List of historical horses

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This list includes actual horses that exist in the historical record. For fictional horses, see: List of fictional horses.

Racehorses[]

A[]

  • : leading sire of harness racehorses
  • Adios Butler: famous harness racer
  • Affirmed: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1978)
  • Ajax: 18 consecutive race wins, before he was defeated at 1/40
  • Albatross: harness racer who won 59 of 71 races, and as a sire produced winners of over $130 million, including Niatross
  • Allez France: French Arc winner and first filly to win a million dollars
  • Alydar: finished second to Affirmed in all three 1978 Triple Crown races; successful sire
  • American Pharoah: 2015 winner of the U.S. Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup World Championships in Lexington, Kentucky at Keeneland Race Course
  • Animal Kingdom: American Thoroughbred racehorse; won 137th Kentucky Derby and 2013 Dubai World Cup
  • Archer: first and second winner of the Melbourne Cup
  • Aristides: winner of the first Kentucky Derby
  • Arrogate: winner of Travers Stakes, Breeders' Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup, and Dubai World Cup in track record time and the richest U.S.-based racehorse of all time
  • Arkle: highest Timeform rating for a steeplechase horseracer
  • Assault: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1946)

B[]

  • Barbaro: American Thoroughbred who decisively won the 2006 Kentucky Derby, but shattered his leg two weeks later in the 2006 Preakness Stakes, ending his racing career; underwent several operations; eventually healed, but developed laminitis and could not be saved; euthanized January 29, 2007
  • Beholder: three-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Distaff, as well as the first filly to win the Pacific Classic
  • Bernborough: Australian racehorse and winner of 15 consecutive races at big weights; sold to US film producer Louis B. Mayer
  • Ben Nevis: champion Maryland steeplechaser he won the Maryland Hunt Cup twice and the Grand National
  • Bend Or, very successful British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1880 Epsom Derby
  • Best Mate: 2002, 2003 and 2004 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner; often given title 'Greatest Steeplechaser' since Arkle, and an equal to him
  • Big Brown: 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner; first horse since Clyde Van Dusen to win the Kentucky Derby from the 20th post position
  • Black Caviar: undefeated in 25 career starts; fifteen-time Group 1 winner
  • Bold Forbes: 1976 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner
  • Bold Ruler: leading sire of stakeswinners; born in the same barn the same night as Round Table; sired the outstanding Secretariat
  • Bret Hanover: one of only nine pacers to win the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers; had 62 wins from 69 starts; the only horse to be made Harness Horse of the Year three times
  • Brigadier Gerard: winner of 17 of 18 races in England, including the 2000 Guineas and 11 other Group I races; joint third highest Timeform flat rating of all time
  • Brooklyn Supreme: a red roan Belgian stallion noted for his extreme size
  • Bucephalus: Horse of Alexander the Great
  • Buckpasser: won 15 consecutive races; one of the great broodmare sires

C[]

  • California Chrome: won the 140th Kentucky Derby; won the Preakness; won the 2016 Dubai World Cup; two-time American Horse of the Year
  • Carbine: outstanding racehorse and sire; winner of the Melbourne Cup
  • Cardigan Bay: New Zealand's "million dollar pacer"; the first to win a million in the US; appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show
  • Castleshane: winner of eight flat races and two jumps
  • Cicero: winner of the 1905 Epsom Derby as the shortest-priced successful favourite in the history of the event
  • Cigar: champion in the 1990s who won 16 consecutive races
  • Citation: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1948); also won 16 consecutive major stakes races; first horse to earn $1 million\
  • Country House: Winner of Kentucky Derby 2019 after Maximum Security was demoted from 1st place for interference with other horses
  • Crisp: remembered for his epic race in the Grand National with Red Rum
  • Curlin: third richest US-based horse of all time, winner of 2007 Preakness Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic and 2008 Dubai World Cup

D[]

  • Dan Patch: America's greatest pacer
  • Danehill: American-bred and British-trained sprint champion who went on to become a champion sire in both the northern and southern hemispheres; the first major "shuttle stallion"
  • Dance Smartly: second Canadian filly ever to win the Canadian Triple Crown, and the first to win a Breeders Cup Race
  • Dawn Run: only horse ever to complete Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup double
  • Deep Impact: Japanese Triple Crown winner; also smashed the world record over 3200 metres and seven-time leading sire in Japan
  • Desert Gold: race mare who won 19 races successive races during World War I; often raced against Gloaming
  • Desert Orchid: won King George four times and Cheltenham Gold Cup
  • Dr. Fager: "the Doctor"; set the world record at 1 mile on any surface, 1:32 1/5, and held it for more than 20 years
  • Doncaster: very successful racehorse, sire of the great Bend Or

