The ep03 Man O War

This is Jimmy Powers, ready to bring you another story from the tumult and the shouting. There, this is Jimmy Powers with another chapter from the colorful life of the late and great Granny Rice.

Today we go to the racetrack with Granny. He takes us down the years with the great and near-great horses he knew, plus an interview with the jockey Rice rated at the top of the heap for many years.

Earl, the handy guy, Sandy. So with the bow of the spirit of Granny Rice, I pick up his narrative in first person. The first time I ever saw Manowar was at Jamaica Race Track outside New York City in 1920, where he was entered in the Stuyvesant Handicap at one mile.

I had taken along an old boy from Tennessee who knew nothing about the track. Can you give me a winner? He asked. Yes, I replied, a thing called Manowar in the Fifth Race. I had him, said my friend, after the race.

He won, but he didn't pay much, did he? No, I replied, but he won. Manowar was in all books at one to one hundred, or one penny on each dollar wager. My friend, a plunger, had risked five dollars on the nose. His winnings didn't pay his carfarrow back to Tennessee. Checking back on the great horses I've seen in action, the question

comes back, who was the greatest? My pick would be, first, exterminator, for speed, stamina, endurance, and most running. Second, man of war. No faster than citation, but he had a furious desire to win. He had more color than any horse. Third, citation. That's the solid horse, always dependable. As later defeats by Nure, though, brought him down a bit. Fourth, count fleet.