field bounced away, it was Golden Broom settin the pace with upset on the outside just a neck away. Man o war didn't make a bid till we hit the turn. And then he turned up alongside the rail till his head bobbed in the corner of my eye. There he was, tossing those 28 foot strides and trying to squeeze through on the inside of Golden Broom, and upset if I'd given as much as an inch, the race would have been as good as over. But jockeys don't ride that way. I could have breezed past Golden Broom at any time. I took my feet out of the dashboard, but that would have let man o war out of his mouse trap, and he'd have whoosh past us in a half dozen strides. When Johnny Loftus, riding man o War, saw we weren't going to open up, there was only one thing left for him to do. He pulled up sharply and ducked to the outside. That's what I'd been waiting for. That same moment, I gunned upset with my bat and galloped to the top in a pair of jumps. Man o war then had to come around the two of us, and it cost him all of two lengths from there to the finish.

Speaker2:
He was charging again like a jet plane, but upset had just enough left to push his head down in the front. Then you think he was asked that man o War was the best horse that afternoon and every other afternoon to just take a gander at the records. Upset. Never beat him again. Big Red came back to win the hopeful, the Futurity, the Grand Union and 20 out of 21 races in all with upset. Never again close enough to smell his dust. Sure, I won that race all right, and it was the biggest thrill of my life. But looking back at it now, there's sure one horse which should have retired undefeated never saw a colt like him. He could do anything and do it better than any horse that ever lived. If I'd just moved over an eyelash that day at Saratoga, he'd have beat me from here to jalopy. And sometimes I'm sorry I didn't do it. In the final one in the book is titled big Red by J. A Estes. This is also the one that I had bookmarked with the photograph of my pony. The days are long at Belmont speed. They never learn. And it's many a day since man o war has looped the upper turn. The guineas stopped their rubbing and the rider dropped his tack. When word went round that man o war was coming on the track.

Speaker2:
The crowd was hoarse with cheering at ancient Pimlico the day he won the Preakness. But that was long ago. The dust is deep at Windsor. The good old days are done. And many a horses forgotten. But they still remember one. For he was a fiery phantom to that multitudinous throng. Would you wait for another one like him? Be patient. Years are long. For here was a horse among horses. Cast into Titan's mold. And the slant October sunlight gilded the living gold. He was marked with God's own giving. And winged in every part. The look of eagles was in his eye. And Hastings's wrath in his heart. Young equipos had power to rouse the crowded stand and there was magic in the name of green trees. 20 grand and Sarrasin has sprinted and Gallant Fox has stayed. And discovery has glittered. In the wake of Cavalcade we watched the heroes parading. We wait. Our eyes are dim, but we never discover another like him a foal is born at midnight. And in the frosty morn the horsemen eyes him fondly A secret hope is born. But breathe it not nor whisper. For fear of a neighbor's scorn. He's a chestnut colt. He's got a star. He may be another man o war. Nay, say it aloud. Be shameless. Dream and hope and yearn. For there's never a man among you. But waits for his return. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you again in the next episode.

Sonix is the world’s most advanced automated transcription, translation, and subtitling platform. Fast, accurate, and affordable.

Automatically convert your mp3 files to text (txt file), Microsoft Word (docx file), and SubRip Subtitle (srt file) in minutes.

Sonix has many features that you’d love including upload many different filetypes, powerful integrations and APIs, enterprise-grade admin tools, automatic transcription software, and easily transcribe your Zoom meetings. Try Sonix for free today.