When Man O' War beat Sir Barton ( a horse that had won the Triple Crown the previous year), in a mile and a quarter race, he proved to be unbeatable by winning by 17 lengths and became a national hero. Samuel Riddle had many attractive offers to buy Man O' War, but he chose to retire the horse to stud rather than sell him or race him as a 4-year-old.

Man O' War is known for his accomplishments as a stud as well as a race horse, siring 379 foals, 289 of which were race horses. Man O' War's offspring won more than 1286 races. Man O' War was only bred to 25 mares a year, headed the sire list only once (in 1926), was bred maninly to Mr. Riddle's own mares (only 45 yearlings of these were sold). Among the foals sired by Man O'War are: American Flag, War Admiral, War Relic, and War Feathers (a mare). All of these were good racers and sired or produced many fine offspring.

Ruffian was a remarkable race horse. She was swift and considered to be a fast race horse until her racing career ended abruptly with a fractured leg. Even in pain, Ruffian continued trying to win her last race. (Reader's Digest had a recent article about this mare's short but remarkable career - "The Horse That Never Stopped Running.")

Look for more Bits 'N' Pieces about real horses in the next newsletter.

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