Newspapers / Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.) / Aug. 13, 1937, edition 1 / Page 13
Part of Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
oC_ 7%> tribe of 4* Super - H orse Sold for SSOOO nearly 20 years ago, sturdy • Man O War, sire of the ig37 sensation, War maasmßßmam - Admiral, has earned more than $1,500,000 F|l •n winnings and stud fees and has produced 7 ~ 11 ~~ —a truly great line of runners and breeders S’ S' y • \ VBiw-\ \\ is ' 'y \ yP'i \ By Max Riddle URING the summer of 1920, a | multi-millionaire Texas cattle and oil baron named W T Waggoner tendered Samuel D D Riddle a certified check for $300,000 “It’s for Man o’ War,” he said “Man o’ War is not for sale.” came the unhesitating answer The Texan wasn’t a man to be pul off when he wanted something And he wanted Man o’ War as badly as he had ever wanted anything After a mo ment he got out his checkbook, tore out a blank check, signed it and hand ed it to Mr Riddle “Fill in your own amount,” he said grimly. “The check will be good.” qffli BMBBBgwH ifty B|B[ „ TIWP' . War Admiral, great son of Man o’ War, winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby. Preakness and Belmont. At right. Fair Play. Man o’ War’s sire. The answei still came back: “Man o’ War is not for sale.” Later, Samuel D. Riddle told ques tioners that he was afraid that had he filled in the check for $1,000,000 the Texan would have called it a deal. And there seems to be no doubt that the Texan would have stuck by his part of the bargain. The owner of Man o’ War, who had bought him for SSOOO, was not suffering from a temporary fit of insanity Neither was the Texan. Nor was Mr Riddle motivated entirely by the un derstanding that neither a million dol lars, nor 10 times that much, could breed another to equal the son of Fair Play. Instead he owned, besides an abound ing pride in the achievements of his horse, a burning ambition to prove that he would be a success in the stud, to which he was retired in the fall of 1920 \>^ True, he had to gamble that Man o War would be fertile and that he would live (the good die young, you know), but he was willing to take that gamble fiF course, you'll ejaculate: “But a million dollars!” Well, here is a little problem in applied mathematics Man o’ War had 256 foals, or about 16 a year. That number does not include the matings which were not fruitful, nor the matings of 1937. His stud fee has always been listed as “PRIVATE CONTRACT” but the well-informed have known that it was SSOOO per mat ing, with no guarantee of a live foal Now naturally many of the mares bred to Man o’ War were owned by the Glen Riddle Farms, the “nom de course” of Mr. Riddle. Nevertheless that total of 256 (or more) matings at SSOOO each represents the true earn ing power of ’the super horse. That ■ i Wm mm* mKKm §Skr (T^w rvj4 As a race horse. Man o’ War was supreme, winning 20 out of 21 starts. He never paid as good as even money in the betting. is because the sons and daughters of Man o’ War which were born at Fara way Farms at Lexington, where the Riddle “haras” is, all had racing ca reers of their own. What sort of horse is this which is valued at a million dollars or more, and which can earn $1,300,000 in stud fees in 15 or 16 years? Man o’ War descends from the strongest of the American male lines, that of imported Australian, a son of West Australian. The male line comes down like this: Sprendthrift, Hastings. Fair Play. All were great race horses. Fair Play had so sensational a stud ca reer that the family is now called the Fair Play line, and in fact he compiled the most enviable record ever achieved by a sire. Mahubah, the dam of Man o’ War was a daughter of Rock Sand, who was one of the few winners of England’s Triple Crown—the Derby, St. Leger and 2000 Guineas. Rock Sand’s mares produced so sensationally to the cover of Fair Play that the mating became known as an “affinity,” one line for the other. 7 jmßßL \o Bjrßßy Man o War, from a photograph taken during his racing days. Man o War was bred and named by August Belmont and sold to Mr. Rid dle for SSOOO in 1918 as a yearling As a race horse he was supreme, winning 20 out of 21 starts and earning $249.- 465. His one defeat came at the hands of Upset and was the result of an atro cious ride by his jockey He utterly humbled Upset thereafter. As a three year-old he was unbeaten, breaking five world records and about 10 records for intervening distances. On one occa sion, for instance, he broke Wis own world’s mile record while racing to a longer distance. He was never once allowed to ex tend himself for the whole course of a race, he seldom allowed another horse to get in front of him at any point of a race, and he never paid as good as even money in the betting, not even in his first race. On three occasions the odds were 1-100, that is, you had to bet SIOO to win one. DERHAPS the final proof that a horse is great is his ability to sire horses which can win the great stakes events which he himself has won. One of the first mares which Man o’ War covered was a daughter of Roi Herode named Lady Comfey. She had been imported from England and came of strictly sprinting, or speed, stock. It takes about a year for a colt to be born. Generally, the colt is not named until it is two years old. Lady Comfey's male foal was, in due course, named American Flag. American Fag was not a great two year-old. but he was the best three year-old of his year His earnings to taled $82,000 The following year an even greater son of Man o’ War came along He was Crusader, a horse perfect to look upon, and perfect in action Os all of them, he was probably the best. Crusader was the only horse ever to win the Suburban Handicap twice. In all, he earned the immense sum of $203,261 The failure of the tribe as a whole to be great as juveniles has seriously affected the money earnings of the family. Many of the two-year-old spe cials are richly endowed and they are won by horses which never live up to their earnings by going on where en durance must be added to speed. And yet the earnings of those which have raced have approximated between $155,000 and $165,000 per season. All told they have • earned in excess of $2,000,000, and this does not include their earnings for this season. Fair Play, the sire of Man o’ War, is the only horse in the world’s history which has sired six winners of SIOO,- 000 or more. Man o’ War is the only other sire to get five winners of that much, and no other horse has got more than three Man o’ War has been almost equally successful in siring good race mares Bateau, Edith Cavell, and Florence Nightingale were by Man o’ War. And Mata Hari was a daughter of War Woman, by Man o’ War. Nellie Flag was a daughter of his great son, Amer ican Flag
Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 13, 1937, edition 1
13
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75