The Greatest Racehorse?

Man o' War and the Judgment of History

Mark Shrager

$46.95 $39.75

Paperback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Eclipse Press
03 August 2025

Horses & ponies; Horse racing

“Of all the great horses which have thundered over the American Turf, one towers above the others.” When Kent Hollingsworth, editor of the preeminent racing periodical The Blood-Horse, penned this line, he was writing about Man o’ War. The champion of 1919 and 1920, Man o’ War won twenty of his twenty-one races, often by astonishing margins and in record times that had hitherto been considered impossible.

There was an otherworldliness about Man o’ War, who was faster, stronger, more dominating than any Thoroughbred America had ever seen. Generations of racing writers, racing fans, and racegoers have taken it as a given that Man o’ War was the greatest horse ever produced in America. And perhaps he was. But like any athlete with a claim on greatness, his accomplishments should be judged against those of other horses born and raced over the decades. In no other sporting endeavor would it be suggested that an athlete who excelled during the Woodrow Wilson administration, at the time of Prohibition, at the conclusion of the First World War, remained the standard for unexcelled excellence in that sport’s history. Since Man o’ War’s heyday, literally hundreds of thousands of Thoroughbreds have competed. Surely, over the course of a century, at least one must have been even faster, even stronger, even more accomplished. The Greatest Racehorse sets out to compare Man o’ War to some of history’s most notable racehorses and determine whether the champion of a century ago retains the title as America’s best.

But Man o’ War had more importance for the sport than his physical excellence. Interest in Thoroughbred racing had lagged as the sport sought to overcome the era’s organized anti-gambling forces, as well as the economic impact of a world war and the spreading taint of the 1919 World Series gambling scandal. It is specifically with Man o’ War’s two years on the racetrack that the sport begins to recover, and it may not be an exaggeration to suggest that he was, in fact, the savior of his sport—and perhaps of the Thoroughbred breeding industry—which provides more than 60,000 jobs in Kentucky alone, with an economic impact of more than $1.3 billion dollars in a single Kentucky county. The Greatest Racehorse also analyzes Man o’ War’s relative greatness, emphasizing both his racetrack accomplishments and his place in history as the savior of a multi-billion-dollar sport, in order to answer the question: Was Man O’ War, indeed, the most outstanding racehorse in American history?

By: Mark Shrager
Imprint: Eclipse Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 21mm
Weight: 435g
ISBN: 9781493088881
ISBN 10: 1493088882
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 03 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Award-winning author Mark Shrager has published some 300 articles about every aspect of horse racing in magazines such as Turf & Sport Digest, American Turf Monthly, and others. His 1974 Turf & Sport Digest article, “1,001 Surefire Ways to Lose a Horse Race,” was published in the annual Best Sports Stories anthology. He is the author of The Great Sweepstakes of 1877: A True Story of Southern Grit, Gilded Age Tycoons, and a Race That Galvanized the Nation; Diane Crump: A Horse-Racing Pioneer’s Life in the Saddle, which won the 2020 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award for the best book on Thoroughbred racing; and The First Kentucky Derby: Thirteen lack Jockeys, One Shady Owner, and the Little Red Horse that Wasn’t Supposed to Win. He lives in Altadena, CA, and is a three-time Jeopardy! champion.

Reviews for The Greatest Racehorse?: Man o' War and the Judgment of History

Mark Shrager has found the winner’s circle once again! The Kentucky Derby is an American institution, but its foundational running has never been examined in such depth prior to this important and entertaining work. A master storyteller who presents history from previously neglected perspectives, Shrager has delivered the first truly comprehensive account of the inaugural Run for the Roses. It is essential reading for any fan of Thoroughbred racing and American history. -- Brien Bouyea, communications director, National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame; author of Bare Knuckles & Saratoga Racing: The Remarkable Life of John Morrissey and The Travers: 150 Years of Saratoga’s Greatest Race From Aristides to Lewis, from Clark to McGrath, Mark Shrager enthralls the reader with the particulars of that inaugural Kentucky Derby, the inspiration for a century and a half of memorable contests. Within these pages, he weaves the sights and the sounds of that iconic day with the context that gave rise to it, including the societal changes that essentially eliminated an entire race of Americans from the sport. Come for the story and stay for this finely drawn portrait of American horse racing in the era that formed the foundation for the sport as modern fans know it. -- Jennifer S. Kelly, author of Sir Barton and the Making of the Triple Crown and The Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple Crown; secretary, National Turf Writers and Broadcasters Revisiting the inaugural Kentucky Derby and its winner, Aristides, can be—and usually is—the straightforward telling of a familiar story, but it doesn’t have to be. In The First Kentucky Derby, award-winning author Mark Shrager uses the familiar elements of the horse’s background and the race itself as bookends for a well-researched narrative that takes the reader on a series of intriguing twists and turns, including the demise of African American jockeys and the life of controversial breeder and owner Henry Price McGrath. These are essential parts of the overall story and make The First Kentucky Derby an excellent read. -- Milton C. Toby, Dr. Tony Ryan Award winner and author of <I>Taking Shergar: Thoroughbred Racing’s Most Famous Cold Case</I> A wealth of information on the roots of the Kentucky Derby. -- Mark Paul, author of <I>The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told</I>