War Admiral – Racehorse

There are racehorses and then there are legends. War Admiral definitely belongs in the latter category. Foaled at Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, War Admiral defined racing success in the first half of the 20^th century. He was not only one of the most talented runners to ever compete but a horse that attracted enormous public attention during his career.

War Admiral was sired by the equally talented Man o’ War. Just like his sire, War Admiral possessed an aggressive temperament. He did not stand as tall as his sire…only 15.3 hands…but his smaller size did nothing to diminish his attitude. In the popular movie Seabiscuit, War Admiral is depicted as an 18 hand monster. In truth, owner Samuel Riddle may have contributed to this misrepresentation in his own day when there was no television and the only people that actually saw War Admiral in person were racetrack patrons. Riddle commissioned a painting of War Admiral that contributed to the belief that he was very large perhaps in an effort to spread intimidation ahead of War Admiral’s races.

War Admiral’s career was conducted in the Eastern US where he dominated tracks like Pimlico Racecourse and Saratoga. In 1937 the horse had a phenomenal year by winning the Triple Crown. Despite his remarkable achievements, however, War Admiral is most remembered today for a match race with Seabiscuit in the 1938 running of the Pimlico Special.

Seabiscuit’s owner, Charles Howard, had been clamoring for a match race with War Admiral to determine once and for all which horse was supreme. After chasing War Admiral and attempting to enter in races where War Admiral was expected to race the Seabiscuit camp began a very public campaign to draw Riddle and War Admiral out. The terms of the race were eventually set and the horses met in the second running of the Pimlico Special for a purse of $25,000.

Several conditions had been demanded by Riddle prior to the race. One of these was an insistence that the horse begin from a walk-up start with no starting gate. War Admiral had a notorious reputation for being unruly in the gate. Jockey George Woolf took extra time warming up Seabiscuit because he knew that the longer War Admiral had to wait the more agitated he would become. By the time the horses approached the spot to begin the race War Admiral was washed-out (showing sweaty white lather on his body), an observation that does not, by itself, diagnose his emotional state or physical condition. Whether or not this affected War Admiral’s performance is unknown. What is known is that Seabiscuit bested him that day and broke the track record in the process.

It is probably unfair to War Admiral to judge him solely on his loss to Seabiscuit. He won the Triple Crown, a feat which only three horses had accomplished before him, earned over $200,000 in an era when purses rarely approached the $25,000 offered in the Pimlico Special, and was the leading American sire in 1945. War Admiral was also named to the National Racing Hall of Fame.

War Admiral’s feats at Pimlico Racecourse are legendary and you can still watch and wager on races at Pimlico and many other tracks by registering an account today at Betdsi Racebook. Alternatively, check our Bovada racebook review, Twinspires review or even our Betamerica review as research starting points; check the current operator and location rules. online racebook comparison with eligibility dependent on location.

War Admiral vs Seabiscuit: The Race of the Century

War Admiral’s 1938 match race defeat to Seabiscuit at Pimlico stands as one of the most famous upsets in American sports history and one of the most dramatic single events in horse racing’s long narrative. War Admiral — Triple Crown winner, son of Man o’ War, trained by George Conway — was a 1-4 favourite for the match race against Seabiscuit, the west coast hero whose public following had made him a cultural phenomenon of the Depression era. The upset was so complete and so unexpected that it generated one of the largest radio audiences in broadcasting history to that point.

From a betting perspective, War Admiral’s defeat illustrates the danger of assuming that the most visually impressive horse in terms of pedigree and record is automatically the most reliable betting proposition. Seabiscuit’s connections — trainer Tom Smith and jockey Red Pollard, later replaced by George Woolf for the match race — had spent months specifically preparing for this race with tactics designed to exploit War Admiral’s tendency to be unsettled by horses that broke sharply ahead of him. This tactical intelligence, combined with Seabiscuit’s exceptional determination, overcame what appeared on paper to be a significant ability disadvantage. For more on this legendary matchup, our articles on Seabiscuit racehorse and the 12 greatest race horses of all time cover both horses in detail. And our profile of Tom Smith covers the legendary trainer behind Seabiscuit’s preparation.

A Match-Race Loss Does Not Erase a Triple Crown

The National Museum of Racing records War Admiral’s career as 21 wins from 26 starts. The 1938 Pimlico Special against Seabiscuit is memorable because Seabiscuit won by four lengths, yet it was one race in War Admiral’s wider career after his 1937 Triple Crown. The Museum notes that War Admiral won the Rhode Island Handicap 11 days later.

Keep the match race, the Triple Crown season and the full career record distinct. A head-to-head result answers what happened under those conditions; it does not retrospectively change the earlier championship or settle an all-time ranking. This distinction helps make the famous rivalry a useful historical comparison rather than a single-race verdict.

Keep War Admiral’s Milestones Distinct

The Museum’s War Admiral profile provides the wider record. The famous loss is one part of that career; it does not erase the earlier classics or establish a universal head-to-head ranking under every possible race condition.