The Wilmington morning star., 1940-04-21
RIDDLE RECALLS
GREAT MAN 0'WAR
Owner Of Great Horse Now
Divides Time Between
His Three Estates
Ry OLIVER DEWOLF

BY OLIVER DEWOLF
GLEN RIDDLE, Pa, April 20
R-Twenty years ago the flying
hoofs of a big, red horse cut ar in.
delible record into American turf
history.
He raced only two years-a brief
career for a race horse-won 20 of
21 starts, set five American and
world track records and was re-
tired by his owner after earning
nearly $250,000.
His name was Man O'War.
And today as 20 years ago-and
in all probability as long as there
is an American turt-the names of
Man O'War and his owner, Samuel
D. Riddle, are linked together.
No story about n is complete
without mention of the other, and
so it is in this story of Samuel D.
Riddle, the Laird Of Glen Riddle
and a horseman of the old school.
wv h1lo"s Ut llluSCuy SllllllIlS
as he recalled his older companions
and the Genes of many races
where his black and primrose"
yellow colors flashed out in front,
when 1 go to the Great Beyond.
l hope there is some place where
the horses can run again."
Riddle divides his time between
his three-generation-old estate in
Delaware county, Pennsylvania; his
farm in Maryland which he still
visits at least once a week to super
wise the training of his IS young
horses, and Man O'War's home on
Riddles faraway farm, deep in the
Kentucky Blue Grass region near
Lexington.
He is approaching his 18th birth.
day now-and Big Red is %.
Riddle is in good health. He saws
that Big Red" is in perfect
shape"
Comfortably dressed in brown
sport clothes, his blue shirt open at
the neck and shod in a pair of house
slippers, Riddle seems to blend per.
fectly with his charming old country
hilltop home.
I'm growing old" he started out
smiling, land YOU know I've decided
to be nice to everyone. l wasn't al.
ways.
He likes to settle into a chair In
his large, glass arboretum, ("the
first like it in this part of the coun-
try,") and tell of early eastern
Pennsylvania, anecdotes of the hunt
the horse shows and the turf and of
Man O. War and the sons and
daughters of the big. red stallion.
Have you ever seen Man O. Wars
registration" he asked. We'll Ill
show it to YOU"
In an unH~retentious black frame,
the certificate showed that Big
Red was foaled March 20, 1917 by
Fairplay out of Mahubah. 1t was
issued the following November to
August Belmont, from whom Riddle
purchased the yearling in 1918 for
$4,000.
II had the best horse and the best
jockey in the world" Riddle assert
ed, lin Man o. War and Joe Lotus,
You know Man O. War ran onlv Fl
races as a two and three-year-old
and then 1 retired him. You couldn't
hold that horse back when he was
behind. but when he was ahead you
could have held him with = silk
thread. He would run them into the
ground at the start"
Riddle thought SO much of the
great horse that he retired hin,
rather than to chance he would be
injured later. Pointing out big
Red" carried 1873 pounds in his next
to last race, Riddle related his con-
~versation with a Handicapped in
which he asked how much weight
Man o. War would have to carry if
he raced as a f~our-year-old.
Il was told" Riddle said, that lie
would carry more weight than any
horse had ever carried before. I
knew such weight would break down
his legs and I would V let that
happen in the world-so 1 retired
him."
Man o. War, he emphasized, was
retired sound. And that, he believes,
is the reason for the greatness of
his offspring.
Horses today are better than they
used to be. Maybe they are not as
tough but they have more speed and
size and I think horsemen today
should breed for soundness."
1t was the late Luther Burbank,
Riddle said, who once wrote him a
suggestion regarding breeding that
he has since followed successfully.
War Admiral came of the sugges-
~, ., Ti.> -yof Civnl I~-~-