Big Red

An ancient Negro in a battered porkpie hat used to lead visitors to a special stall at Faraway Farm, Ky. and say proudly: "An' heah, ladies an' gen'men, is Man o' War hisself. . . . He weigh 13 hunnert an' seventy-fi' pounds. I say, come heah, you old Red."

As a Kentucky tourist attraction, Big Red outdrew Mammoth Cave. Two million people visited Faraway Farm just to see him. He was made an honorary citizen of the city of Lexington. On his birthdays, he was given elaborate cakes with carrot candles. Stablehands reportedly did a brisk business selling hairs out of his tail to superstitious horse-players. For Man o' War was the greatest of all U.S. race horses.

As Will Harbut, his Negro groom, put it: "This hoss owes nobody nuthin', an' ain't got no alibis to make . . . he race ten times as a two-yeah-old an' out of those ten races he win ten. How's 'at? Upset beat him? I didn't see it, mister, so I still say it's a lie."

Manners at the Post. In 1919, when the "golden era" in sport was beginning, it was Man o' War who led the parade. Like Ty Cobb and Jack Dempsey, with whom he competed for headlines, Big Red had color. His post manners, in the days before starting gates, were atrocious. He liked to rear up on his hind legs and terrify the jockey with his lunging and plunging. But when Red settled down to his tremendous stride (once measured at 24 ft.), he broke track records, and the hearts of ordinary horses foolish enough to race against him. A bargain horse (he cost $5,000), Man o' War won 20 of his 21 starts in his two years of racing.

Man o' War's proud bearing and his showmanship set him apart from the pack. As a three-year-old, he did not run in the Kentucky Derby (in fact, he never ran a race in his native state), but he won the Belmont by 20 lengths. One good horse, John P. Grier, made Red extend himself one day at Aqueduct, and nobody who saw the race will ever forget it. The pair of them ran nose-&-nose, breaking world's records at every furlong pole along the way (the five furlongs in 157 2/5, the six furlongs in 1:09, the mile in 1:35 3/5, the mile and one-eighth in 1:49 1/5). When John P. Grier stuck his neck in front of Big Red in the stretch, a murmur of amazement came from the stands: "Man o' War's beaten!"

But he wasn't. A flick of the whip brought him on again, across the line almost two lengths ahead. John P. Grier was never the same again.

1 to 100 Shot. The odds on Man o' War were so prohibitive that few people bothered to bet on him--though Plunger "Chicago" O'Brien once wagered $100,000 on him at 1-to-100, and picked up an easy $1,000. Big Red's owner, Pennsylvanian Sam Riddle, once refused a $1,000,000 offer for his wonder horse. Riddle retired him to stud in the prime of his career. "Improving the breed," now a worn-penny phrase spoken cynically around the tracks, had meaning in Man o' War's case. Only the choicest mares were bred to Man o' War--at $5,000 a try. The results were top quality, as with everything Man o' War did.

He sired 383 foals. Some of his famous sons and daughters: Mars Crusader, American Flag, Scapa Flow, Edith Cavell, War Admiral. The way Will Harbut told it: "He not only the greatest hoss for racin' they ever was, ladies an' gen'men, he's some sire, too. He got Hard Tack who got Seabiscuit. He got plenty. . . . That's nice, Red, go back to yo' corner . . . ah'll be back, boy."

One day last year, after 20 years as nursemaid and official praise-singer for Man o' War, Will Harbut did not come back. Will died last month, after a long illness (TIME, April 1, 1946). Last week, at the great age of 30 (comparable to a human age of at least 90), Big Red lay down in his stall and did not get up again.

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