December is often a quiet time in the racing season, a time for recovery for many racehorses and preparation for breeding and foaling season for those on the farm.
The situation was no different in December 1920, when the Daily Racing Form ran a short update on Man o' War, who was getting some time off after a hugely successful 3-year-old campaign. That year, “Big Red” had run in 11 races, set seven track records, and become the first American Thoroughbred to amass more than $200,000 in career earnings. His 1920 season saw him win the Preakness and Belmont, and was also the year he entered the Lawrence Realization Stakes. All but one competitor scratched, and Man o' War is famously said to have won by 100 lengths.
Man o' War wrapped up his 1920 season with a match race against Sir Barton, and it was this race that was cited in the Form's update.
The match race against Sir Barton, who would later be recognized as the first Triple Crown winner, was accompanied by a buzz among racing fans that was similar to the Seabiscuit/War Admiral match that would come years later. Similarly to that match race, fans had been clamoring for the two to meet, and it was A.P. Orpen, the chairman of Canada's Kenilworth Jockey Club, who successfully negotiated with the connections of both horses and convinced them to go to Kenilworth in Windsor, Ontario, for a 10-furlong, $75,000 contest.
Originally, Orpen had also hoped Exterminator would join the field, but his connections preferred longer races and declined.
Sir Barton had finished his triumphant 3-year-old season in 1919 the leading money earner and was widely thought of as the best horse in training, despite his underdog status when he ran in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. A juvenile Man o' War made his career debut five days before Sir Barton's Belmont victory, and his legend grew with every subsequent race.
By the time the two met up in late 1920, 3-year-old Man o' War was already considered a behemoth and 4-year-old Sir Barton, who was constantly riddled with foot problems and having to overcome a fetlock injury in the spring, was starting to demonstrate the wear and tear of a demanding career.
The Kenilworth Cup was the first horse race to ever be filmed in its entirety, and drew 25,000 fans to the track on the day. Man o' War went to the lead easily and never looked back, finishing by open lengths over Sir Barton. It was the only time Man o' War ran against an older horse.
Apparently there had been some chatter about whether that effort had taken more out of him than his others.
“After his victory over Sir Barton at Windsor the great colt's off foreleg puffed up, and for a time it was believed he had seriously injured himself,” the note read. “Under [Louis] Feustel's care and Dr. McCully's prescription the swelling was quickly reduced and now there is not a blemish on him.”
(In the media world, we tend to view this kind of note as “damage control.”)
Since the match race had been the first to be committed to video recording, and was photographed extensively, those images flooded out to the public in the weeks and months after Man o' War's victory – what would prove to be his last. Reportedly, owner Samuel Riddle took issue with the notion the colt would be assigned even more weight in handicaps as a 4-year-old.
The video of the race was released as a film titled “The Race of the Age.”
Jennifer Kelly, author of 'Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown,' said Sir Barton's legacy was doubtlessly impacted by poor timing and popular press items touting his rival.
“In the weeks and months after the match race, two things happened: the film 'The Race of the Age,' which captured the preparations for and the running of the match race, and rotogravures sharing photos from the race spread through theaters and newspapers across the country,” said Kelly. “What people saw was Sir Barton trailing Man o' War in literal perpetuity. That shift in perception from the best horse of 1919 to the horse perpetually behind Man o' War had begun.
“Man o' War's accomplishments of 20 wins in 21 starts held sway over the sport, who saw that the only thing that could beat the colt were a bad start and a shortage of ground in the 1919 Sanford. The combination of Man o' War's fame and the images of Sir Barton in futile chase compromised the era's perception of Sir Barton. Though obituaries for the horse in 1937 said that he 'was outmatched at his peak by only the great Man o' War,' that assessment seems to have faded over time.
“When I started writing Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown in 2014, my goal was to tell his story and restore the first Triple Crown winner to his rightful place as one of his era's greats rather than the perpetual loser to the 20th century's greatest racehorse.”
The post This Week In History: Man o’ War’s Legacy Overshadows Sir Barton appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
