Of all the Breyer horse models, my favourites are the Racing Legends models. This undoubtedly has something to do with my love of thoroughbreds in general....
On this list are greats like:
Man O War: 1917 - 1947 (Fair Play x Mahubah)
To many, the big chestnut is the greatest Thoroughbred who ever raced and he has become a sort of yard stick by which every racehorse before and after has been measured. Fondly called "Big Red" by his legion of fans, he won 20 of his 21 races and smashed all sorts of American records along the way. His one and only loss was due to a mess up at the starting line but even so he only just lost by half a length, an amazing feat in itself considering how far back he had been at the start of the race.
If Man O War was an outstanding race horse, he was an even more outstanding sire. Retired in 1920 after setting three world records, two American records and three track records, he went on to set more records in the breeding barn. For some reason his owner only allowed a small handful of outside mares to be bred to the stallion each season and many believed a lot of the mares he covered did not do him justice. Despite this, he still managed to sire over 60 stakes winners and more than 200 individual champion race horses.His best offspring was undoubtedly War Admiral but other famous progeny and grand progeny include Crusader, American Flag, Bateau, Mars, Maid at Arms, Clyde Van Dusen, War Relic, Battleship and Seabiscuit.
War Admiral: 1934 - 1959 (Man O War x Brushup)
Whilst Seabiscuit was dominating races on the west coast of America, his paternal relation War Admiral, a son of the mighty Man O War and unarguably his best, was dominating the east coast racing scene. As both horses took hold of the American public's imagination in a time of unrest and great hardship, clamourings began for a match race between the two. After several aborted attempts, the Match Race of the Century finally took place on the 1st of November 1938. War Admiral was the outright favourite but it was Seabiscuit who took the honours, winning by four lengths.
War Admiral was a tiny horse as gallopers go, hence his nickname The Mighty Atom. He was just a tad over 15.2 hands and a rich dark brown in colour with no white markings at all. By all accounts he was also highly strung and nervy with a renowned dislike of starting barriers. However, it was testament to his ability that this didn't affect his racing or will to win and in 1939 he retired having won 21 of his 26 starts, the 1937 Horse of the Year award and $273,240 in stakes money.
At stud War Admiral continued to dominate the racing scene. He sired of 40 stakes winners, was the leading US sire in 1945 and leading juvenile sire in 1948.
Seabiscuit: 1933 - 1947 (Hard Tack x Swing On)
At a time when the Great Depression and volatile European politics dominated world news and the outbreak of the Second World War was on the horizon, an ordinary bay stallion with not very good legs managed to out sell both President Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler on the news stands. He was an underdog who captured the imaginations of the public like no other and who defied great odds to become one of the all time greats of the turf scene.
Heavily raced as a two and three year old, his story is all the more amazing because those crooked legs should not have stood up to such punishing treatment. That they did, and that this little horse was still recording wins and places as a 7 year old is true testament to his grit, determination and toughness. Seabiscuit was also one of the participants in what has been called the Match Race of the century. Pitted against another great racehorse in War Admiral, Seabiscuit won by four lengths, still pulling away at the finish line. Interestingly, War Admiral was a son of the mighty Man O War and Seabiscuit was a grandson. Seabiscuit was named 1938 Horse of the Year following his victory against War Admiral.At stud he sired 108 foals including the handy performers Sea Swallow and Sea Sovereign. He died in 1947 from a heart attack. A film about him was released in 2003.
Phar Lap: 1926–1932 (Night Raid – Entreaty)
One of the greatest Australian gallopers of all time, Phar Lap was born in New Zealand and was purchased by Australian / American interests as a gangly, unprepossessing yearling. He went on to capture the hearts and imagination of an entire nation and to this day, 70 odd years after his untimely death at only 5 and a half years of age, he remains an enduring symbol of Australian racing. Indeed I suspect the only horse that has come close to receiving the same adulation is the mighty mare Black Caviar.
Phar Lap's short time on this earth was not without drama and controversy. He was subjected to an assassination attempt on the eve of the 1930 Melbourne Cup, which he went on to win. Shipped off to America, he beat the best that country had to put up against him with contemptuous ease under conditions that could have been his undoing. He had travelled thousands of miles by sea to get there, he went from a temperate Australian autumn to a stifling Mexican summer and was starting to grow a winter coat, he suffered a hoof injury in the lead up to the Agua Caliente which necessitated him wearing a type of heavy barred shoe he'd never worn before yet he still trounced an international field of stars.
A fortnight later a stunned and shocked Australia mourned his death under tragic and mysterious circumstances. Recent forensic analysis has finally determined that the cause of his death was arsenic poisoning; 2 or 3 days before he died he had ingested a massive dose of arsenic. Who gave it to him and whether it was intentional or accidental, bearing in mind that it was common practice to feed small doses of arsenic to race horses at that time, will almost certainly never be established.
