Nebraska Grant Funds Celebration Of Derby History With Authors’ Tour

Through a major grant awarded by Humanities Nebraska and a partnership with author Jennifer S. Kelly, Born To Rein documentary film co-producers, Jody L. Lamp and Melody Dobson, have organized a statewide authors' tour celebrating the 150th Kentucky Derby, the pair said in a release Friday.

The programs slated for Apr. 18-24 will launch in eastern Nebraska the evening of Thursday, Apr. 18 in historic downtown Ashland, Nebraska at the Willow Point Gallery; and conclude in western Nebraska with an afternoon authors' book signing event Thursday, Apr. 25 at the Fort Robinson State Park near Crawford.

“While the Kentucky Derby is not historically associated with Nebraska and the state's Thoroughbred horse racing industry, our desired outcome for the authors' tour is to give the audience an awareness, knowledge and a deeper appreciation for the individuals who credit their Nebraska upbringing to overcome the insurmountable odds they mastered in America's oldest sport,” the producers said in the release.

Click here for more information about the tour.

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Paragon Farms Pledges $100,000 Annual Donation to the TAA at Preakness

Paragon Farms will sponsor the $100,000 Sir Barton S., held during GI Preakness S. weekend at Pimlico Race Course. The Sir Barton will benefit the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA).

Founded by Thoroughbred owners and breeders Brandon and Diannah Perry, Paragon Farms entered into an agreement to annually donate $100,000 to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance as the title sponsor of the Sir Barton S. for three consecutive years beginning at this year's Preakness.

“Diannah and I are driven to make a difference, and proud to support the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance,” Brandon Perry said. “We are honored to be a part of the Preakness. We are encouraged by the TAA's commitment to raising awareness for aftercare cooperation and inspiring action, to protect the horses that have given us personally so much. Together, through lasting change, responsibility will have a long-term positive impact on the sport we love.”

“The generosity of Brandon and Diannah Perry is truly astounding,” said Funding and Events Manager, Emily (Dresen) Scandore. “The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance is incredibly grateful and excited for this newfound partnership with Paragon Farms and looks forward to putting their donation toward our 82 accredited charities helping thousands of retired Thoroughbreds.”

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Upset Beat Man o’ War, But Did He Really Coin A New Sportswriting Phrase?

On Oct. 12, 1920, the race of the century took place at Kenilworth Park just outside Windsor, Ontario. It was between the first ever Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton and the incomparable 'Big Red' ­­– Man o' War. It was a match between two champions: a battle of titans.

It was also Man o' War's last race before he went off to stud. 'Big Red' won it easily by an impressive margin of seven lengths.

The race captured the imagination of a continent 100 years ago. There would be nothing like it until a grandson and son of Man o' War squared off 18 years later, in Maryland. The son was War Admiral and the grandson was Seabiscuit.

The 4-year-old Sir Barton was thought to be a worthy opponent for Man o' War. Even though Sir Barton took the first Triple Crown in 1919 and won more money than Man o' War that year, he lost seven races in 1920. Yet he had beaten Exterminator in the Saratoga Handicap, carrying 133 pounds, and set a world record for the classic distance of 1 3/16 miles in the Merchants and Citizens Stakes at the Spa on Aug. 20, 1920.

Those who seek perfection might find it unfortunate that the mystique of being undefeated evaded both horses. Man o' War had also tasted defeat.  It happened on Aug. 13, 1919, at the hoofs of an unlikely opponent whose name was Upset – a horse he had beaten easily on four other occasions.

He should have won.

Here is how Fred Van Ness of the New York Times chronicled Man o' War's only lifetime defeat in the Sanford Stakes:

“He was forced to bow to Harry Payne Whitney's Upset in a neck-and-neck finish in this six-furlong dash. Though defeated, Man o' War was not discredited. On the contrary, the manner in which he ran this race stamped him, in the opinion of horsemen, as the best of his division without question. Though failing to get his nose in front, he stood out as the best horse in the race by a large margin, for he had all the worst of the racing luck.” 

Did Upset's victory originate the term 'upset'?

The controversy surrounding Man o' War's unfair start against Upset is long over, but a minor controversy remains: Was Man o' War's loss to Upset the beginning of the term 'upset' in sports argot, used to denote an unlikely winner?

Lexicographer Ben Zimmer clarified the matter once and for all back in 2013:

“I surveyed New York Times articles that used the word upset, and it was clear that it was already in use in horse-racing and other sports like baseball before the famous 1919 race.”

I am fond of observing that “most famous quotes and coined terms get attributed to the most prominent person who used them.” (And if some well-known person repeats my little buzz phrase, it will doubtless be attributed to them, and not to me.)