E[]

  • Easy Goer: Hall of Fame champion who ran the fastest mile of all time on dirt by any three-year-old Thoroughbred in 1:32.2; ran the second fastest Belmont Stakes of all time behind Secretariat; had a great rivalry with Sunday Silence
  • Eclipse: celebrated 18th-century racehorse that won 18 races in 18 starts; influential sire
  • :Fastest Brazilian horse to win Brazilian Cup (1986, 1989 and 1990)
  • Eight Belles: first filly to win the Martha Washington Stakes, by a record 13½ lengths
  • Exterminator: exceedingly popular "iron horse" of American racing history

F[]

  • Frankel: undefeated in 14 career starts; highest rated flat race horse in history: WTR 140;[1] Timeform 147, Racing Post 143
  • Funny Cide: first gelding since Clyde Van Dusen to win the Kentucky Derby
  • Flyingbolt: widely considered as the second best Steeplechaser of all-time; stablemate of Arkle; Timeform rated 210. 2 lb inferior to Arkle
  • Fair Play: successful American Thoroughbred racehorse and very successful sire; sired the great Man o' War

G[]

  • Gainsborough: winner of the English Triple Crown; leading sire
  • Galileo: seven-time Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland; sire of Frankel; has sired 102 Group 1 winners worldwide as of December 2015
  • Genuine Risk: second filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1980)
  • Gloaming: won 19 successive races in New Zealand and Australia; record was 67 starts for 57 wins and 9 seconds
  • Go Man Go: champion running Quarter Horse
  • Golden Miller: record five-time winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup; only horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National in the same year
  • Goldsmith Maid: famous harness racing mare of the 19th century[2]
  • Greyhound: named Trotting Horse of the Century in the US

H[]

  • Hambletonian 10: the "father of American trotting"
  • Hurricane Fly: Irish hurdler, winner of a record 22 Grade I races
  • Hyperion: winner of The Derby and the St Leger Stakes; top sire for six years in the UK
  • Hastings: sire of Fair Play, who in turn sired the great Man o' War, successful racehorse

I[]

  • Incitatus: horse legend says Roman Emperor Caligula planned to make a senator
  • Iroquois: first American-bred racehorse to win The Derby
  • Invasor: winner of the Uruguayan Triple Crown, as well as the Dubai World Cup and Breeders' Cup Classic
  • I'll Have Another: winner of the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes
  • Irish War Cry: Graded-Stakes Winner, noted for his win in the Wood Memorial Stakes and for finishing second in the 2017 Belmont Stakes
  • Isinglass: sixth winner of the English Triple Crown (1892)
  • Isonomy: very successful racehorse and sire of The English Triple Crown winner Isinglass

J[]

  • Jay Trump: three-time winner of the Maryland Hunt Cup and the Grand National
  • John Henry: U.S. Champion Turf Horse (1980, 1981, 1983, 1984)
  • Johnstown: winner of the 1939 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes
  • Justify: 2018 winner of the U.S. Triple Crown

K[]

  • : winner of the 2007 Cairns Cup
  • Kelso: only five-time U.S. Horse of the Year, in the list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by The Blood-Horse magazine, Kelso ranks 4th
  • Kincsem: Hungarian race mare and most successful racehorse ever, winning all 54 starts in five countries
  • Kindergarten: weighted more than Phar Lap in the Melbourne Cup
  • Kingston: all-time record holder of the most wins by a horse with 89
  • Kingston Town: won three Cox Plates; first Australian horse to top $1million in stakes earnings
  • Kissin George: one of America's premier sprinting Thoroughbred racehorses

L[]

  • La Troienne: most important broodmare of the twentieth century
  • Lexington: America's leading 19th-century sire
  • Longfellow: 19th-century runner and stallion
  • Lonesome Glory: only five-time winner of American champion steeplechaser
  • Lottery: winner of the Grand National steeplechase in 1839
  • Lookin At Lucky: winner of 2010 Preakness Stakes, sired Lookin at Lee

