Man o' War: A Legend Like Lightning

Very engaging and informative story about the race horse that all other race horses are compared to. Full of verified information from reliable sources, it’s told in a very readable style. If you’re interested in Thoroughbred horse racing in the early to mid 1900s I think you would enjoy this book.

The author does a remarkable service telling the story of American horse racing's legend of the roaring twenty 's . The insight into Man O War's groom is enlightening and entertaining.

I thought at first that this book was a little condensed and perhaps was for kids. Then I got into it and found that it added more about the Man's personality than some accounts have said. He is generally portrayed as almost as bad as his sire and grand sire in temper and nervousness. However, it is apparent that he liked his jockeys and they liked and trusted him. Mr. Riddle was not quite the guy who depresses all at the party as he seemed to be much more open about sharing Big Red and his farm with the public than with War Admiral but he was younger then. That was good to learn. The pictures are a delightful bonus. To stand a picture of Man o War next to one of Secretariat would start a new war on social media about which horse was greater as they both had magnificent conformation and you could see the determination in their eyes. Lastly there is an appendix at the end giving a history of the foundation sires of the American Thoroughbred breed as well as Man O War's lineage and the foals he sired with their racing history. Don't write this one off. This book is appealing to horse lovers and non horse lovers alike. It provides a good peak at the good and bad of horse racing.

Man O' War's story is beautiful, gripping, empowering and frustrating. He was in such a class by himself that there is no denying that we never truly got to see Man O' War to his fullest extent. While this book does its best to dispel rumors and myths about Man O' War, it also makes it shockingly clear just how fast and incredibly multi-faceted this horse was. Man O' War could handle distances both short and long, and he often set both American and World Records running only against himself, as unfortunately the more people realized how fast he was, the less likely anyone wanted to try and face him. While the book starts off a little slow, Ms. Ours ultimately weaves a cohesive and informative story with many insights into the personal challenges and struggles that both Man O' War, his trainer Lou, his jockeys, and his owner Sam Riddle had to face as they came to realize the sheer power of the horse in their hands. Ms. Ours also does a wonderful job giving us some context for the time by sharing information about Sir Barton, the first triple crown winner who would come to be seen by the public as Man o' War's biggest challenger, which helps set the stage for Man o' War's epic match race with him at the end. I really enjoyed learning about Sir Barton because when you see all of his accomplishments it creates an actual sense of rivalry while also really shedding light on just how incredibly fast Man o' War was, as the final race with Sir Barton gives you a pretty straight comparison between the two horses. Man O' War is a legend not only because he broke many records and scared other horse owners from even racing him (as time went on), but he also is a legend because there still remains some doubt as to whether we ever saw Man O' War pressed to his full extent, not to mention we never did see him race as a four year old (for understandable reasons). In fact the book only recounts one instance where a whip was used on him, and only one time, and when the whip hit he took off ahead of another horse in the last few furlongs so fast that people couldn't believe he could have any energy left to do that at the pace he was setting. Here was a horse so fast and powerful it is likely we will never see such a spectacle again. For horse racing lovers and sports history lovers, Dorothy Ours has done a masterful work with Man O' War.

There has been some great books on Thoroughbred racing past and present over the past several years. Dorothy Ours pens a classic on the history surrounding a champion for the ages, Man o' War. The reader regally captures the personalities, the controversies and the racers in what many consider "The Golden Age of Sports." The vast research by Ours and her flowing writing style makes the era come alive. It may come as a surprise that industry issues like juiced tracks, juiced runners and equally juicy rumors surrounding jockeys, gamblers and security issues at the tracks that capture headlines today were front-page issues nearly 90 years ago. The book is a must for a fan of Thoroughbred racing. And it is about time for those who learned about the sport through the classic book and movie about Seabiscuit to get reacquainted with the Sport of Kings.

Nice book, full of history and human interest, including the bizarre politics of NY racing and the Jockey Club. However, it was a bit short on the kind of "horsey" information that horse lovers crave. Such a shame not to have included more about Will Harbut's relationship to Man O'War, but gave a clear portrait of the man himself. Good read.

I enjoyed the story, which seemed well researched with lots of factual details. A great story for the fan of horse racing! What I didn't enjoy was the large number of punctuation mistakes and errors of words having an unnecessary dash in the middle.

I waitet for this book just a little bit over a week, but it was totally worth it! I read it in just three days and was so sad when i turned the last page. But it's not just about the red superhorse, its about the people that brought him up and the hard living in these old days. I really enjoyed ist. I think its a really good book for horselovers, but also for someone who is interested in the history not only about horseracing in America but the history about America in generell.