Man o’ War with John Buckner
Man o' War is pictured with John Buckner. Buckner was Man o’ War’s groom from 1921 to 1930, and he followed Man o’ War from Hinata Farm to Faraway Farm in 1922. Buckner was previously employed by Hinata manager Elizabeth Daingerfield to care for James R. Keene’s stallions. When Daingerfield resigned from Faraway Farm in October of 1930, Buckner left with her and continued to work for Daingerfield at her farm, Haylands.
Man o’ War was never bred to more than 25 mares in a season. Over his 22-year stud career, he sired 386 foals, 289 of which went on to race. Man o’ War was retired from active stud service after the 1942 breeding season.
The overview of Man o’ War’s stud career below appeared in Turf and Sport Digest in March of 1960.
“When his first foals were four-year-olds in 1926, he led the sire list with 26 winners of 49 races, and $408,137. That monetary total far outstripped the stud record of $296,204 set two years earlier by Man o’ War’s sire, Fair Play.
"Man o’ War ranked second on the sire list thrice (1928, 1929 and 1937), fourth once (1925), fifth once (1941), seventh twice (1927 and 1938) and ninth once (1936).
"He had 222 winners of 1,366 races and $3,518,663 in all, including 63 stakes victors.
"Man o’ War’s best foal arrived in 1934. That was War Admiral, winner of $273,240, Triple Crown winner, champion at three and four, and later the leading sire of 1945.
"Good as was Man o’ War as a sire, he was perhaps even more outstanding as a brood-mare sire. His relatively small number of daughters kept him from leading the broodmare sire list, but from 1933 through 1955 he was lower than eighth on this list only once. He ranked second 10 times, was thrice third and twice fifth. Through 1955, his daughters had foaled the winners of 5,738 races and approximately $12,138,460 in first monies."
- Frank Talmadge Phelps, 19601
1. Frank Talmadge Phelps (March 1960). “He Wuz de Mostes’ Hoss,” Turf and Sport Digest