M[]

  • Makybe Diva: won the Melbourne Cup on three occasions
  • Man o' War: often considered America's greatest racehorse; won 20 of 21 career starts
  • Marengo Famous war horse of Napoleon
  • Master Charlie: winner of the 1924 Remsen Stakes, Tijuana Futurity, Hopeful Stakes, Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes; awarded 1924 American Champion Two-Year-Old-Male/Colt
  • Maximum Security: Winner of Kentucky Derby 2019 before disqualification from 1st place for disturbing other horses
  • Might and Power: World Champion Stayer (1997); Australian Horse of the Year (1998, 1999)
  • Mr. Prospector: one of the most successful U.S. sires of the late 20th century
  • Moifaa: first New Zealand horse to win the Grand National
  • Mahubah: dam of Man o' War

N[]

  • Nasrullah: one of the most successful Thoroughbred sires of the 20th century, grandsire to Secretariat
  • Native Dancer (also nicknamed the Grey Ghost): won 21 of 22 career races, with only loss in the Kentucky Derby; sire whose descendants have come to dominate modern Triple Crown racing
  • Nearco Italian bred Thoroughbred racehorse. ''Thoroughbred Heritage'' described him as  "one of the greatest racehorses of the Twentieth Century" and "one of the most important sires of the century." He was undefeated and his sire line was dominant.
  • Needles: the first Florida-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby (1956), also won the Belmont Stakes
  • Niatross: pacer who won 37 of his 39 races and broke many records, considered to be one of the greatest harness racers of all time
  • Night Raid: sire of Phar Lap
  • Nijinsky II: last horse to win the English Triple Crown (1970)
  • Northern Dancer: Canada's champion on the racetrack; most successful sire of the 20th century

O[]

  • Overdose: champion Hungarian sprinter and winner of 14 straight races
  • Orfevre: winner of almost 20 million US dollars in earnings and is one of the highest earning racehorses ever
  • Oedipus: winner of the American Steeplechase triple crown

P[]

  • Peter Pan: winner of the Preakness Stakes, and had the Peter Pan Stakes named in his honor
  • Phar Lap: Australia and New Zealand's most famed Thoroughbred racehorse; won 37 of his 51 career starts
  • Pleasant Colony: 1981 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner
  • Potoooooooo: 18th-century thoroughbred racehorse who won over 30 races and defeated some of the greatest racehorses of the time.
  • Pretty Polly Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won 15 consecutive races, fifth filly to win the British Fillies Triple Crown, record 24: 22-2-0

Q[]

  • Quevega: only horse in the history to win at six consecutive Cheltenham Festivals
  • Queensway: won the Canadian Triple Crown

R[]

  • Rachel Alexandra: filly and winner of the 2009 Preakness Stakes
  • Roy Olcott: harness racehorse
  • Real Quiet: winner of the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes; lost the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, by a margin of four inches
  • Red Rum: only horse in the history of the Aintree Grand National to win the race three times (placed second on two other occasions)
  • Regret: first filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1915)
  • Ribot: Thoroughbred undefeated in sixteen races
  • Rock Sand: English Triple Crown winner (1903); sire of the dam of Man o' War
  • Round Table: sire of stakes winners; born in the same barn the same night as Bold Ruler, in 1954
  • Ruffian: filly champion who won every race she started until her final (and fatal) race
  • Ruthless: first ever winner of the Belmont Stakes, and the first of only three fillies ever to win the Belmont Stakes

S[]

