Top Race Horses: 20th & 21st Centuries Quiz

Answer: Secretariat

Secretariat is considered by some to be the best race horse who ever graced the American tracks. In addition to capturing the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes, he won 11 other stakes races in 2 seasons of racing. Those who claim Secretariat is overrated point out that while he often won in spectacular fashion, he also lost 5 races in his 21 lifetime starts.

Sham was a contemporary of Secretariat, running 2nd to him in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He never ran again after his last-place finish in the 1973 Belmont Stakes.

Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978, each time besting Alydar, the runner up in all 3 legs. Both Affirmed and Alydar would enter the Horse Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, just like Secretariat.

Rambling Willie was a famous Standardbred (harness racing) horse. He raced 304 times, winning 128.

Answer: Spectacular Bid

Spectacular Bid would atone for his loss in the Belmont Stakes. He would lose only one more time, to fellow Hall of Fame Horse Affirmed. Spectacular Bid finished his career a winner of 23 stakes races and 26 races overall from 30 lifetime starts. He was named Horse of the Year in 1980.

Unbridled's Song is another famous gray horse with a bad foot. He stumbled home 4th in the Kentucky Derby on a bad hoof. While he was never recognized as a champion on the racetrack, he became one of the leading sires in the world in the first decade of the 2000s.

Cam's Card Shark was a famous harness horse who won over $2.4 million.
Mr. Prospector was a famous thoroughbred sire. He led all sires in total earnings by progeny in both 1987 and 1988.

Answer: Native Dancer

In addition to being one of the all-time best racehorses, Native Dancer is also immortalized as the grandsire (grandfather) of Northern Dancer and the damsire (maternal grandfather) of Mr. Prospector, the two most influential sires of the late 20th century.

Exceller was a top-class race horse of the late 1970s. He completed a task nearly impossible to duplicate - he beat two Triple Crown winners in the same race, the 1978 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Ruffian is a Hall of Fame member herself. She won the 1975 Filly Triple Tiara before suffering a fatal injury in a match race against Foolish Pleasure, the 1975 Kentucky Derby winner.

Tom Fool was the horse who denied Native Dancer the title of Horse of the Year in 1953. While Native Dancer had 9 wins and 1 second in 10 starts that year, Tom Fool was a perfect 10 for 10.

Answer: Cigar

Cigar was a stud on the track, winning $9.9 million dollars over his 33 lifetime races. At breeding, however, Cigar was a dud. He was found to be sterile and never sired a single thoroughbred. Regardless, he is still considered to be arguably the best American horse of the 1990s.

Poor But Honest finished second to Cigar in the Massachusetts Handicap in 1995. That was a great performance for a horse that could have been bought for just $5000 less than 2 years before his Mass Cap performance.

Running Stag won the 2000 Massachusetts Handicap. An European expatriate, he would rise to prominence in America on conventional dirt racecourses.

Silver Charm nearly captured the 1995 American Triple Crown. He was denied the crown when Touch Gold beat him to the wire in the Belmont Stakes. Like Cigar, he too would go on to capture the Dubai World Cup.

Answer: Citation

Citation was never the same after his 3-year-old campaign, winning just 5 times in 16 subsequent starts. He can probably be forgiven however - by this time he had had such serious injuries that he missed his entire 4-year-old racing-year. He finished his career the winner of 32 of 45 races. At the end of his 3-year-old campaign he was an astonishing 27 of 29 and his only losses were 2nd place finishes.

Noor was a top-class contemporary of Citation, and is the only horse to beat Citation twice. While Noor was notable, his 4 victories over Citation have made him immortal.

Silver Spoon was a daughter of Citation and earned her own place in the Hall of Fame alongside her father. She won 11 stakes races, including the Santa Anita Derby, which she contested against males.

Mecke was a horse in the 1990s who won top-level (Grade 1) races on both turf and dirt, a rare feat. His full sister, Beautiful Pleasure, was a memorable horse of the 1990s, just like her older brother.

Answer: Man O' War

Man O' War is the standard to which all other thoroughbred horses are compared. While some might question whether he was the all-time best, there is little dispute that he is always in that conversation. In addition, Man O' War was no slouch in the breeding shed. He sired 64 stakes winners including Triple Crown winner War Admiral.

