Who was the greatest race horse?

Question

Who was the greatest race horse?

Answer 1

My favorite racehorses are

1) Man O War

2) Seabiscuit

3) Secretariat

4) Barbaro

5) Whirlaway

Answer 2

That pretty much depends on who you ask and what era you're talking about.  Here in the US, arguments can be made for old-time horses like Man O' War, Colin, and Sysonby; in more modern times, Secretariat gets a lot of votes, as do Seattle Slew, Kelso, and Forego.

Overseas, you have brillian racehorses like Nijinsky II, Brigadier Gerard, Shergar, Mill Reef, Allez France, Makybe Diva, and Phar Lap.  

I don't know if I could pick one as "the greatest" just on the basis of a racing career. However, I would like to make an argument for two horses that have changed the sport forever.

Northern Dancer was a dynamite racehorse, arguably one of the better Derby winners in the last half of the 20th century, but it was as a sire that he changed the world.  It's hard to find a champion racehorse anywhere in the world that doesn't carry his blood.  Sons Lyphard, Sadler's Wells, Nijinsky II, Storm Bird, Be My Guest, Danzig, The Minstrel, Nureyev, Vice Regent, and all the other sons who became stakes sires-- too many to name.  

The fortunes of Coolmore farm were virtually founded on Northern Dancer blood.  The rise of the commercial breeding industry-- the switch from a situation where most people who raced, bred their own horses to the status quo today, where commercial breeders who sell at the yearling sales or two-year-olds in training sales are the predominant sources of racing stock-- was fueled by horses from the Northern Dancer line.

...And where the Northern Dancers ended, the Mr. Prospectors begin.  While he wasn't around long enough to make much of a mark at the racetrack, this son of Raise a Native has left an indelible mark on the racing industry:  not all for the good, because the biggest knock against the Mr. Prospector line is that it doesn't produce horses with great soundness and longevity at the track.  The quintessential Mr. Prospector-line horse is a colt that is precocious at 2, with brilliant speed up to a mile and the class to carry it an eighth to a quarter-mile further against top opposition, but who only lasts for somewhere between 10 to 15 career starts.  Which seems to be acceptable to today's breeders:  brilliant stars who burn out fast aren't to be knocked, as long as they can be syndicated for a lot of money before their legs fail and as long as they reproduce themselves at stud.

I think if I had to choose two horses that have shaped the breed into what it is today, Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector have to stand by themselves as the greatest breed-shaping Thoroughbred stallions of our time.

Answer 3

That's highly subjective.  I would vote for Secretariat

Answer 4

Seabiscuit has a great story I highly recommend the movie! I'm sure barbaro lady will chime in with her answer.

Answer 5

GO TO YOUTUBE.COM AND CLICK TRIPLE CROWN WINNERS 1973, BIG RED WON THE TRIPLE CROWN, AND THEN WENT ON TO BEAT OLDER HORSES ON GRASS AND DIRT, AND HIS STABLE MATE RIVA RIDGE ALSO RAN AS HIS ENTRY AND CAME IN 2ND BEHIND BIG RED.....GO SECRETARIAT

Answer 6

I agree with everyone who has posted before me but probably the best horse I have ever seen in person was Candy Ride. That was a monster. Who knows what damage he could have done if he was imported sooner in his carrer or if he had not got hurt. But I guess we can say that about a lot of talented horses whos racetrack days were cut short by injury or greedy owners who care more about the breeding money than the sport itself.

Answer 7

Secretariat

Answer 8

It's a matter of opinion.  My top horses are:

1) Secretariat

2) Man O' War

3) Ruffian (philly)

4) Pharlap

5) Seabiscuit

Answer 9

That is people's opinion. Personally I loved seabiscut.

Answer 10

The greatest race horse can be defined in several ways.  Racing record, career earnings, pedigree etc.  However, what really defines a great horse is the power over the people.   They say that you can't anticipate greatness  but it is something that humans or non-humans get.  In my opinion the greatest race horse that ever raced was Secretariat.  They say he was the perfect horse in measurement  although his racing record was not.  He came into racing at a time when the Watergate scandal was gripping a nation and here is a horse that was on the cover of Time magazine.  The ESPN Sportscentury on Secretariat is wonderful and very inspiring.  Secretariat was the peoples horse and still is.  I hops this is helpful

Answer 11

I'd have to say for the colts, it's between Secretariat and Man O' War.  For fillies, there's no question it was Ruffian.

