The Two-Year-Old

The Two-Year-Old. . Man o' War raced ten times as a two-year-old. After his spectacular win in his first race at Belmont, his owner Sam Riddle entered him only in stakes races. It did not take the big red colt long to establish himself the best two-year-old around. Tradition has it that during one of these early races, an amazed spectator asked, “Who's he by?” The reply went: “He's by hisself, and there nobody gonna get near him.” (One of Man o' War's sons was later called By Hisself)., He won the second race of his career, the Keene Memorial Stakes, by three lengths, and, after that, took the Youthful Stakes and the Hudson Stakes. By now he was carrying 130 pounds, consisting of the total weight of his jockey, saddle and extra ballast added to slow him down and give other horses a more equal chance of winning. Today, no one would put so much weight on a two-year-old for fear of injuring him. But the weight penalty made little difference to Man of War. He went on to win the Tremont Stakes and the United States Hotel Stakes, both easily, with the second and third horses driving. He also won an unofficial match race against Golden Broom, considered one of the most promising two-year-olds in America., Next came one of the most controversial races in history, the Sanford Memorial Stakes, the only race Man o' War ever lost. Apocryphal stories abound about what went wrong. One account claims he was faced the wrong way at the start; other stories blame his jockey Johnny Loftus for using poor strategy during the race. The probable truth is he got off to a straggling start, and then – by mistake or bad luck – became boxed in at the rail and could not break out in time to win. Ironically, the winner by half a length was a horse named Upset. (He was ridden by jockey Willie Knapp, who recounts the race on the next panel). Man o' War more than evened the score by beating Upset in six other races, one of them prior to the Sanford. But the loss remains, the one flaw in his otherwise perfect racing record., Man o' War's next chance to beat Upset came ten days later in the Grand Union Hotel Stakes, and he did it by a length. He raced two more times as a two-year-old, in the Hopeful Stakes and the Futurity at Belmont Park, and won both. He had now become an object of adulation among racing fans, and sportswriters dubbed him “sensational”. The full measure of his greatness, however, was not seen until his next season, when as a three-year-old he swept all before him. . This historical marker is in Lexington in Fayette County Kentucky