Rating: 
Summary: Informative and fun, but...
Review: This book was great to read, and while I am a big horse racing fan, I don't think you need to be to enjoy it. However, while Man O' War was indeed a great horse...definitely deserving to be in the top five, he was not Secretariat, who, in my opinion, was far and away the choice to be number one. Secretariat set a track record in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont, and but for a malfunctioning clock, would have done the same in the Preakness. Man O' War, by comparison, didn't even run in the Kentucky Derby. Save for this glaringly poor choice of the number one horse, I'd recommend this book for any enthusiast.
Rating: 
Summary: (4.5) A great quick-reference to 100 top racehorses.
Review: This book, compiled by a panel of seven from The Blood-Horse, provides an excellent run-down on 100 of the greatest horses to grace the Thoroughbred racing scene in America during the 1900s. Each horse is honored with a brief biography (the top 20 horses get four pages each, and all the rest get two) that describes his/her history, racing career, and any notable offspring or other key accomplishments in clear and easy-to-read language. In addition, a race record, pedigree, and one or two nice photographs of each is provided.At the back of the book one will find a few more helpful resources. A table of the chosen 100 provides a nice quick-reference to year of birth, owner, breeder, and trainer. There is also a "Leaders List" with interesting statistics, including horses with the most wins, unbeaten horses, once-beatens, horses with the most starts, Kentucky Derby (and Triple Crown) winners, multimillionaires, geldings, top trainers, top breeders, and the foaling years that produced the most champions. The 100 horses included are ranked as follows: (1) Man O'War; (2) Secretariat; (3) Citation; (4) Kelso; (5) Count Fleet; (6) Dr. Fager; (7) Native Dancer; (8) Forego; (9) Seattle Slew; (10) Spectacular Bid; (11) Tom Fool; (12) Affirmed; (13) War Admiral; (14) Buckpasser; (15) Colin; (16) Damascus; (17) Round Table; (18) Cigar; (19) Bold Ruler; (20) Swaps; (21) Equipoise; (22) Phar Lap; (23) John Henry; (24) Nashua; (25) Seabiscuit; (26) Whirlaway; (27) Alydar; (28) Gallant Fox; (29) Exterminator; (30) Sysonby; (31) Sunday Silence; (32) Skip Away; (33) Assault; (34) Easy Goer; (35) Ruffian; (36) Gallant Man; (37) Discovery; (38) Challedon; (39) Armed; (40) Busher; (41) Stymie; (42) Alysheba; (43) Northern Dancer; (44) Ack Ack; (45) Gallorette; (46) Majestic Prince; (47) Coaltown; (48) Personal Ensign; (49) Sir Barton; (50) Dahlia; (51) Susan's Girl; (52) Twenty Grand; (53) Sword Dancer; (54) Grey Lag; (55) Devil Diver; (56) Zev; (57) Riva Ridge; (58) Slew o' Gold; (59) Twilight Tear; (60) Native Diver; (61) Omaha; (62) Cicada; (63) Silver Charm; (64) Holy Bull; (65) Alsab; (66) Top Flight; (67) Arts and Letters; (68) All Along; (69) Noor; (70) Shuvee; (71) Regret; (72) Go For Wand; (73) Johnstown; (74) Bald Eagle; (75) Hill Prince; (76) Lady's Secret; (77) Two Lea; (78) Eight Thirty; (79) Gallant Bloom; (80) Ta Wee; (81) Affectionately; (82) Miesque; (83) Carry Back; (84) Bimelech; (85) Lure; (86) Fort Marcy; (87) Gamely; (88) Old Rosebud; (89) Bewitch; (90) Davona Dale; (91) Genuine Risk; (92) Sarazen; (93) Sun Beau; (94) Artful; (95) Bayakoa; (96) Exceller; (97) Foolish Pleasure; (98) Beldame; (99) Roamer; (100) Blue Larkspur Of course there will be debate over the rankings. The top three - Man O'War, Secretariat, and Citation (rated in that order) - in particular will fuel heated and unending dispute. But one must take into account that these horses raced in different times, under different conditions. Track surfaces, weight carried, equipment used, living conditions, diet, training methods, quality of the competition, types of races entered, and more all varied greatly. Some were dirt horses and some turf horses. Some were sprinters and some ran longer distances. Some were pacesetters and some were come-from-behind horses. The only way to know for sure which ones were better than others would be to line them all up and race them against each other. But we can't do that. So the rankings given here should be taken rather lightly, and not be the focal point of the book. Rather, it is a nice, concise overview of a group of 100 very good racehorses, and that is all it should be taken for. The book is not a completely comprehensive reference - those looking for in-depth information on one particular horse would need to read additional sources, as the biographies here are just very brief overviews squeezed into a couple pages - but it makes for interesting reading and the statistics and pedigrees given can be quite useful. On the whole I would highly recommend this to any Thoroughbred racing enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: Great run-down of Great Horses
Review: This is a wonderful summary review of what the Blood-Horse panel decided were the top 100 of the 20th century (even if the century should not include 1900 and should include 2000). Arguments will rage about horses' placings, but that's just natural. (Personally, it's a plus for me that they placed Man O'War above Secretariat - I agree, JohnsonR!) My only real disappointment was that there were no complete past-performances for each horse. I'm a statistics wonk and I love to get my hands on PPs for horses. I am grateful they included at least a recapitulation, both total and season. And in the "Leaders Lists" in the back of the book, I still don't know what they mean by "Most Wins" when all they show is the horse and how many wins there were. I question it because I know that Exterminator, for example, had 50 wins - that is more than Round Table's 43 which is shown as the "highest" on this little chart. That puzzles me to no end! But overall, it's a great book if you want a summary of the horse's life and career, and nice photos on very nice paper!
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding Reference Book for Racing Fans
Review: While this book will provoke arguments among racing fans as to which horses merit the "greatest" label, this is indispensible to anyone who loves thoroughbred racing. While most of the horses were and are familiar names to racing fans, some are not so well-known. Each horse is described in brief yet highly detailed biographies, and there are photographs galore. As I said, there will be arguments as to which horses were the best, and the authors note how low the fillies, especially Ruffian, arguably a top 10 horse, ended up on the list. There was also some controversy over Secretariat's ranking, as one of the seven experts did not even list him in the top 10, thus he managed to finish only number two on the list, behind Man O' War (this immediately calls into question the "expertise" of the unidentified panelist). But that's what these lists are for, to provoke discussion and even argument. I found this book endlessly fascinating.
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