Answer 12

wow there is no really firm answere to that

Ruffian i would say just because she was a filly and did so much

hastings line is arguably the most well bred

but then there is seattle slew northeren dancer(who is very little still ran so hard) of course everbody is going to say seabiscut because of th e movie and all

there is what a pleasure oh man so much more like man o war secartariat i think rgs to rihes is coming up there but barbaro will be remembered for ever. but there are just so many

Answer 13

In my opinion, Secretariat.  1973 Triple Crown winner.

The 13-horse 1973 Kentucky Derby shaped up as a duel between Secretariat and Sham. The two held back early -- Secretariat at the rear; Sham just off the lead. Then Laffit Pincay moved Sham to the front just before the final turn. Turcotte moved Secretariat to the outside to close on Sham, who was picking up steam.

"I didn't think anybody would be able to catch him," Pincay said of Sham. "I knew we were going to win."

Secretariat had other ideas. He caught Sham halfway down the stretch and won by 2 1/2 lengths in a world-record time of 1:59 2/5, the only Derby winner to crack two minutes.

Two weeks later in the Preakness, Secretariat went from last to first on the clubhouse turn, never relinquished the lead and beat Sham again by 2 1/2 lengths. Clockers timed him in a Pimlico-record 1:53 2/5 for the 1 3/16 miles, but because of an apparently malfunctioning clock, the official time was recorded as 1:54 2/5, two-fifths of a second off the track record set by Canonero II in the 1971 Preakness.

Only four horses challenged Secretariat in the Belmont, even though the previous seven horses to have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness withered in the 1 1/2-mile race, unable to match Citation's 1948 Triple Crown.

"Big Red" changed all that on June 9, 1973.

Secretariat and Sham broke together and stayed that way into the first turn. They were by themselves on the backstretch when Secretariat made the biggest move ever seen in a Triple Crown race.

"Secretariat is alone. He is moving like a tremendous machine!" track announcer Chick Anderson yelled. "He's going to be the Triple Crown winner. Unbelievable! An amazing performance. He's 25 lengths in front!"

"I kept hearing Chick Anderson," Turcotte said. "I finally had to turn to see where the other horses were. I know this sounds crazy, but the horse did it by himself. I was along for the ride."

Secretariat paid $2.20 to win and his 2:24 remains a world record for 1 1/2 miles on a dirt track, and it's still two full seconds better than subsequent challengers to his Belmont Stakes record. The 2 3/5 seconds by which he broke Gallant Man's 16-year-old track record was the equivalent of 13 lengths.

But most impressive was the 31-length gap. It was so big, even the widest angle of the CBS camera covering the stretch run could barely show Secretariat in the same shot as the next-nearest horse, Twice A Prince. As Charles Hatton wrote in The Daily Racing Form, "His only point of reference is himself."

The ensuing months were anticlimactic for Secretariat. Suffering from a fever, he lost the Whitney Stakes at Saratoga to Onion in August and the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park to Prove Out. But he went out in triumph. On Oct. 28, 1973, he won the 1 5/8-mile Canadian International Championship Stakes by 6 1/2 lengths in the cold of suburban Toronto, raising his career earnings to $1,316,808.

In stud, Secretariat sired such future champions as 1988 Preakness and Belmont winner Risen Star and 1986 Horse of the Year Lady's Secret. But none of his offspring came close to matching the standard he set.

He remained a popular figure even after Secretariat Mania subsided. But his life ended tragically. Suffering from laminitis -- a painful hoof disease -- the 19-year-old superstar was given a lethal injection on Oct. 4, 1989, at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky.

"It was a terrible day for all of us," Claiborne president Seth Hancock said. "We just couldn't stand to see him suffer."

To this day, Secretariat remains one of the first names everyone thinks of whenever the topic of horse racing comes up. "It's hard to believe after all these years," Chenery said, "but hardly a day goes by that I don't get mail about Secretariat."

Answer 14

well i'm sure that lots of people are going to put or have put Man O' War, Secretariat, Barbaro, Afleet Alex, Affirmed, etc. But there is not just one great race horse of all time there's tons!

the most famous one's though are probably

-Man O' War

-Secretariat

-Barbaro

-Ruffian

but truely to me, Barbaro is my favorite race horse of all time. he did so much. yes, he would've probably won the Triple Crown. but the thing that happen to him. thats even a bigger story then winning the Triple Crown (i think)

anyways, i will probably get a thumbs down. but i don't care. Barbaro was the greatest race horse of all time in my opinion.

have a good week!

-mel