Herbert Haseltine

inscribed Man O War and Herbert Haseltine/MCMXXXV

Herbert Haseltine, Herbert Haseltine, New York, 1948, p. 9, illustrated p. 52

On March 29, 1917, Man O’War, one of the greatest thoroughbreds of all time, was foaled out of Mahubah by Fair Play.  The breeder, August Belmont II, of the famed racing family for whom Belmont Park and the Belmont Stakes are named, was preoccupied with his wartime task of supplying horses to the troops in Europe and decided to offer the majority of his yearling crop for sale privately.  When he did not receive any fair offers for the group, Belmont sent the 21 yearlings to auction in Saratoga and on August 17, 1918 Man o’War was purchased by Samuel D. Riddle for $5,000, a fair sum considering the average price for yearlings at the time was just over $1,000.  Mr. Riddle bought Man O’War at the urging of his trainer Louis Feustel, who had worked in the Belmont stable and wanted a Fair Play colt. 

Trained by Mr. Feustel at Glen Riddle Farm in Maryland, Man O’War went on to become one of America’s most beloved racehorses, winning 20 of 21 starts and setting numerous racing records.  Following his maiden victory at Belmont, won by six lengths, Man O’War was odds on favorite at every one of his races, in three of which the odds were 1-100 on.  His record over 1½ miles stood for 17 years.  Joe Palmer, a contemporary racing commentator, wrote of Man O’War, “He did not beat, he merely annihilated.  He did not run to world records, he galloped to them.  He was so far superior to his contemporaries that, except for one race against John P. Grier, they could not extend him.  In 1920 he dominated racing as perhaps no athlete…had dominated his sport." 

Man O’War retired to Faraway Farm in Ketucky where he sired the legendary War Admiral, adversary of Seabiscuit and winner of the Triple Crown.  Notably, Man O’War was also a grandfather of Seabiscuit.  In 1940 Mrs. Riddle commissioned Herbert Haseltine to memorialize the Horse of the Century in bronze.  The resulting life-size monument, of which the present work is a reduced version, stands at Man O’War’s gravesite at Kentucky Horse Park.  Upon Mr. Riddle’s death, his estate passed to Walter Jeffords, Sr., his business partner and husband of Mrs. Riddle’s niece, Sarah Dobson Fiske.