Who is the greatest racehorse of all time?

Question

Who is the greatest racehorse of all time?

Answer 1

Man of War or Secretariat

Answer 2

SEA BISCUIT

Answer 3

Big Brown

Answer 4

barbaro or big brown

Answer 5

Secretariat, no contest. His Belmont was so incredibly touching, and the pure heart he possessed surpasses all other racehorses.

HOWEVER...

I was not alive at the time. My favorite racehorse I've lived to see is Big Brown, for he is the first horse I really got into. I watched his races and was horribly disappointed by his third jewel of the Triple Crown, but I still adore him. Barbaro was an amazing colt too.

Answer 6

I can only speak to the question of who the best of all time was in North America, and I would say Man O War.

Answer 7

big red of 1973.....won belmont by 31 lenghts

Answer 8

secratariet  

Answer 9

seabiscuit - she came just in the nick of time:)

Answer 10

is there a single greatest race horse of all time? probably not! as all great horses have there pro's and cons, despite what some people say!

however i will indulge you in some aussie and new zealend horses that i associate with the word great!

takeover target

tulloch

super impose

sunline

karasi

do some research on all the horses that answer's have named, and dont just pick a horse that you have heard of before!

Answer 11

it depends on the socio economic times of different countries, in the depression people were looking for a hero to worship, sea biscuit in the usa, phar lap in australia and new zealand, and then later on secretariat, bernborough,kindergarten, and probably europe and england had their champions,and in later times seattle slew,sunline , manikato and a host of others. good question, but tough to answer

Answer 12

I have to say Secretariat or Man O' War

Answer 13

Secretariat.

Answer 14

This is a great question that has been argued many times.  It cracks me up to see the gentleman who lists his Aussie and New Zealand Horses....but doesn't mention Phar Lap???  How can you talk of Down under horses and not begin with the greatest horse to come out of the southern hemisphere???  

But I am getting off subject....sorry!

All of the polls and panels that have been put together seem to agree that the answer is found among the same two horses...Man o War and Secretariat.  Two great horses seperated by over a half century of time. So how do you decide between the two?

If you look at their records only.....then it is an easy choice.  Man O War won 20 of his 21 starts, while Secretariat lost 5 times.  So Man O War wins right?.....but hold on.....Native Dancer won 21 of his 22 starts and the only race he lost was by a nose....hmmmmmm?

So lets go further....Secretariat took on all comers at all distances on all surfaces, while Man O War was restricted to sprints in his two year old season by his owner Sam Riddle.  Secretariat beat Sham in all three Triple Crown Races and Shams time in the Derby would have been a new record.....if he had not been second to Secretariat.  So Secretariat wins right?.....but hold on....you can't judge Man O War soley by the actions of his owner can you?????

We can't really look at the times that they ran in the races, both of them set numerous track, stakes, and national records!   Secretariats times were faster, if you put his time for the Belmont up against the best time that Man O War ever ran covering a mile and 1/2, Secretariat would have won by about 20 lengths!  But is it fair to compare 1920's horses directly to 1970's horses?  The average speed of horses had improved drastically in the 50 years.

So here is how I made my choice... I compared the times that Man O War and Secretariat ran in races, with the average time run for the same race in the 5 years before and after they each had run them.

Man O War skipped the Derby so we will start with the Preakness.

His time in the Preakness was 1:51 3/5 seconds at the then distance of 1 mile and 1/8.

The average of the times around his 1920 run was about 1:53 1/5

So Man O War beat the average by 1 and 3/5 second

Of Course Secretariats time in the Preakness has been disputed as much as the question Who is the greatest racehorse of all time!

Here are the three versions of his Preakness time

1:54 the time on the electric scoreboard that day

1:53 2/5 the time of three Daily Racing Form Clockers

1:54 2/5 the hand clocked time of the Pimlico timer

Offically the time has been listed at 1:54 2/5

The average time for the years around 1973 is 1:55

So Secretariat's time is between 3/5 to 1 3/5 faster than the average

So all things considered...even Sam Riddle would call the Preakness a draw.

The Belmont....everyone knows about Secretariat's record braking run, winning by 31 lengths.....but how did Man O War do in the Belmont?

Man O War ran the Belmont in 2:14 1/5 seconds for the then distance of 1 mile 3/8.  The average for this distance for the years around 1920 was 2:17 3/5  So Man O War beat the average time by 3 2/5 seconds

Secretariat ran the Belmont in 2:24 for the 1 1/2 miles....the average for the years around 1973 was 2:26 3/5, so he beat the average by 2 3/5 seconds

It says a lot about the greatness of both of these horses, that I have to go to so many silly computations to decide who I think is the Greatest...but I have to go with the numbers....everything being equal...I go will Man O War by a wisker over Secretariat!!