Seabiscuit was a champion horse of the late 1930s. He beat War Admiral in a match race, and his 1940 victory in the Santa Anita Handicap was highlighted in the Academy Award nominated movie "Seabiscuit" (2003). Seabiscuit was himself a grandson of Man O' War.

Skip Away was a champion horse of the 1990s. He captured the Breeder's Cup Classic in 1997 and won over $9.6 million dollars on the racetrack. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.

Alysheba was a champion horse of the 1980s. A son of the equally famous Alydar, Alysheba won the Kentucky Derby and Breeder's Cup Classic as well as many other stakes races. Like Man O'War, Seabiscuit, and Skip Away, Alysheba is in the Hall of Fame for his exploits on the American turf.

Answer: Zenyatta

Even though Zenyatta was denied Horse of the Year in 2008 and 2009, she was recognized as champion filly or mare both years. Oddly enough, she was denied Horse of the Year in 2009 by Rachel Alexandra, another female. 2009 was the first year the only finalists for Horse of the Year were females.

Serena's Song was a champion filly in the 1990s. When she retired she had won more money than any other U.S. filly or mare. She is also known for beating males on multiple occasions, a rare feat in American racing.

Mariah's Storm was an oft-injured but brilliantly fast female in the 1990s. Even though she ran against and often beat the best of her generation (including Serena's Song) she is probably best remembered for 2 off-the-track reasons. She was the inspiration for the movie "Dreamer" (2005), featuring Kurt Russell and Dakota Fanning. Mariah's Storm was also the mother of one of the best European horses of all time, Giant's Causeway.

Flanders was 2-year filly champion of 1994. Never beaten on the racetrack, she beat Serena's Song in an epic stretch battle in the 1994 Breeder's Cup Juvenile Fillies. While Flanders won the battle, she lost the war. Flanders would never run again while Serena's Song would have an illustrious career.

Answer: Kelso

Kelso was in fact one of the very best. For 8 seasons he competed against the very best, racking up 31 stakes victories and nearly $2 million in earnings. Known for his ability to carry weight, run on all surfaces, and run at classic distances, Kelso probably would not fare as well today. Races today are much shorter than they were in the 1960s and earlier.

Best Pal was also a gelding, just like Forego. Running in the 1980s, he was often considered one of the very best of his day. He retired with over $5 million dollars in earnings.

Forego, a gelding as well, won nearly $2 million in 6 seasons of racing during the 1970s. While he could run in races over a mile, he was best in races for sprinters, races less than 1 mile.

Exterminator rounds out a great group of geldings. He was on the track for 8 seasons from 1917 to 1924. His greatest victory came in the Kentucky Derby. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1957.

Why geld a male horse? Here are a few reasons - 1. for medical reasons like an undescended testicle, 2. because a horse will grow if gelded at the right time, 3. because the horse is difficult to handle.

Answer: Northern Dancer

A winner of 14 races from 18 starts, Northern Dancer may have been diminutive in stature, but he could run. His record of two minutes exactly in winning the Kentucky Derby was a record until Secretariat topped the mark 9 years later (in 1973).

Southern Image was a brilliant but brittle horse in the first decade of the 2000s. He won three Grade 1 stakes races in just 8 lifetime starts. He retired to stud and was a "shuttle stallion" - a stallion that would stand in the Northern Hemisphere for the breeding season then "shuttle" to the Southern Hemisphere for the breeding season there.

Gone West was a regally bred son of Mr. Prospector who won 6 races in 17 starts, including 1 Grade 1 victory. He is the grandsire of Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones.

Eastern Lyric is a name shared by 2 horses over the years, both from Great Britain. Neither was very good, but each had a name that fit a theme with this question.

Answer: Count Fleet

Not only was Count Fleet a stellar racehorse, he was a stellar sire as well. Among his 38 stakes winning sons and daughters were three champions - Kiss Me Kate, Counterpoint, and ... One Count. This son of Count Fleet shared Horse of the Year honors with another all-time great, Native Dancer.

Cadillacing was a Grade 1 winner in the 1980s but may be best remembered as the the full sister to Hall of Famer Easy Goer.

Sunline was quite possibly the best female horse to ever live. A winner in 32 of her 48 starts, she won 14 Group 1 races, many against males. She was 3-time Horse of the Year in Australia, 4-time Horse of the Year in New Zealand, and the first active horse ever inducted into the Australian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.