Samuel D. Riddle

Samuel D. Riddle purchased Man o' War as a yearling for $5,000, raced him to legendary status, and refused to sell him even when a wealthy Texan urged him to name his price. Called "Big Red," the great stallion won 20 of 21 races in 1919 and 1920 and then stood at stud for many years at Faraway Farm outside Lexington. So great was his public fame that after his death at age 30, his funeral was broadcast nationally on radio. Riddle, a dashing sportsman of the Pennsylvania hunt fields, ran the Glen Riddle textile company founded by his grandfather and later bred and raced Man o' War's best son, Triple Crown winner War Admiral. Man o' War had been offered for sale by his breeder, August Belmont II, because Belmont, at 65, accepted a commission to go abroad as part of the World War I effort, and Belmont also left a mark on American culture as chief financier of the original New York subway system.

Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky · United States