  • Sadler's Wells: one of Europe's most successful sires of the late 20th century
  • Sardar: stallion presented as a gift to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy by President Ayub Khan on her visit to Pakistan
  • Sea Bird: second highest Timeform rated horse (rated 145)
  • Sea the Stars: first horse ever to win the 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby, and Arc de Triomphe in the same year (2009)
  • Seabiscuit: beat War Admiral in a nationally broadcast 1938 match race; like Phar Lap, raced during the Depression
  • Seattle Slew: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1977)
  • Secretariat: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1973); one of the most famous horses in Thoroughbred racing
  • Shergar: winner of the 1981 Epsom Derby by a record 10 lengths, the longest winning margin in a race run annually since 1781; kidnapped by the IRA in 1983, and was held for ransom, but the owner syndicate refused to pay, fearing that valuable horses would become targets; the stallion was never found
  • Silky Sullivan: a racehorse
  • Sir Winston: Winner of 2019 Belmont Stakes
  • Skewball: immortalized in 18th century poetry as a sku-ball winning against a Thoroughbred
  • Smarty Jones: became the first unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977
  • Spectacular Bid: Hall of Fame champion who went undefeated as a four-year-old, and won 26 of 30 career starts
  • Steel Dust: 19th-century quarter-mile racing horse[3]
  • Storm Cat: one of the most successful U.S. sires of the late 20th century
  • Sunday Silence: winner in the US; champion sire in Japan
  • Sunline: first Southern Hemisphere horse to top $10million in stakes earnings; three-time Australian (2000-2002); four-time New Zealand (1999-2002) horse of the year; 13-time Group 1 winner
  • Swale: 1984 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, died eight days after the Belmont win

T[]

U[]

V[]

  • Vain: champion front runner; great, great grandsire of Black Caviar
  • Varenne: Italy's most famous harness horse
  • Vo Rouge: fast frontrunner and 3-time winner of the C F Orr Stakes, had the Vo Rogue Plate named in his honor
  • Voltaire: winner of the 1828 Doncaster Gold Cup

W[]

X[]

  • Xaar: winner of Prix de Cabourg (1997), Prix de la Salamandre (1997)
  • Xtra Heat: champion 3-year-old filly of 2001, and the only filly to win the Endine stakes twice

Y[]

  • Yeats: only horse ever to win 4 Ascot Gold Cups, also won 3 other group 1 races
  • Your Host: winner of 1950 Santa Anita Derby, 1951 Santa Catalina Handicap, sire of the great Kelso

Z[]

  • Zabeel: New Zealand sire of Octagonal and Vengeance of Rain
  • Zaccio: three-time winner of the Outstanding Steeplechase horse award in the 80s
  • Zenyatta: won 19 of 20 starts; first mare to win the Breeders' Cup Classic (2009); first to win two different Breeders' Cup races (Ladies' Classic in 2008, Classic in 2009)
  • Zev: winner of the Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, as well as winner of a match race against Epsom Derby winner Papyrus
  • Zippy Chippy: infamous for racing 100 times and losing every single time

Competition horses[]

  • Big Ben, Canadian international show jumper and Olympian
  • Hickstead, Canadian international show jumper and Olympic individual show jumping gold medal winner
  • Huaso (1933 – August 24, 1961), famous Chilean jumping horse that still holds the record in highest jump: 2.47 m (8 ft 1+1⁄4 in)
  • Midnight inducted into five different halls of fame, this bucking horse famously bucked at the best rodeos throughout the West and Canada
  • Midnight Sun, two-time Grand Champion and leading foundation sire of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed
  • Milton, British international show jumper and Olympian ridden by John Whitaker
  • Noble Flaire, Morgan horse who was the first to win three Park Harness World Championships at the American Morgan Horse World Championship Horse Show
  • Radium, outstanding campdrafter; influential sire in Australia
  • Scamper ProRodeo Hall of Fame horse in barrel racing for hall of fame rider Charmayne James. They won the National Finals Rodeo a consecutive 10 times in a row, a record that still stands today.
  • Seldom Seen, pony who successfully competed in dressage despite being unusually small
  • Snowman, former plough horse rescued from being butchered by rider Harry de Lyer; won the 1958 National Horse Show Open Jumper championship against professional and Olympic level competition; twice named the American Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year
  • Totilas, first horse to score above a 90 in dressage
  • Touch of Class, bay TB mare, ridden by Joe Fargis, won two gold medals in the 1984 Olympics
  • Valegro, current world record holder in dressage with 94,3% Royal Dutch Sport Horse, ridden by Charlotte Dujardin

Military horses[]

