E. War Admiral in command of horseracing history
The royally bred colt was born in 1934 and owes the charisma and exceptional capabilities due to his sire, the great Man o’War. His resemblance was initially mistaken to be identical with that of his brother Crusader, who was mightier than War Admiral and
was a full hand taller.
Even as a two-year-old he got acknowledged for his promising performance and ability as he broke his maiden at the very first attempt and claimed another victory before getting into the league of stakes company. He failed to surface at the National Stallion
Stakes that he lost against Pompoon but did finish third quite impressively.
War Admiral’s second attempt saw him finishing second in the Great American Stakes at Aqueduct. Recovering from a cough after eleven weeks, War Admiral made a comeback to claim his first stakes victory in the Eastern Shore Handicap. Since then his career
winnings shot off drastically. It was to an extent that even after beginning the race a few minutes later did not seem to hamper War Admiral’s success in the races.
War Admiral has run twenty-six times out of which he won twenty-one of his starts. His wins also included the Pimlico Special and in 1937 achieved the United States Triple Crown, qualifying him for being the Horse of the Year.
In 1938, War Admiral’s racing career was concentrated in eastern United States where he won eight major races which included the Whitney Handicap and the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
War Admiral retired with total career earnings of $273,240. He is still remembered as one of the leading sires in 1945 and a foremost sire juvenile sire in 1948. War Admiral was also an outstanding broodmare sire as his daughters included the legendary handicap
mare Busher who has won the Washington Park Handicap and was entitled the Horse of the Year in 1945 along with Busanda who besides many stake winnings also stood out to be the Horse of the Year in 1966.
War Admiral was a nomination and then was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He has the thirteenth ranking in the top 100 United States Thoroughbred Champions of the 20th Century.
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