Man o' War: A Legend Like Lightning

I thought at first that this book was a little condensed and perhaps was for kids. Then I got into it and found that it addedmore about the Man's personality than some accounts have said. He is generally portrayed as almost as bad as his sire and grand sire in temper and nervousness. However, it is apparent that he liked his jockeys and they liked and trusted him. Mr. Riddle was not quite the guy who depresses all at the party as he seemed to be much more open about sharing Big Red and his farm with the public than with War Admiral but he was younger then. That was good to learn. The pictures are a delightful bonus. To stand a picture of Man o War next to one of Secretariat would start a new war on social media about which horse was greater as they both had magnificent conformation and you could see the determination in their eyes. Lastly there is an appendix at the end giving a history of the foundation sires of the American Thoroughbred breed as well as Man O War's lineage and the foals he sired with their racing history. Don't write this one off. This book is appealing to horse lovers and non horse lovers alike. It provides a good peak at the good and bad of horse racing.

*This review is the kindle edition.I really wanted to like this book. It seems reasonably well researched, but the writing didn't catch fire and transport my mind into the prose, the way a good nonfiction book should do. I'd have given higher ratings if there had been photos and other illustrations; that would have gone far to uplift the rather flat writing.Compounding the problem are the dozens if not hundreds of typos and spelling and punctuation errors, all through the book, but worse as one reads further. At first they are just minor annoyances, but as they accumulate, they really detract from the book; especially the missing punctuation and missing or incorrect capitalizations. It makes the writing seem amateur.I didn't learn much I didn't already know or hadn't already read from other sources.

I have not researched the matter, but this is probably the best biography of Man o' War--not too much, not too little, easily read. I don't see how another biography could be significantly better. Dorothy Ours is knowledgeable regarding race horses, and her book is fairly new, copyright in 2006. Palatable with tasty details and anecdotes supported by footnotes, photos, and index, her prose is suitable for anyone.As with Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling SEABISCUIT, the story of Man o' War--who was called "Red" by stable hands and friends--has moments of suspense and moments that fill your chest with goodness, making you want to stand up and cheer. But biographies in general have a downside: they usually do not end with a bang, like those of Admiral Nelson or President Kennedy. Most lives extend beyond peaks of fame and achievement, and as lackluster as those later years may be, the biographer is obliged to describe them. Fortunately, though Man o' War lived twenty-seven years beyond his peak, Ms Ours compresses those years to about twenty pages and makes them tolerable, if not as arousing as earlier moments.As well as telling the story of Man o' War, Ms Ours tells the stories of owners, jockeys, trainers, reporters, and others involved with him and his sport. And you get a glimpse of the horse-racing underworld: fixed races, doped horses, and sabotage against horses and jockeys. She also conveys the spirit of the time: women were entering the electorate, and prohibition was creating disrespect for the law. So you do not need to be a horse-racing fan to appreciate this pastiche of history.

Being a big, big fan of Secretariat, I always kind of scoffed when people claimed Man o'War was still the greatest horse of all time. After reading this book, I have joined their ranks. Wow, what an incredible horse. He's like Babe Ruth in baseball: in a class by himself.Concerning this book, written by Dorothy Ours, I have to warn potential readers that it is a slow read. .I almost gave up on this book several times. It just seemed to drag with way too many boring details of everything. It's just not the entertaining book I had hoped to read. However, there are enough interesting stories about the crazy stuff that went on in the early 20th century with horse racing (i.e. horses snorting coacaine) to make it worth reading. And, of course, Man `o War's amazing talents and feats should keep you involved.....but you have grind through the dull spots.One thing for sure: this book will convince you Man o' War is the greatest and will give you a real feel for what horse racing was like about 100 years ago.

I enjoyed the story, which seemed well researched with lots of factual details. A great story for the fan of horse racing! What I didn't enjoy was the large number of punctuation mistakes and errors of words having an unnecessary dash in the middle.

I waitet for this book just a little bit over a week, but it was totally worth it! I read it in just three days and was so sad when i turned the last page. But it's not just about the red superhorse, its about the people that brought him up and the hard living in these old days. I really enjoyed ist.I think its a really good book for horselovers, but also for someone who is interested in the history not only about horseracing in America but the history about America in generell.