See also: List of horses of the American Civil War
  • Babieca, horse of El Cid
  • Black Jack, the last Quartermaster-issued U.S. Army horse, died February 6, 1976
  • Blueskin, one of Washington's two primary mounts during the American Revolutionary War
  • Bucephalus, favorite horse of Alexander the Great; one of the most famous horses of antiquity; following his death after the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 BCE, Alexander promptly founded the city of Bucephala upon the spot in his memory
  • Chetak, war horse of Rana Pratap of Mewar in India; died defending its master in 1576 during the Battle of Haldighati
  • Cincinnati, one of Ulysses S. Grant's horses
  • Comanche, only documented survivor of General Custer's 7th Cavalry detachment at the Battle of Little Big Horn
  • Copenhagen, the Duke of Wellington's favourite horse, which he rode at the Battle of Waterloo
  • Dhūljānāḥ, the horse of Husayn ibn Ali in the Battle of Karbala
  • Favorito, the personal horse of Charles Albert of Savoy, King of Sardinia from 1831 to the king’s death in 1849
  • Kasztanka, horse of Józef Piłsudski, likely the most famous Polish horse
  • Llamrei, horse of King Arthur
  • Marengo, Napoleon's horse which was captured by the British, and outlived Napoleon by eight years
  • Matsukaze, personal horse of Maeda Keiji
  • Nelson, one of Washington's two primary mounts during the American Revolutionary War
  • Palomo, main horse of Simon Bolivar
  • Reckless, became a decorated Marine for carrying supplies and ammunition into battle for the US Marine platoon in the Korean War
  • Red Hare, also known as Chitu, Lü Bu's horse from the Three Kingdoms; inspired the phrase "Among men: Lü Bu. Among horses: Red Hare"
  • Sefton, survivor of the Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings in 1982
  • Streiff, horse of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden at the battle of Lützen (1632)
  • Tencendur, warhorse of King Charlemagne
  • Traveller, Robert E. Lee's horse
  • Veillantif, horse of Roland, a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne
  • Warrior, "Old Warrior", the mount of General Jack Seely in the First World War from 1914 to 1918; awarded the Dickin Medal in 2014
  • Zuljanah, horse of Hussein ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala

Horses of various other fame[]

  • Bamboo Harvester, portrayed a talking horse in the title role of the TV series Mister Ed, retired in Shasta County
  • Brooklyn Supreme, said to be the largest horse in history[4]
  • Burmese, favourite mount of Queen Elizabeth II; a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  • Buttermilk, Dale Evans' horse
  • Champion, Gene Autry's horse
  • Clever Hans, a smart horse
  • Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and Byerly Turk, stallions from whom all Thoroughbreds are descended
  • Figure (also known by the name of one of his owners, Justin Morgan), the foundation sire of the Morgan horse breed
  • Gun Rock, the offspring of Man O' War used in the 1920s at UC Davis to breed horses for the U.S. Army Cavalry
  • Hollywood Dun It, all-time leading reining sire and Quarter Horse
  • Huaso, Chilean-bred horse; holder of the high jump world record set in Chile on February 5 of 1949, one of the world's longest unbroken sport records
  • Incitatus, Emperor Caligula's favorite horse; may have been made a senator
  • Jim, former milk cart horse used to produce diphtheria antitoxin; contamination of this antitoxin inspired the Biologics Control Act of 1902
  • King, a foundation sire of the Quarter Horse breed
  • Marocco or Bankes's Horse, a late 16th- and early 17th-century English performing horse
  • Muhamed, German horse allegedly capable of solving cubic roots
  • Popcorn Deelites, the main horse who played Seabiscuit in the Oscar Nominated film Seabiscuit
  • Prometea, born May 28, 2003, the first cloned horse and the first to be born from and carried by its cloning mother
  • Rugged Lark, famous quarter horse owned by Carol Harris, in the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame
  • Sampson, the tallest horse ever recorded; a Shire; stood 21.2½ hands high
  • Thunder, Red Ryder's horse
  • Traveler, mascot of the University of Southern California
  • Trigger, Roy Rogers' Palomino
  • Zippo Pine Bar Inducted into American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and National Snaffle Bit Association Hall of Fame

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Greg Wood. "Frankel World's Best Thoroughbred". Theguardian.com. Retrieved February 1, 2014.
  2. ^ Kirsch, George B. (editor) (1995) "Smuggler vs. Goldsmith Maid, 1876" Sports in North America: A Documentary History, Volume 4: Sports in war, revival and expansion, 1860-1880 Academic International Press, Gulf Breeze, Florida, pp. 206-210, ISBN 0-87569-135-8
  3. ^ Denhardt, Robert Moorman (1967) Quarter Horses: A Story of Two Centuries University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, pp. 20-32, OCLC 1381366
  4. ^ https://www.suggestedpost.eu/brooklyn-supreme/

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