| | | | 
By Michael Stroud, July 1985 | |
| | | 1. Man o' War Marker (obverse) | | |
Inscription. (Obverse):
Fair Play - Mahubah, by Rock Sand
Greatest race horse and leading money winner of his day. Winner of twenty of twenty-one starts with lifetime earnings of $249,465. Foaled March 29, 1917, at August Belmont's Nursery Stud a few miles away. Sold at auction as yearling for $5,000 to Samuel D. Riddle, his owner throughout his racing career and later retirement. "Big Red" sired 62 stakes winners, his get earning over $3.5 million. War Admiral, Triple Crown winner, was most famous of his offspring. Man o' War died November 1, 1947; lies buried beneath this statue by noted sculptor Herbert Haseltine.
(Reverse):
Races Won By Man o' War
2 year old, 1919
Futurity • Tremont • Grand Union Hotel • U.S. Hotel • Hopeful • Youthful • Hudson • Purse Race, at Belmont • Keene Memorial
Won all entered as a 2 year old, except second in Sanford Memorial.
3 year old, 1920
Belmont • Potomac • Dwyer • Preakness • Jockey Club • Stuyvesant • Kenilworth Gold Cup • Travers • Lawrence Realization • Withers • Miller
Won all entered as a 3 year old, eight in record time.
Erected 1968 by The Thoroughbred Club of America, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky Department of Highways. (Marker Number 1215.)
Location. | | | | 
By Michael Stroud | |
| | | 2. Man o' War Marker (reverse) | | |
38° 8.959′ N, 84° 31.209′ W. Marker is in Lexington, Kentucky, in Fayette County. Marker is on Iron Works Pike. Click for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 4089 Iron Works Pike, Lexington KY 40511, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 7 miles of this marker, as the crow flies. Mt. Horeb Presbyterian Church (approx. 2.4 miles away); New Zion (approx. 2.6 miles away); Confederate Governor (approx. 5.2 miles away); Eastern State Hospital (approx. 6.2 miles away); Choctaw Indian Academy (approx. 6.3 miles away); Lexington Cemetery (approx. 6.5 miles away); Lexington Historic Distillery District (approx. 6.7 miles away); Vertner Woodson Tandy (approx. 6.7 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Lexington.
More about this marker. Man O'War passed away at the age of 30 as the result of a failing heart. His lifetime companion and groom, Will Harbut, had died only a month earlier. He was embalmed and lay in state for several days in a specially made casket lined with his racing colors, the first horse ever buried this way. Twenty-nine years after his death, Man o' War was reinterred in 1976 at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Also see . . .
1. Wikipedia entry for Man o' War. (Submitted on January 15, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)
2. History of Man o' War. (Submitted on January 15, 2008, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia.)
| | | | 
By Michael Stroud, July 1985 | |
| | | 3. Man o' War Monument | | |
3. Wikipedia entry for Samuel D. Riddle, Man o' War's owner. (Submitted on January 15, 2008, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia.)
4. Wikipedia entry for August Belmont, Man o' War's orginal breeder. (Submitted on January 15, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)
5. Wikipedia entry for Kentucky Horse Park. Location of the Man o' War Monument. (Submitted on January 15, 2008, by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina.)
Additional comments.
1. Interesting facts on Man o' War
– Man o' War was bred by the son of the Belmont Park founder, whom the Belmont Stakes was named after.
– Man o' War did not win the Triple Crown.
– Man o' War set American records in races at 5 different distances.
– Big Red lost only one race to horse, ironically named Upset.
– Man o' War won by 100 lengths in one of those record-setting races.
– Big Red still won when saddled with an excessively high weight of 138 pounds.
– An Associated Press poll in the 1950s voted Man o' War the greatest thoroughbred of the first half of the 20th century.
– Man o' War beat the first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, in Man o' War's last race.
– Man o' War ironically never raced in Kentucky but spent the majority of his life in the state.
– Samuel Riddle, Big Red's owner, was offered a blank check for ownership of the horse, and Riddle turned it down.| | | | 
By Michael Stroud | |
| | | 4. Kentucky Horse Park | | |
— Submitted January 15, 2008, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia. |
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