Phar Lap won 37 of his 51 starts, came second 3 times and 3rd twice. In 2000 his earnings were recalculated using year 2000 comparisons and it was calculated that if he had been racing in the late 1990's he would have earned a total of Au$15,754,008 in prize money. As a comparison - the great mare Makybe Diva retired in 2005 with an all time Australian record Au$14,526,685 in life time earnings but Phar Lap would have out earnt her by over a million dollars. I think this, more than anything, brings home just how great a horse Phar Lap was.Phar Lap's heart was found to be twice the size of a normal horse heart, proving that he too probably carried the famed X factor.
Secretariat: 1970 - 1989 (Bold Ruler x Somethingroyal)
One of the greatest racehorses of all time, Secretariat's 31 lengths winning margin in the 1973 Belmont Stakes still ranks as one of the biggest ever seen in any race. Possessed of an explosive turn of speed, he smashed track records that had stood for years. He was voted the 1972 American Horse of the Year, an extremely rare honour for a two year old - it was 25 years before another two year old won again.
At stud he sired 57 stakes winners including Lady’s Secret, Risen Star, General Assembly and Tinners Way. However, it is as a broodmare sire that Secretariat has left his real legacy, probably because he is believed to carry the magical 'X-factor' that is associated with a large heart and traces back through female lines to daughters of Eclipse. The trait is carried on the X chromosome so can only be passed on to female progeny. Daughters of Secretariat have produced champion sires like AP Indy, Storm Cat and Gone West to name but a few.
Secretariat was trained right throughout his career by Lucien Lauren and was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame after his retirement. A film documenting his life and achievements was released in 2010.Seattle Slew: 1974 - 2002 (Bold Reasoning x My Charmer)
Touted as one of the greatest all round racehorses ever produced, Seattle Slew not only captivated the imagination of his connections and all those who saw him race but went on to prove himself an absolute goldmine at stud. The fact that he also lived to 28 years of age undoubtedly helped set him up as one of the most influential sires of the modern era.
His total race earnings came to $1,208,726 but as a sire his progeny and grand progeny between them had more than tripled that figure by 2000. He remains the only Belmont Stakes winner to sire a Belmont Stakes winner (AP Indy) who in turn sired his own Belmont Stakes winner (Rags To Riches). His daughters have produced leading stakes winners of the caliber of Cigar.
Cigar: 1990 - (Palace Music x Solar Slew)
It wasn't just his 16 consecutive victories that put Cigar in the list of greats although they certainly helped. It was the way in which he did it that catapulted him onto the list of all time greats - the wins were all in Group 1 races against some of the best horses in the country and he was the first horse in 40 years to achieve this feat.
A grandson of Seattle Slew, Cigar showed an affinity for dirt tracks - he only won once on grass. As he started to string together his Group 1 wins, the US racing public began to sit up and take notice of the handsome bay. In 1996 he was taken to Dubai for the running of the inaugural Dubai Cup. The prize money was $4 million and even though it was not a Group 1 race it nevertheless attracted the best horses in the world. Cigar trounced them all and earned himself a permanent place on the list of all time great racehorses.
He retired to stud in 1996 amidst a blaze of glory having earnt $9,999,813 in prize money, a North American record at the time and one which stood until 2008. His stud fee was a colossal $75,000 but in one of those unfortunate twists of fate, he proved to be sterile. He was transferred to the Hall of Champions at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington to live out a peaceful retirement.
Smarty Jones: 2001 - (Elusive Quality x I'll Get Along)
A small but talented chestnut colt, Smarty Jones put together an 8 race winning streak on 8 different tracks over 8 different distances before going down in the Belmont over a distance that many believe was just a little too long for him. He was bred on sprinting lines and in his first 8 starts had shown blistering speed over the shorter distances of those races.
He was to have returned for a 3rd season but after suffering severe bruising in his fetlocks the decision was made to retire him to stud. He retired with 8 wins and a second from only 9 starts, $2,613,155 in prize money and a $5 million bonus from Oaklawn Park bringing his total earnings to $7,613,155.
His first foals hit the race track in 2006 and by 2012 he had become one of the top 3 sires in his home state of Philadelphia. In 2011 he was shipped to Uraguay for the southern hemisphere breeding season before returning to Philadelphia for the 2012 breeding season.
Zenyatta: 2004 - (Street Cry x Vertigineux)
Standing a massive 17.2 hands tall, mighty Zenyatta swept all before her with a 19 race winning streak to out rank previous record holders Cigar and Citation. In 2009 she became the first mare to win the Breeders Cup Classic, a race traditionally dominated by colts and stallions.
She produced her first foal in 2012, a bay colt by Bernadini. She is currently in foal to Tapit.
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