 This is Jimmy Powers ready to bring you another story from the tumult and the shouting Hi 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 ears 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 a bow to the spirit of granny rice I pick up his narrative in first person The first time I ever saw man a war was at Jamaica racetrack outside New York City in 1920 Where he was entered in the stylus and 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 man a war in the fifth race. I Had him said my friend after the race He won, but he didn't pay much. Did he know I replied but he won Man a war was in all books at one to one hundred or one penny on each dollar wagered My friend a plunger had risked five dollars on the nose. His winnings didn't pay his car feral 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 a 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 has later defeats by newer though brought him down a bit fourth Count fleet the high-headed colt was probably as good as the best as fast as any didn't quite last out as three-year-old term However, but the most is horse the thoroughbred who gripped the imagination of race goers Whether they bet him $100 to win or $2 to show was man a war You know the British stud books refused to acknowledge him. They didn't rate his breeding pure enough This business of breeding incidentally makes me snort when I'm trying to pick a horse I don't ask about his breeding. All I ask is about six inches of his nose in front of the wire I've had my first speaking acquaintance with running horses back in 19 one Down the years. I've witnessed perhaps half a dozen great match races or at least for purposes of description They were match races in that it was strictly horse against horse the man a war John P. Greer affair at Aqueduct Park on Long Island in July 1920 on a weather clear track fast day was a corker It was the Dwyer steaks at one and one-eighth miles This pair scared the rest of the expected field back to the barns John P. Was in with a feather at 108 pounds while man a war carried 126 pounds including Clarence Cumber in the irons Well Aqueduct was a giant beehive as these two magnificent thoroughbreds came out onto the track They were cheered like a pair of heavyweights touching gloves before round one of a world championship They're off roared the crowd as the barrier snapped in two freight trains roared by the stands and into the far turn at the Three-quarter pole man a war was lapped on John P. About a half length And that's how it was right through until they hit the head of the stretch a quarter mile from home Right there John P. Greer made a lung cracking challenge It was head-in-head neck-and-neck as they thundered towards home Suddenly about 200 yards from the wire the smaller horse seemed to go to pieces Man a war with that gigantic stride It measured 27 feet between leaps kept right on rolling to win by two or three lengths For a world record of 149 and one-fifth. That's one minute 49 and one-fifth seconds Great as man of war was as a champion I must cast my vote for exterminator when judged in all three directions speed stamina and time the time He lasts and man of war was retired to stud as a three-year-old Because he was a gelding exterminator's owner Willis sharp Kilmer ran this gentlest of horses from 1917 until mid-June of 1924 that's a total of seven racing years or more than twice what man a war faced and in those seven years He was carrying high weight from 135 to 140 pounds Yet under this extreme burden he won 50 of 100 races before he retired Why the prettiest horse on a Coney Island merry-go-round doesn't pack as much weight as did old exterminator As a papa man a war stud performance was as spectacular as was his racing career From 1924 when his first batch of Colts went to the races right on until 1954 That's 30 consecutive years the magnificent patriarch of faraway farms. That's near Lexington, Kentucky Sired winners of many races their earnings total more than three and one half million dollars and his number one son was war admiral Ladies and gentlemen when a champion steps down the saying is they never come back Well here in the studio is one chap who has returned to the winner's circle 21 years after riding his last winner and calling it quits to a long and brilliant career as America's number one jockey Earl Sandy shucked off his boots in his silks back in 1933 then on October 14 1954 after a rough period of reconditioning his body and his nerves Sandy smashed through on a three-year-old filly miss wheezy the horse paid $27.10 and the second horse the odds-on favorite was written by a fellow named Eddie R. Carroll Who was considered the Earl Sandy of the present day and now standing beside me is Earl Sandy himself Who was a good friend of granny Rises? I certainly was Jimmy I had the extreme good fortune to be a close friend of granny's from 1920 right up to granny's farewell in July 1954 I remember just a couple of days before he passed on we were both Coming out of the mutual pit with a five dollar ticket on different horses I don't think either one of us had the winner Well, you must have discussed horses during your acquaintanceship with granny all types of horses We know how granny felt about the relentless power and drive of a man of war But you were there you rode big red would you like to tell us about it Earl Sandy? I was there I had the great thrill of riding big red one time. It was in the Miller steaks at Saratoga Mile in three six seats and I remember before the race just before I mounted I said mr. Riddle you want me to let big red run and break the track record He said oh no, we're just let him go out there and gulp around what he did How did it feel to be a boredom? I was it like I think he once said it was like being a board a runaway locomotive Well, he was a big powerful horse and loved to run. He was a matter of fact He was quite a handful to ride. He was a very anxious before a race They had to lead him to the post and turn him over to an assistant starter And of course we didn't have any stall gates in those days and any time He's straightened up the right way the track. He was on his way assistant starter and rider and all but After the race was over he'd come back and just like an old saddle horse Earl in addition to man of war, of course, there was a sea biscuit and stagehand What did you think of those two horses? Well, they were wonderful horses and I remember the greatest thrill I ever had as a trainer. I Trained stagehand when he won the Santa Anita handicap and beat see biscuit of nose as a matter of fact I didn't know whether he'd beaten him or not till they hung up the number It was a photo finish and he just barely did beat him. I guess I would have settled for a dead heat Was certainly was a thrilling race a hundred thousand dollar race to Santa Anita handicap Now I think a lot of people listening would like to know because they're worried about weight problems and that a jockey It makes his living with his weight. How about reducing? Doesn't take a lot out of you. Yeah, that's right. My line on that is Jimmy that in order for me To make the weight of a rider. I had to be dehydrated Overworked and underfed in order to make the weight and that's a kind of a bad combination Don't you think you have a pretty tiresome anyway I'm going at your stomach 24 hours a day for year on end. That's right You work up a terrific appetite and can't satisfy it. What were you under would you say your normal weight? Had you not been a jockey would you been about five pounds heavier 10 or 20? Oh, I the last time you remember when I have a stage that little comeback and wrote a few races 1953 that was I weighed 138 stripped a few months before and I got down to 111 stripped so you can see how much weight I took off Earl Sandy you've had a lot of spectacular spills What was the closest call you think you had? well, I had Speaking of Saratoga the worst fall I ever had was at Saratoga 1924 I got busted up pretty well I fell first and three horses fell over the top of us and I had what to call a comminuted fracture of the femur and Few cracked ribs and a broken collar bone Outside that and yeah, that's how that you want to say that out in pretty good shape Well, Earl, thanks a lot for the chat and folks you know now how it was like to ride Manowar the world's most famous horse Of course, Manowar died 1948 at the extreme age of 31 We may never see the equal of this horse who so completely captured the imagination of those particularly granny rice who rode Full steam ahead through the turbulent 20. This is Jimmy Powers transcribe saying so long