War Admiral

Real Quiet, who shocked many horsemen during his life as he moved his skinny, imperfect body from the starting gate into the winner's circle in five Grade I races, including the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, shocked the horse world again Monday when he died after a fall. Real Quiet, 15, was in his paddock at Penn Ridge Farms near Harrisburg, Pa., when he somehow fell on his left shoulder. A necropsy at New Bolton showed he fell so hard that he drove his shoulder into his neck, fracturing five cervical vertebrae, according to Mike Jester, owner of Penn Ridge Farm and majority shareholder and manager of the syndicate that owned the stallion.

Real Quiet, who shocked many horsemen during his life as he moved his skinny, imperfect body from the starting gate into the winner's circle in five Grade I races, including the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, shocked the horse world again Monday when he died after a fall. Real Quiet, 15, was in his paddock at Penn Ridge Farms near Harrisburg, Pa., when he somehow fell on his left shoulder. A necropsy at New Bolton showed he fell so hard that he drove his shoulder into his neck, fracturing five cervical vertebrae, according to Mike Jester, owner of Penn Ridge Farm and majority shareholder and manager of the syndicate that owned the stallion.

George Mohr says up front that if you weren't there and didn't live through it, then you won't understand: Forty thousand people crammed into Pimlico on a Tuesday for a race between two horses, with millions more listening on radio as one horse raced into legend. When Seabiscuit defeated War Admiral in a match race Nov. 1, 1938, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, the country was emerging from the Depression but heading into world war. Americans placed their hearts and hopes squarely on the nose of a horse with a rags-to-riches story befitting the time.

As a new 44-cent commemorative envelope honoring fabled thoroughbred champion Seabiscuit is being released in California on Monday, one of Maryland's revered racing ambassadors will get an accolade too. Former Vice President Walter Mondale and his wife, Joan, have a letter of congratulation ready for Howard "Gelo" Hall, who has been a fixture at Pimlico and other tracks for nearly 70 years. The Mondales are Seabiscuit fans, and Joan Mondale sits on the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee.

BERLIN - Glen Riddle Farm, one of the most historic equine sites in the state, if not the nation, is dead. Its nearly 1,000 acres on the Eastern Shore swarm with bulldozers and excavators resurrecting it as an upscale development with two 18-hole golf courses. The farm was home to Man o' War, generally regarded as the greatest thoroughbred ever to race in North America, and his most accomplished son, War Admiral. The winner of the 1937 Triple Crown, War Admiral was Seabiscuit's nemesis in the famed 1938 match race at Pimlico.

THIS was a sad year for horse racing's Triple Crown. No horse dominated all three races. There was little suspense. The year will be remembered not for Julie Krone's becoming the first woman to win a Triple Crown race (a splendid accomplishment), but for Preakness winner Prairie Bayou's tragic breakdown in the gloom at Belmont.Horse racing fans looked in vain for a Sunday Silence, an Affirmed, a Secretariat. There was no odds-on favorite, not even a sentimental favorite. All three of the Triple Crown events lacked the drama and excitement of the splendid match race between War Admiral and Seabiscuit in Baltimore Nov. 1, 1938.

An odds-on favorite is one that's less than even money. Going back to 1890, the first year the Preakness race charts list each horse's odds, here are the odds-on favorites and how they fared. Year Horse Odds to dollar Fin. Winner 1989 Easy Goer .60 2nd Sunday Silence 1984 Swale .80 7th Gate Dancer 1982 Linkage .50 2nd Aloma's Ruler 1979 Spectacular Bid. .10 1st Spectacular Bid 1978 Affirmed .50 1st Affirmed 1977 Seattle Slew .40 1st Seattle Slew 1976 Honest Pleasure .90 5th Elocutionist 1973 Secretariat .30 1st Secretariat 1972 Riva Ridge .30 4th Bee Bee Bee 1969 Majestic Prince.

Moviegoers who check out Seabiscuit during its engagement at The Senator will see a bonus available at no other theater, a six-minute compilation of vintage Fox Movietone newsreel clips showing Seabiscuit's famous match race against Maryland-bred War Admiral, as well as footage of the great thoroughbred at the dedication of a statue in his honor and in retirement, siring future champions. Senator owner Tom Kiefaber secured the rights to the footage from Fox and received the finished compilation on Tuesday.

1870: Preakness the horse The Preakness is named for a horse named Preakness. As a 3-year-old, Preakness was such a long shot to win the Dinner Party Stakes, his owner, M.H. Sanford of New Jersey, didn't even bet on him. Still, on that October day in 1870, Preakness won the first stakes race ever run at Pimlico Race Course by two lengths, and when a new race for 3-year-olds was begun in 1873, it was named The Preakness Stakes. Preakness himself went on to a successful career in the United States.

What is your favorite horse racing movie of all time? "Let it Ride." The characters resemble the regulars at any track. Their quirks and personalities are hysterical. The dream day every racetrack fan lives for. Chris Kessler Reisterstown It's "Seabiscuit: An American Legend." It had a horse, owner and jockeys, with great heart and a Baltimore connection - Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral - in 1938, at Pimlico. Bill Hughes Baltimore The 1989 film "Let It Ride," starring Richard Dreyfuss as Trotter.

