Most Legendary Horses of All Time

Horse racing is a fantastic sport. Not only is it one of the oldest sports in the world, but today, it is enjoyed all over the globe and the events can attract millions in prize money. As you can see, that’s pretty serious business. However, there’s a common theme that seems to constantly occur - the jockeys seem to get all the praise and attention. Well, we wanted to switch that stereotype on its head and give the horses the recognition they deserve.

Within this post, we will be looking at some of the most incredible horses that have ever graced the sport of horse racing. Some of these horses really were miraculous, so let’s reveal them to you right now.

Secretariat

Besides having a rather cool name, Secretariat was an absolute beast of a horse. To fully understand how special this horse was, you need to rewind the clock a little. Back in the 1970s, Secretariat was leaving plenty of other horses for dust, and his track record is just staggering. This horse won the Triple Crown in 1973, being the first to do so in 25 years, and to add a little more spice to the legend, Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by an incredible 31 lengths. This was one of the largest winning distances in history, which is probably why this race is classed as one of the greatest races in history.

Secretariat also won five Eclipse Awards, and to complete the legend, he won Horse of the Year twice - once at age two, and again at age three.

Man O’ War

Talk about a horse that lived up to its name, Man O’ War was something special. It would seem appropriate since this horse shot to fame straight after World War I, and to add fire to the legend, Man O’ War won 20 of 21 races just after the conclusion of the war. The total prize money that this horse won for its riders totalled $249,465, which adjusted for inflation amounts to more than $3,000,000. As you can see, that’s a heck of a lot for just one single horse.

Unfortunately, there isn’t any TV footage of this horse in its prime, as these races were run back in 1919 and 1920. However, we can still sit back and admire the record books, as Man O’ War won races like the Belmont Futurity and the Hopeful Stakes. These races were the most prestigious races for two-year-olds in the USA.

Frankel

The last horse we would like to pay homage to is Frankel, who is the most recent horse we will talk about. This horse had a phenomenal window of performances from 2010-2012, and perhaps more impressively, Frankel was the highest-rated horse in May 2011. This essentially means that Frankel was the best racehorse in the world at the time, as indicated by the score of 143 given to him by Timeform. Just to reiterate how impressive this is, a score of 143 was the highest score given to any horse over the previous 40 years. Needless to say, marks like these just don’t come around every day.

Of course, having a great score is all well and good, but it's the track record of this horse that also made him so staggering to watch. This horse won the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, at the Royal Ascot in 2011, and besides this, he won a series of other prestigious races. To top of Frankel’s amazing career, Timeform actually raised his rating before he ran his final race, up to a score of 147.

We haven’t seen many other horses reach these kinds of heights over the last decade, and Frankel really is one of the great legends of horse racing.

Final thoughts

Not only were these horses absolute monsters out there on the racetrack, but they also brought a little extra sparkle to the sport of horse racing. We are fairly certain that such horses brought some rather large wins for horse racing bettors over the years, and besides the money involved, they really did help to raise the profile of horse racing around the world.

We can’t wait to see what other horses emerge in the future to raise the bar as these guys did!