Every sport has its heroes. So does racing. Touching stories about glorious victory and bitter loss, battles to win and sometimes for life.
May I intruduce you to some of the greatest horses, who ever set a hoof on the track:
 The Racing Legends 
  Barbaro The Horse who captured Americas Heart
(April 29, 2003 – January 29, 2007) was an American thoroughbred that decisively won the 2006 Kentucky Derby, but shattered his leg two weeks later in the 2006 Preakness Stakes ending his racing career and eventually leading to his death.
On May 20, 2006, Barbaro ran in the Preakness Stakes as a heavy favorite, but, after he false-started, he fractured three bones in and around the ankle of his right hind leg. The injury ruined any chance of a Triple Crown in 2006 and ended his racing career. The next day, he underwent surgery at the New Bolton Center of the University of Pennsylvania for his injuries. In July he developed laminitis in his left rear leg. He underwent five further operations, and his prognosis varied during an exceptionally long stay in the Equine Intensive Care Unit at the New Bolton Center. While his right hind leg eventually healed, a final risky procedure on it proved futile because the colt soon developed further laminitis in both front legs. His veterinarians and owners concluded that he could not be saved, and Barbaro was euthanized on January 29, 2007.[1]
He was a third-generation descendant of Mr. Prospector, and as such Barbaro was related to many recent Triple Crown hopefuls including Big Brown, Afleet Alex, Smarty Jones, Funny Cide and Fusaichi Pegasus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbaro
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Affirmed
US Triple Crown Winner 1978
Breyer #1192, produced: 2003-2004, shaded red chestnut, star.
(February 21, 1975 – January 12, 2001) was an American thoroughbred race horse who was the eleventh and most recent winner of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. He was the great-great-grandson of Triple Crown winner War Admiral through damsire Crafty Admiral, and thereby the great-great-great grandson of Man o' War who won two of the three Triple Crown races himself. He has other noteworthy horses in his pedigree like Gallant Fox, winner of 1930 Triple Crown and sire of the 1935 Triple Crown Winner Omaha. A well as English Derby winner Mahmoud.
Affirmed is also known for his famous rivalry with Alydar, whom he met ten times, including in all three Triple Crown races, and who became the first racehorse to finish second in all three Triple Crown races.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmed
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Lonesome Glory
Steeplechasing Champion
Breyer, #572, produced 200-2001, chestnut, stripe, sock on left hind.
(April, 1988 - February 2, 2002) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse in steeplechase racing. Inherited by Kay Jeffords when her husband Walter Jeffords, Jr. died in 1990, Lonesome Glory nearly became a show horse but proved too rambunctious for that sport. Mrs. Jeffords sent the unraced 2-year-old to trainer F. Bruce Miller who developed him into the most-accomplished American steeplechaser in history. Lonesome Glory retired after the 1999 racing season.
Lonesome Glory won his only hurdle start as a 3-year-old, and captured four of six starts as a 4-year-old, clinching his first Eclipse Award with a victory over hurdles at Cheltenham in England. The long-legged chestnut with a wide blaze won another championship with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Steeplechase (NSA-I) at age 5 in 1993. In 1994, he won the first of his three Colonial Cups (NSA-I) but lost the championship vote to Warm Spell. A year later, Lonesome Glory dominated American steeplechase racing with a campaign that included three Grade I victories and a Grade II in five starts. He closed the season in England, winning a handicap chase at Sandown Park by 11 lengths.
"To me, the greatest thing he did was win the two races in England one over hurdles and one over steeplechase fences," said Miller, "but I think his best race here was that 1993 Breeders' Cup. There were two four-horse entries in the race, and we were the ninth horse. He beat Highland Bud, who was going for his third Breeders' Cup win."
Lonesome Glory faltered in 1996, losing his only two American starts after beginning the year in England. The champion returned again in 1997, however, joining Flatterer as a four-time champion after becoming the only horse to sweep the Grade I Carolina and Colonial Cups over the Springdale Race Course in Camden, South Carolina. The spring/fall double earned Lonesome Glory a $250,000 bonus.
Pointed for England again in 1998, Lonesome Glory missed a try at the Cheltenham Gold Cup with a pulled muscle but returned to action in time to showcase his talent in America at Churchill Downs. At age 10, he overwhelmed seven foes to win the $100,000 Hard Scuffle Stakes. The fifth Eclipse Award would have to wait a year, however, as Lonesome Glory lost his remaining two starts of 1998. His 11-year-old season began with a second Carolina Cup score in March and reached a peak with a powerful win in the $188,000 Royal Chase at Keeneland in April. That would be the horse's final career start as he was retired while in training for the fall season, but was enough to earn his fifth Eclipse award.
"He proved he was the best by what he did over time," said Miller, whose daughter Blythe was Lonesome Glory's regular jockey. "The horses he beat were pretty special not many horses last like he did at that level. He was a great horse who did a lot for our whole family."
