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MAN O WAR AS A SIRE By SALVATOR Just about three years ago I received a very interesting letter from a gentleman who was a complete stranger to me and lived in a distant state He wrote that he was deeply interested in the breeding of race horses as well as racing generally that he had read various articles which I had written pub ¬ lished in the turf press and that he was anxious to talk over with me a question in connection with the breeding problem if I was willing to do so He added that he was expecting to visit Chicago about the time the American Derby was to be run and would like to make an appointment with be about that date dateI I replied saying that I would be pleased to meet him for that purpose and when he arrived here not long afterward he got in touch with me and an interview followed He impressed me as an earnest and intelli ¬ gent man who was sincerely interested in the breeding of thoroughbreds at the outset of our conversation but it was some time before he broached the particular subject for which he had sought me out Finally however he got down to it And what do you suppose it was wasWell Well nothing more nor less than this thisAssuming Assuming that I knew a rather large order by the way he wished to learn what was the matter with Man o War that he had turned out such a failure as a sire sireGREATEST GREATEST SIRE ALIVE ALIVEMy My dear sir I responded when he had put the question in flat terms I am some ¬ what at a loss to answer you it being my opinion that Man o War is the greatest sire alive today todayIs Is that really your opinion he returned Do you really believe that thatI I certainly do was my answer answerHe He looked somewhat astonished and then resumed resumedWell Well Im glad to hear you say so but Im very much surprised I suppose you know the talk that is going on among breed ¬ ers everywhere nowadays about Man o War that he made a sensational start as a sire with American Flag Crusader Scapa Flow Mars Bateau etc but has become a com ¬ plete flop For a number of years now he has failed to keep up the clip Last season he was far down on the list of winning sires and so far as things look this season to date he will be still farther down at the end of the year He hasnt had a real star out for half a dozen years yearsEverybody Everybody is saying that Man o War is through as a sire and the way things are going it wont be long before nobody will want his blood at any price Now mind you Im not giving you this as my own senti ¬ ments Personally I have been a Man o War enthusiast ever since he was king of the turf in his racing days Its hard for me to believe what theyre saying about him now Of course theyre not saying so openly but behind their hands they are If youll go down into Kentucky and start the subject in a private way youll get just exactly the line of conversation Ive indicated A few years ago everybody in Kentucky was crazy about Man b War as a sire now its just the other way Theyre knocking him down there be ¬ hind his back as they are almost everywhere else that is where theres any interest in breeding I thought you might be in pos ¬ session of the inside facts and could tell me why it is and whats the reason reasonHe He spoke very earnestly and paused for my reply replyAs As I said nothing for a moment he added addedPerhaps Perhaps Im telling you nothing that you didnt already know Probably I havent Because all this talk couldnt be going on and reach the stage it has very well with ¬ out your getting next to it itNo No I told him in that supposition you are quite correct Ive been aware of what was going on all along But so far as I am concerned it has never meant much to me Except that it all seemed to me only another demonstration of the fickleness of human nature and the jealousy spite and bush wacking that goes on in the breeding busi ¬ ness Otherwise it has meant nothing to me Nothing whatever whateverWhy Why WhyONLY ONLY RECORDS LIVE LIVEWhy Why Because Man o War has already done enough several times over to give him a secure position among the greatest sires that America has ever produced He has done far more than any other living Ameri ¬ can sire As John E Madden used to say opinions die orily the records live And what I have said isnt just my opinion It is what the records show showBut But But what whatBut But how do you explain the falling off of his recent crop of foals foalsMy My dear sir you must be aware of the fact that no horse even the greatest can keep on being the champion sire every sea ¬ son and all the while In the case of Man o War you must recall that he is a private stallion He serves no public mares being limited to those owned by Mr Riddle and Mr Jeffords It is only on rare occasions that he is allowed to serve one owned by anybody else as a special concession He is strictly limited also in the number he is al ¬ lowed to serve Twentyfive is the limit Under no circumstances is he ever mated with more in any one season seasonIMMENSE IMMENSE HANDICAP HANDICAPIt It is the history of breeding that the sires which have made the greatest suc ¬ cesses year after year over an extended period have been public stallions In that way they get access to the cream of the mares of the whole country and of all strains of blood When one is confined to the same band of mares which year after year remains much the same in makeup and when the resulting foals are almost never sold by their breeders but are raced in their private stables and trained by their train ¬ ers only you will realize that the handicap is an immense one oneIn In the case of Man o War one may say that it is one horse one stock farm and that not a large one and two relatively small racing stables against the world The odds are tremendous And the greatest sire which ever lived could not accept them and win year and year in fhese days of immense racing and breeding expansion and intense competition competitionMan Man o War covers never to exceed twen ¬ tyfive mares per season He is a very sure horse and his percentage of foals from mares covered is high But as you are aware mares will abort lose their foals produce weaklings and the like Also there are seasons when epidemics will affect brood mares and many normally fruitful will be barren while other epidemics will affect foals Accidents will occur and they are no respecter of perons among horses as among men I happen to know that some of the most promising foals by Man o War in recent seasons have been the victims of bad luck and the public has never heard of them Again there are the exigencies of training and racing They have beset some of the very best of the get of Man o War and prevented them from showing their great ¬ ness nessIf If a horse is getting big crops of foals annually and they are being widely dis ¬ tributed among the best owners trainers and stables the incidence in such matters is much reduced But in the case of a horse like Man o War situated as he is it is doubled doubledMAGNIFICENT MAGNIFICENT VIRILITY VIRILITYYou You must bear these things in mind when the knockers the backbiters the anvil chorus generally attack Man o War Last spring I spent a week at his home Faraway Farm and was given every opportunity by his owner Mr Riddle and his manager Mr Harrie Scott to study him and the way he is kept and managed I saw all the brood mares sucklings and yearlings and was told everything I desired to know about them I ouid him in a condition of mag ¬ nificent virility and his foals a lot that any breeder would rejoice in I wish to assure you that the talk about Man o Wars being through as a sire is rubbish That he is the greatest stallion in America today and that the future will see more great per ¬ formances by his get These are the facts as I know them themMy My questioner listened intently to what I had to tell him and seemed much relieved He thanked me for dispelling his perturba ¬ tion and said he had received a new slant on the situation We shook hands and parted partedBRUSHUPS BRUSHUPS FIRST FOAL FOALIt It was in April 1933 that I spent the week mentioned above with Man o War and it was just about at that very time that he was being mated with Brushup by Sweep a young mare only four years old whose first foal came that spring the produce being War Admiral 1934 that has just won the 1937 Kentucky Derby DerbyAccording According to statistics compiled by editor J A Estes of the Blood Horse the Lexing ¬ ton Ky thoroughbred magazine up to Jan ¬ uary 1 1937 Man o War had but 235 foals that had lived to racing age two years from his entire service for thirteen seasons 1921 to 1933 inclusive inclusiveThey They had won a grand total of 2144281 or an average per foal for the entire 235 of 9125 9125These These figures place him at the top of all living sires They not only do so for Amer ¬ ica there is no other stallion owned in any other country that can make such a showing either in total winnings or in the average per foal sired