The best example of this phenomenon is the celebrated admonition by John F. Kennedy in his 1961 inaugural address:

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Certainly Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and such lesser presidents as Warren Harding spoke much the same lines decades before. In fact, many of Kennedy's most renowned phrases are characterized as fragmented misremembrances. Ralph Keyes noted this in The Washington Post in 2006:

“Even though JFK routinely garbled his quotations, it took us years to figure this out. Meanwhile, the young president launched any number of misworded, misattributed or completely mystifying quotations into the public conversation that have stuck around to this day.”

But who cares? The grainy film of that cold January day in 1961 and the magnificent delivery of those 17 words is what's important.  Our language has a long and well-recorded history. No line of speech will ever be completely original.

What does this all mean for that one little word 'upset'?

Many have viewed the horse named 'Upset' as being appropriately named. And many have inaccurately declared that Man o' War's defeat marks the origin of the term 'upset' to denote an unlikely winner.

But we overblow our need for originality in a term. Ben Zimmer went on to quote Washington Post sports columnist Bob Addie from 1962:  “The term 'upset' in sports gained considerable stature back in 1919 when a horse actually named Upset beat the wonder horse, Man o' War.”

“That may in fact be true,” writes Zimmer. “Certainly upset gained traction in sports reporting starting in the '20s, and Upset may have had something to do with that. So let's give some credit to the scrappy colt…”

And as for Man o' War, his legend only grew with his 14 consecutive victories following his 'upset by Upset'. As we get closer to the 100th anniversary of Big Red's monumental win against that first ever Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, let's remember that the origins of words and phrases are much less important than the memorable events and the heroes –  both human and equine – that bring focus and glory to their times and make a stamp on history.

2023 will mark an anniversary for another 'Big Red' – Secretariat. It will be the 50th anniversary of his last race, which he won in Canada by an identical seven lengths to Man o' War's win in his own last race, against Sir Barton. The celebration will be enhanced – not diminished – by the fact that the first Big Red won just as easily 100 years ago.

That's also true of Upset's historic race against Man o' War. The great tale is in no way diminished by the fact that Upset's name popularized, rather than originated, a sports term.

The origins of a term are an interesting thing to explore. But it's the heroes, equine and human, that we celebrate in racing history.

John Stapleton is an income security benefit designer in Toronto. Stapleton's work has appeared in the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star. He has owned racehorses for 37 years and is past president and current board member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of fame.

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Authors Kelly, Ours Go Live Friday To Relive Man O’ War, Sir Barton Match Race

Authors Jennifer Kelly and Dorothy Ours will discuss the 100th anniversary of Man o' War's victory against Sir Barton in the 1920 Kenilworth Gold Cup in an online program hosted by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 9 at 11 a.m. The program will be moderated by Brien Bouyea, the Museum's Hall of Fame and Communications Director. The event can be accessed for free at:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ymPg1E1gQ3W66AS3T0nNRg

On Oct. 12, 1920, Man o' War defeated Sir Barton by seven lengths at Kenilworth Park in Canada to earn $75,000 (a record purse for a single race at the time) and a gold cup crafted by Tiffany and Co., valued at $5,000. It was the final race Man o' War competed in, concluding his career with 20 wins from 21 starts and record earnings of $249,465. Man o' War was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1957.

Sir Barton was America's first Triple Crown winner in 1919. He raced three more times without a victory after his loss to Man o' War and was retired with 13 wins from 31 starts and earnings of $116,857. He joined Man o' War in the 1957 Hall of Fame class.

Kelly and Ours are experts on the careers of Sir Barton and Man o' War, respectively. Kelly is the author of Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown, while Ours is the author of Man o' War: A Legend Like Lightning.

Kelly fell in love with horse racing when she read Walter Farley's Black Stallion series as a child and then watched the filly Winning Colors beat the boys in the 1988 Kentucky Derby. A lifelong reader and writer, she took her love of the written word to the classroom, teaching both first-year composition and technical writing for more than a decade. She then embarked on a multi-year journey to write Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown, the first book to chronicle the life and career of America's first Triple Crown winner. Kelly is working on her follow-up to Sir Barton, Foxes of Belair, an exploration of the lives and careers of Gallant Fox and Omaha, America's second and third Triple Crown winners.

Ours is a history-loving lifelong horse and racing enthusiast. She worked for several years at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and has written two books featuring Hall of Fame horses. Each has been honored as a finalist for the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award. Man o' War: A Legend Like Lightning digs for the actual — and truly phenomenal — individual who became a myth. Battleship: A Daring Heiress, A Teenage Jockey, and America's Horse tells a story that sounds unreal: a 15.2-hand, 11-year-old stallion and a 6-foot-1, 17-year-old boy teaming up to win the world's top steeplechase. Ours also freelanced for Thoroughbred Times and served twice as a John H. Daniels Research Fellow at the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg, Va. She's currently working on a third book.

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