Lonesome Glory won 19 jump races (17 in the U.S. and two in England) from 35 starts and retired with earnings of $1,352,868. Major victories came in America's most storied races, and he topped the National Steeplechase Association's theoretical handicap three times in the 1990s, including a record 170-pound honor after the 1995 season.
His five championships surpass only Flatterer among steeplechasers, and put him on par with Kelso's run of five Horse of the Year titles in flat racing. Since the Eclipse Awards were created in 1971, only four other Thoroughbred racehorses have won five or more. The others were Forego, John Henry, Affirmed and Secretariat.
Lonesome Glory died in 2002 from injuries suffered in an accident at trainer Bruce Miller's farm. He was buried at the National Steeplechase Museum on the Springdale Race Course property in Camden, South Carolina.
In 2005, Lonesome Glory was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. A bronze statue of him is now on display in the Museum at Saratoga Springs, New York.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonesome_Glory
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Seabiscuit
Breyer, traditional, #1188, produced 2003 - 2008, shaded bay, dark grey hooves. (pics above) Breyer, classic, #750333, produced 2003, bay. (pics below) (May 23, 1933—May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States. From an inauspicious start, Seabiscuit became an unlikely champion and a symbol of hope to many Americans during the Great Depression. Seabiscuit became the subject of a 1949 film, The Story of Seabiscuit, a 2001 book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, and a 2003 film, Seabiscuit, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabiscuit
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Seattle Slew US Triple Crown Winner 1977
Breyer, #474, produced 2002-2006, shaded dark bay, coronet band on left hind. (February 15, 1974 – May 7, 2002) was an American thoroughbred race horse who won the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in 1977, the tenth of eleven horses to accomplish the feat. He remains the only horse to win the Triple Crown while undefeated. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, Seattle Slew is ranked ninth.
A descendant of the great sire Nearco through his son, Nasrullah, Seattle Slew was sired by Bold Reasoning and out of My Charmer. He was foaled at Ben Castleman's White Horse Acres Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. Not expected to be a great racehorse, he was sold to Karen and Mickey Taylor of White Swan, Washington. They named him for the city of Seattle, and for the sloughs loggers once used to transport heavy logs. But Karen felt that the spelling of slough—a slow-moving channel of the Pacific Northwest—would be too hard for people to remember, so the spelling was changed to Slew. The colt's co-owners were Jim and Sally Hill. Another co-owner was Glenn Rasmussen, the Certified Public Accountant for the horse partnerships.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Slew
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War Admiral US Triple Crown Winner 1937
(1934-1959) was an American thoroughbred racehorse, the offspring of the great thoroughbred Man o' War and the mare Brushup. He inherited his father's fiery temperament and talent, but did not resemble him physically. He was smaller than Man o' War at 15 hands, two inches tall (compared to 16 hands for an average racehorse), with a dark brown coat inherited from his dam. The movie Seabiscuit inaccurately portrays him at 18 hands.
War Admiral was born at Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky and was owned by Samuel D. Riddle. After 1936, his regular jockey until retirement was Charles Kurtsinger. War Admiral won 21 of his 26 starts, including the Pimlico Special and the coveted U.S. Triple Crown in 1937, earning him recognition as Horse of the Year.
War Admiral raced in the eastern United States, and in 1938 won eight major races, including the Whitney Handicap and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. He is linked forever to the year-older Seabiscuit, who was a son of the Man o' War stallion Hard Tack and was the pre-eminent horse based in the Western U.S. Their famous match race in the 1938 Pimlico Special, which War Admiral lost to Seabiscuit by four lengths, is considered by some to be the best Thoroughbred horse race in U.S. history.
War Admiral retired with a career earnings total of $273,240. He was the leading American sire in 1945 and the leading juvenile sire in 1948. Before his death in 1959, War Admiral had sired 40 stakes winners. [1] Major winners sired by War Admiral include Blue Peter, Searching, Busanda, Mr. Busher, Navy Page, Cold Command, and Admiral Vee. [2] War Admiral also sired the champion filly and Horse of the Year Busher (ranked #40 in Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century).
War Admiral was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, War Admiral was ranked #13.
Owner Sam Riddle commissioned equine artist Martin Stainforth to paint War Admiral's portrait.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Admiral
Pedigree of War Admiral
Sire
Man o' War |
Fair Play
ch. 1905 |
Hastings
br. 1893 |
Spendthrift |
| Cinderella |
Fairy Gold
ch. 1896 |
Bend Or |
| Dame Masham |
Mahubah
b. 1910 |
Rock Sand
br. 1900 |
Sainfoin |
| Roquebrune |
Merry Token
b. 1891 |
Merry Hampton |
| Mizpah |
Dam
Brushup
1929 |
Sweep
1907 |
Ben Brush |
Bramble |
| Roseville |
| Pink Domino |
Domino |
| Belle Rose |
Annette
1921 |
Harry of Hereford |
John O'Gaunt |
| Canterbury Pilgrim |
| Bathing Girl |
Spearmint |
| Summer Girl |
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