Upset

Ok, so blogger is acting potty, and refuses to upload the image of the hero of the day. I am quite put out about all of this, but the show must go on, as they say. Today's hero is a horse, I never said that all my heroes were going to be human, and anyone that knows me, knows I love to play the ponies. I love betting, I love the horses, and I love betting on the horses. The hero today is one Man o' War foaled this day 1917, in Lexington, Kentucky. Clearly, before my time as a pony player, but if I had been around I might have put 2 bucks on him to win, and win he did. In 21 life time starts Man o' War won 20 times. No a bad record for a horse that was sold at auction for a mere 5,000 quid. During the time he was racing, there were no starting gates, horses would line up behind a flimsy piece of webbing known as a barrier, and were sent off when it was raised. In his only loss, the 1919 Sanford Memorial Stakes, Man o' War was still circling around behind the barrier, and when the barrier went up his back was to the starting line. His jockey then made several riding errors, in order to try and recover from this gaffe, and Man o' War eventually finished second by a half-length to the aptly named Upset. This was to be the only loss of his career, but is not the origin (as many people think) of the term "upset." Man o' War would go on to win the Preakness, and the Belmont, he did not race in the Kentucky Derby because his owner did not want him to, thus depriving racing of a sure Triple Crown winner. The first recognized Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, provided Man o' War his competition in what was his last race. The 1920 Kenilworth Park Gold Cup was a match race between the two, and Man o' War won by a solid seven lengths. He was a super horse make no mistake, and usually ended up carrying far more weight than his competitors, which makes his record even more amazing. He was retired after his 3 year old campaign, and spent the next 27 years at stud, having lots of sex, and living the high life. He was the sire of War Admiral, who won the Triple Crown in 1937, and a host of other fine racers. In Blood Horse Magazine Man o' War ranks number 1 of a list of the top 100 American Thoroughbred Champions. So, for being a super horse, and a super stud for all those years, Man o' War (March 29th, 1917-November 1st, 1947, at the age of 30, of an apparent heart attack), you are my (215th) hero of the day.