Match Race Of A Lifetime: Man O’ War Vs. Secretariat – Who Would Win?

By Author: Lee Lane-Edgar
Total Articles: 365
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An often heated topic of contention among horse racing enthusiasts has been, who would win in a race between Man o’ War vs. Secretariat, the acknowledged top two North American thoroughbreds of all time. A few will occasionally throw in another horse as the greatest, such as the great Australian race horse Phar Lap who raced in North America once, but the consensus generally comes down to these two.

The only debate then is the order – who is #1? Blood Horse magazine ranked Man o’ War as the #1 North American thoroughbred of all time and listed Secretariat as #2.

Interestingly enough, they both were given the nickname “Big Red”, but who was really the greatest?

Secretariat was certainly the greatest Triple Crown winner but some argue that Man o’ War could easily have won the Triple Crown had his connections elected to go to the Kentucky Derby instead of heading straight to the Preakness which he won easily. Man o’ War won the Belmont Stakes and completed the third jewel of the Triple Crown so easily that one has to think that very little could have stood in his way of the Triple Crown had ...
... his connections thought it was that important.

An argument against Man o’ War can never truly be made because of the mythology surrounding him. He won 20 of 21 races with the only blemish being in a 6-furlong race as a two-year-old in which he was turned around when the starting gun went off (they didn’t use starting gates in those days), and despite falling well behind, he managed a valiant second place finish losing by a mere half-length. In almost every other race he won while being restrained or taken up near the end of the race, including a 100-length win in the Lawrence Realization at Belmont at 1 and 5/8 miles. The comments with Man o’ War always read as if he was just toying with his competition in each race “never extended, taken up final 1/16, won under pull, etc.”

Furthermore, we never really got to see Man o’ War race, except for some partial footage of a match race with Sir Barton, so it becomes harder to evaluate him.

Secretariat ran on grass twice, and won both races by 6+ easy lengths. Man o’ War never raced on the grass.

Secretariat, however brilliant as a three-year-old, did lose three times, and consistency counts for something, and Man o’ War was more consistent. There were a few cases where he had no apparent excuse.
Man o’ War faced fewer opponents than did Secretariat, but that may have been a testament to his greatness, of how dominant and feared he was.
Who would win in a match race?

Conventional wisdom says that the frontrunner has the edge over the stalker, as he is the lone speed, and Man o’ War was a definite frontrunner. Secretariat was unusual in that he showed great versatility in his running style. In the Derby, he came from last to first to win. In the Preakness, he again dropped to last, but around the first turn made a tremendous move to take the lead and was a frontrunner the rest of the way. In the Belmont, he never hesitated and went straight to the lead led wire to wire, but Secretariat more often than not came from off the pace.

If these two titans were to match up then, would Secretariat take it to him from the get go, or would he lay back a few lengths and keep Man o’ War in his sights.

My opinion is that there is no conclusive way to evaluate the two “Big Reds” – I think either could’ve beaten the other on the right day under the right conditions.

Secretariat probably couldn’t have been beat in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, and Man o’ War probably would’ve been invincible on the day he scored his 100-length win. Who knows how good Man o’ War would’ve been on the grass - maybe he wouldn’t have prospered as much on that surface?

It is more fun just to speculate about who would really have won under what circumstances, but now you can find out for yourself how such a match-up might have unfolded by becoming a VIP, where you can choose to jockey one of these great champions and see if you can beat the other.