Not for nothing were the horses painted by Franklin B. Voss called noble steeds. They were magnificent animals, well-muscled, fast, sleek as racecars and groomed to a fare-thee-well. Even when the horses are standing still, you sense speed is in their blood. Voss was America's premier equine artist during the 1920s, '30s and '40s, when he painted such renowned racing champions as Man o' War, War Admiral, Citation, Whirlaway and Seabiscuit. In Voss' characterful images, their personalities come across as vividly as those of any human subject.

What is your favorite horse racing movie of all time? "Let it Ride." The characters resemble the regulars at any track. Their quirks and personalities are hysterical. The dream day every racetrack fan lives for. Chris Kessler Reisterstown It's "Seabiscuit: An American Legend." It had a horse, owner and jockeys, with great heart and a Baltimore connection - Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral - in 1938, at Pimlico. Bill Hughes Baltimore The 1989 film "Let It Ride," starring Richard Dreyfuss as Trotter.

They frequent Pimlico Race Course several times a week, eager to see how much daily excitement a group of weathered, white-haired men can fit into their twilight. They call themselves the Backstretch Boys, an informal clique of mostly seventy- and eightysomethings who took to horse racing at Pimlico as youngsters and now carry around its memories like a pocket of rare coins. Want to know about Pimlico during heydays past? Visit nearby Miller's delicatessen in Pikesville each morning before racing begins and listen as the Backstretch Boys settle in, as much a part of the fixtures as the metallic gray booths, framed Hollywood portraits and scents of something good sizzling from behind the counter.

BERLIN - Glen Riddle Farm, one of the most historic equine sites in the state, if not the nation, is dead. Its nearly 1,000 acres on the Eastern Shore swarm with bulldozers and excavators resurrecting it as an upscale development with two 18-hole golf courses. The farm was home to Man o' War, generally regarded as the greatest thoroughbred ever to race in North America, and his most accomplished son, War Admiral. The winner of the 1937 Triple Crown, War Admiral was Seabiscuit's nemesis in the famed 1938 match race at Pimlico.

It seems audiences can't get enough of either Laura Hillenbrand's best-selling book, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, or the film it inspired as they cram into theaters during the waning days of summer. For David Woods of Longmeadow, Mass., and his sister, Martha McMakin of Walsenburg, Colo., the book and movie bring back warm memories of their father, David F. Woods. Woods, the director of public relations during the halcyon years of the Maryland Jockey Club, helped make the 1938 match race between War Admiral and Seabiscuit a reality.

Moviegoers who check out Seabiscuit during its engagement at The Senator will see a bonus available at no other theater, a six-minute compilation of vintage Fox Movietone newsreel clips showing Seabiscuit's famous match race against Maryland-bred War Admiral, as well as footage of the great thoroughbred at the dedication of a statue in his honor and in retirement, siring future champions. Senator owner Tom Kiefaber secured the rights to the footage from Fox and received the finished compilation on Tuesday.

With just five minutes to go until race time yesterday at Pimlico Race Course, Magic Roland had what appeared to be the jitters. Nervously dancing circles in the clay-colored mud of the race track, the thoroughbred reared up so forcefully that he almost threw his jockey. To the small crowd gathered trackside in the drizzling rain, the horse looked as though it had a serious case of stage fright. Little did they know, it was simply a stellar performance. The semi-retired thoroughbred returned to the track yesterday to stage a re-enactment one of the most famous moments in horse racing history: the 1938 match between War Admiral and Seabiscuit.

As a new 44-cent commemorative envelope honoring fabled thoroughbred champion Seabiscuit is being released in California on Monday, one of Maryland's revered racing ambassadors will get an accolade too. Former Vice President Walter Mondale and his wife, Joan, have a letter of congratulation ready for Howard "Gelo" Hall, who has been a fixture at Pimlico and other tracks for nearly 70 years. The Mondales are Seabiscuit fans, and Joan Mondale sits on the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee.

George Mohr says up front that if you weren't there and didn't live through it, then you won't understand: Forty thousand people crammed into Pimlico on a Tuesday for a race between two horses, with millions more listening on radio as one horse raced into legend. When Seabiscuit defeated War Admiral in a match race Nov. 1, 1938, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, the country was emerging from the Depression but heading into world war. Americans placed their hearts and hopes squarely on the nose of a horse with a rags-to-riches story befitting the time.

With just five minutes to go until race time yesterday at Pimlico Race Course, Magic Roland had what appeared to be the jitters. Nervously dancing circles in the clay-colored mud of the race track, the thoroughbred reared up so forcefully that he almost threw his jockey. To the small crowd gathered trackside in the drizzling rain, the horse looked as though it had a serious case of stage fright. Little did they know, it was simply a stellar performance. The semi-retired thoroughbred returned to the track yesterday to stage a re-enactment one of the most famous moments in horse racing history: the 1938 match between War Admiral and Seabiscuit.