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Man o' War: A Legend Like Lightning
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Product Description
Born in 1917, Man o’ War grew from a rebellious youngster into perhaps the greatest racehorse of all time. He set such astonishing speed records that The New York Times called him a “Speed Miracle.” Often he won with so much energy in reserve that experts wondered how much faster he could have gone. Over the years, this and other mysteries would envelop the great Man o’ War.
The truth remained problematic. Even as Man o’ War---known as “Big Red”---came to power, attracting record crowds and rave publicity, the colorful sport of Thoroughbred racing struggled for integrity. His lone defeat, suffered a few weeks before gamblers fixed the 1919 World Series, spawned lasting rumors that he, too, had been the victim of a fix.
Tackling old beliefs with newly uncovered evidence, Man o’ War: A Legend Like Lightning shows how human pressures collided with a natural phenomenon and brings new life to an American icon. The genuine courage of Man o’ War, tribulations of his archrival, Sir Barton (America’s first Triple Crown winner), and temptations of their Hall of Fame jockeys and trainers reveal a long-hidden tale of grace, disgrace, and elusive redemption.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #122431 in Books
- Published on: 2007-05-01
- Released on: 2007-05-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 368 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Unfortunately for authors like Ours, who has worked at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, all horse racing books must now be judged in light of Laura Hillenbrand's outstanding Seabiscuit. And while Man o' War (born in 1917), voted by racing experts as the No. 1 American race horse of the 20th century, kept winning his races and breaking speed records, Ours's account of his career isn't even in the money. This is a far less sophisticated recounting than Hillenbrand's, lacking the broad social context, and since Man o' War was a winner from the get-go, Ours lacks a dramatic narrative arc. But she does have a command of horse-racing technique and history, and offers some interesting tidbits and anecdotes. Sometimes the book feels puffed: for a while it focuses more on another champion, Sir Barton, than on Man o' War; only much later does it become clear why-the two great horses finally meet in a match race, and at this point, the pace of the story picks up nicely for a dramatic finish.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Laura Hillenbrand, in her best-selling Seabiscuit (2001), set the bar awfully high for scholarly research in just about any genre, let alone what might be called racehorse biographies. Very much to her credit, Ours meets Hillenbrand's standard in her exhaustively researched account of the career and human connections of Man o' War, usually conceded to be the greatest racehorse who ever competed in America. Man o' War dominated racing in 1919 and 1920, winning 20 of 21 starts and setting speed records nearly every time he raced as a three-year-old. Such uninterrupted excellence, however, poses a problem for any biographer. Man o' War's saga lacks the drama of Seabiscuit's rise from obscurity and comeback from injury. Nor are the stories of Man o' War's human connections as compelling as those of Seabiscuit's, though the history of jockey Johnny Loftus is more than intriguing. Also of great interest is the remarkably detailed account of Man o' War's most famous race, a showdown with the older Sir Barton, America's first Triple Crown winner, at an unlikely bush track in Canada. Finally, Ours uncovers the true reasons for Man o' War's early retirement, which ended a career that seemed destined to dwarf the accomplishments of those who came before him and set an impossibly high standard for those who followed. Even without Seabiscuit's dramatic trappings, this is must reading for racing fans, and it will reward anyone with an interest in the history of American sport. Dennis Dodge
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
---Laura Hillenbrand, New York Times bestselling author of Seabiscuit: An American Legend
“You take twenty-two chapters, mix in one spectacular Thoroughbred racehorse, and gently blend in just enough inscrutability, dishonesty, and plot---voilá! One must-read book that equals hours of unadulterated pleasure.”
---George M. Steinbrenner III
“The golden era of racing and its greatest star come to life in the vivid pages of Dorothy Ours’s outstanding retrospective on Man o’ War.”
---Joe Hirsch, Daily Racing Form
Customer Reviews
Seabiscuit's Grandad
While this book will be compared to Lauren Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit, probably to its detriment, it is exciting in its own way. Seabiscuit told a rags-to-riches story. Man O'War's story was a riches-to-riches tale and so lacks some of the suspense.
I am a geezer who, at age 7, actually saw Man O'War "in person" the year before he died so the book had special meaning for me. Even though I have read other books on Big Red, this one was wonderfully detailed with racing lore and life among the rich in that era.
I'm from Michigan and my parents took me, a horse-crazy girl, to Kentucky to visit the horse farms of the area which one could do back then. One could even drive through most of the pastures, stopping to open and close the gates on the way. You could walk through the barns and many grooms would lead out a prized and loved horse for you if you showed knowledge about and interest in horses. I still remember seeing Man O'War. He was in a four-stall stallion barn with three other horses- his sons War Admiral and War Relic and a stable pony. The other horses were shown to us first and then the groom stepped to THE stall and opened the door for those of us waiting in the barn aisle. The adults in front saw that I couldn't see and let me stand in front. There was Big Red with his head high in the air, giving us a disdainful glance. He knew why we were there and it really was all about HIM.
This book brought all those memories back and gave me new insights. Not as fine a book as Seabiscuit, but a good story of racing and sport in the 10s and 20s.
Wonderful!
This is easily the best book on Man O' War and it has the kind of beautiful writing and period detail to entice even those who aren't really horse racing fans.
Red, as Man O' War was often called, comes to life in this book and the research Ours must have undertaken is impressive. There's a lot of great drama regarding the people who surrounded Red, including his jockey who was accused of throwing a race. Great stuff.
An Absolutely Wonderful Read
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.
