Man o'War

The Belmont name is long associated with horse-racing. The first August Belmont was a wealthy nineteenth-century banker; the Belmont Stakes, the third race of the Triple Crown, is named for him. August Belmont Jr. was born in New York City on February 15, 1853. A financier like his father, Belmont Jr. also shared his forebear's love of sports. The younger Belmont ran track at Harvard University, where he introduced spiked track shoes in the United States. Following his father's death in 1890, Belmont Jr. assumed leadership of the family's banking and railroad concerns. He also was instrumental in the construction of the New York subway system and was the founder of Belmont Park. In 1917 Belmont matched his winning mare Mahubah to a son of Hastings, a well-respected (and much-feared) stallion who liked to fight as much as race. The product of that pairing was Man o' War, named by Belmont's wife, Eleanor, for her husband, who was serving in World War II at the age of fifty-four. Sold as a yearling, Man o' War continued his career with new owner Sam Riddle. August Belmont Jr. died on December 10, 1924.