The 12 Best Racehorses Of All Time

War Admiral might have been shorter than most successful racehorses at just 15.3 hands, but he made up for his height with his incredible spirit. He won 21 of his 26 races, and in 1937, he was voted the American Horse of the Year. He and his nephew, Seabiscuit, famously raced in the 1938 Pimlico Special match race, with Seabiscuit going on to win and set a track record.

Red Rum was a steeplechase racer, meaning he not only had to worry about running, but also jumping while he raced. He won the Grand National three times and came in second place twice, though he participated in a stunning 100 races. He's one of the most famous horses in the UK and is remembered in particular for the 1973 race in which he achieved an unbelievable victory after originally falling behind by thirty lengths.

Tall as well as talented, this 17.2-hand mare won nineteen consecutive races out of her 20 starts. She earned over $7 million in her career and made her mark not only as a talented racehorse, but also as a female athlete — she claimed the number two spot for the AP Female Athlete of the Year both in 2009 and 2010 and appeared in various magazines and television specials. Zenyatta retired in 2010 and is currently pregnant with her fourth foal.

A sensation of the '70s, Seattle Slew was the tenth horse to win the Triple Crown, but the first and only one to do it while being undefeated in his racing career at the time. After fighting off a life-threatening illness that resulted from a collapsed jugular vein, the horse went on to race again and ultimately won the final race in his career. He retired with earnings totaling over $1 million.

This chestnut horse was the eleventh winner of the Triple Crown in 1978, claiming the title just a year after Seattle Slew. However, no other horse would go on to earn the same victory for another 37 years until American Pharoah became victorious in 2015. He had a famous rivalry with another talented racehorse named Alydar, who ran against Affirmed throughout his racing career.

Ruffian was not only one of the most talented racehorses of her time, but also the toughest. She went undefeated in her first ten races, winning with an average lead of 8 1/3 lengths. She was famous for refusing to give in to or even show pain, once suffering a hairline fracture in her hind leg during a race and not even revealing she was hurt until the next day. In her final race, the filly broke both sesamoid bones in her right foreleg. Even though her jockey tried his hardest to pull her in, she continued to run, even as her injured leg became useless. Tragically, Ruffian injured herself even worse after undergoing emergency surgery to repair her leg and had to be euthanized. She lives on in history as one of the most dedicated racehorses ever known.

Seabiscuit's transformation from a lazy underdog to a champion who beat the odds made him a symbol of inspiration that was greatly needed during the time of the Great Depression. Both he and his jockey, Red Pollard, suffered injuries that would have normally ended a racing career for both horse and human, but instead, they overcame adversity to become an unforgettable team. Seabiscuit's story has inspired numerous tributes, including a 2003 movie that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

This New Zealand-bred gelding (whose name comes from the Thai and Zhuang word for "lightning") was originally unwanted when he was sold as a colt thanks to his gangly appearance and strange gait, but he proved everyone wrong when he went on to win 37 races in his career. He was so successful that he was once the target of an assassination attempt when someone tried to shoot him after he'd finished a training run. Not only did they miss, but later that day, Phar Lap won the Melbourne Stakes. Tragically, the legendary horse's life was cut short in 1932 by a mysterious illness that many believe was the result of being poisoned. The mystery has never been solved, but Phar Lap lives on today as a horse that destroyed the odds.

Nicknamed the "Grey Ghost" for his relatively uncommon coloring, Native Dancer is considered the first racehorse to have become famous through television. He won 21 of 22 starts, with his only loss being in the 1953 Kentucky Derby. He won the award for United States Horse of the Year in 1954 and appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Native Dancer retired the same year due to a foot injury and went on to sire 306 foals.

One of the most talented racehorses in history wasn't even allowed to gallop when he raced. Dan Patch was a Standardbred who competed in harness racing in the early 1900s. He set a record for the fastest mile for a harness horse that stood for 32 years, clocking in at just 1:55. The horse didn't lose a single race in his entire career, and he was so fast that many owners flat-out refused to race their horses against him. He acquired a massive fan base, and Harry Truman himself wrote the horse a fan letter when he was a boy. In July 1916, Dan Patch passed away. His owner, Marion Savage, died suddenly of a heart attack less than 31 hours later.

Man o' War was named in honor of his original owner and breeder, who joined the US Army at age 65 to fight in WWI. He won his first race by six lengths, then continued in his success to win 20 of his 21 races. His only loss came, coincidentally, to a horse named "Upset." Man o' War finished his career with $250,000 in winnings and became a legend in the racing industry.

In 1973, Secretariat not only became the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 25 years, but also set records for each of the three races. To this day, no horse has been able to beat them. He won sixteen of his 21 starts in addition to multiple awards that included Horse of the Year and ESPN's 35th-best North American Athlete of the 20th Century. After Secretariat's death in 1989, the veterinarian who performed the necropsy discovered that the animals' heart was nearly 2 3/4 times the size of the average horse heart.

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