War Admiral
From AlexBrownRacing
1937 Triple Crown Winner, Horse of the Year
& U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1958) [1]
#13 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century [2]
The best of Man O' War's sons began racing fifteen years after the start of the legendary chestnut's stud career. War Admiral, bred by Samuel Riddle, was foaled at the Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1934
The royally bred little colt who became known to his fans as The Mighty Atom, or simply The Admiral, is considered to be his great sire's finest son. He was a full hand smaller than his famous sire, standing only 15.3 hands high, and he was so darkly colored that many fans mistook him as a black horse.
Exercise rider Tom Harbut, the son of Man o' War's groom Will Harbut, described War Admiral as high strung, saying he "would jump three times every time you took him out." As a two-year-old, War Admiral showed promise, despite his hatred for the starting gate.
The Admiral became the first horse to carry Mr. Riddle's silks postward in the Kentucky Derby. After War Admiral delayed the start for eight minutes, the starter finally sent off the field of twenty. Riddle's colt easily earned his roses, leading from start to finish and cantering home a length and three-quarters ahead of his previous conqueror, two-year-old champion Pompoon. Of his victory, Neville Dunn, sports editor for the Lexington Herald, wrote: "A little brown horse that takes after his mammy in size but runs like his daddy charged to victory in the 63rd Kentucky Derby... and he won so easily, so effortlessly, that 65,000 fans nudged one another in the ribs and said, 'I told you so! I told you that War Admiral could run like Man o'War'.'" The same evening, War Admiral boarded a Baltimore bound train.
The talented Pompoon provided more of a fight at Pimlico, catching War Admiral when he bore out on the turn, and it was only after one of the most exciting stretch drives in Pimlico's history that War Admiral was victorious in his quest for the black-eyed susans.
The Belmont Stakes came three weeks later and of it, Bob Considine wrote: "The little dark-brown colt... won the 69th renewal of the grueling Belmont Stakes as only he and his deathless pappy could win them."
But there was much more to the story. War Admiral held up the start for eight minutes while he dragged assistant starters through the gate, then was finally allowed to start on the outside. When the break came, he stumbled and almost went down. With the agility of a cat, the Admiral gathered himself, dashed to the front, and was in the clear by the time the field hit the clubhouse turn. Never threatened, he won by three over his six rivals, including Pompoon. The crowd roared when his time was posted, 2:28 3/5, faster by a tick than his daddy's track record for a mile-and-a-half and equaling the American standard.
Alone it was a smashing performance, rating up there with any other in the race's long history. Just how smashing no one knew until he entered the winner's circle. Trainer Conway's first post-race concern was always how his horse fared and his attention was immediately drawn to a gosh-awful amount of blood oozing from the colt's right forefoot, his underbelly splattered with blood.
Incredibly, he found that an inch-square area of the quarter part of the hoof was sheared off, having most likely done the deed when he caught himself at the start. The Belmont Stakes has since been won in quicker times and by far larger margines, but none with more class.
War Admiral's TC races and The Pimlico Special (video)
War Admiral and Seabiscuit in the PIMLICO SPECIAL 1938 - War Admiral was the betting favorite, and after two false starts the race was underway. Seabiscuit, who was usually a come-from-behind horse, changed the anticipated race strategy when he took command immediately, and although War Admiral stuck beside him into the homestretch, Seabiscuit gamely fought off War Admiral's bid for the lead and won by four lengths.
The Pimlico Special Article by Grantland Rice as it appeared in the Baltimore Sun papers in 1938
As a five-year-old, The Admiral won his only start, a purse event in which he beat 1938 Belmont Stakes winner Pasteurized, before an injured ankle forced the end of his racing days.
Retired to stud, War Admiral stood first at Faraway Farm, and was then moved to Hamburg Place in 1958. The Admiral led the Sire's List in 1945, and was the leading sire of juvenile performers three years later. War Admiral was also an excellent broodmare sire, with his daughters including the great handicap mare Busher, who beat Calumet Farm's champion gelding Armed in the Washington Park Handicap and was named 1945 Horse of the Year, as well as Busanda, a multiple stakes winner whose victories included the 1951 Suburban Handicap and two runnings of the Saratoga Gold Cup, and whose offspring included Buckpasser, the 1966 Horse of the Year.
War Admiral died in 1959 and was honored with a place beside his daddy at the base of that heroic statue, deserving of the spot. His Belmont Stakes effort stands head-to-head with any other renewal. Of it, the great equine artist Richard Stone Reeves, who was 17 years old when he witnessed the race, wrote in his book, Legends:
The gallantry of the racehorse is his hall mark, and adding to the visual and emotional impact War Admiral thrust upon me that June day his own literal "red badge of courage".
