Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century

In 1999, a panel for The Blood-Horse magazine made up of distinguished horse racing people: Howard Battle, Lenny Hale, Jay Hovdey, William Nack, Pete Pedersen, Jennie Rees and Tommy Trotter. These experts compiled a list of what they considered to be the top 100 racehorses of the 20th Century. The list was made into a book with complete biographies under the title "Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century".Eclipse Press (ISBN 1-58150-024-6)

Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century

# Man o' War
# Secretariat
# Citation
# Kelso
# Count Fleet
# Dr. Fager
# Native Dancer
# Forego
# Seattle Slew
# Spectacular Bid
# Tom Fool
# Affirmed
# War Admiral
# Buckpasser
# Colin
# Damascus
# Round Table
# Cigar
# Bold Ruler
# Swaps
# Equipoise
# Phar Lap
# John Henry
# Nashua
# Seabiscuit
# Whirlaway
# Alydar
# Gallant Fox
# Exterminator
# Sysonby
# Sunday Silence
# Skip Away
# Assault
# Easy Goer
# Ruffian
# Gallant Man
# Discovery
# Challedon
# Armed
# Busher
# Stymie
# Alysheba
# Northern Dancer
# Ack Ack
# Gallorette
# Majestic Prince
# Coaltown
# Personal Ensign
# Sir Barton
# Dahlia
# Susan's Girl
# Twenty Grand
# Sword Dancer
# Grey Lag
# Devil Diver
# Zev
# Riva Ridge
# Slew o'Gold
# Twilight Tear
# Native Diver
# Omaha
# Cicada
# Silver Charm
# Holy Bull
# Alsab
# Top Flight
# Arts and Letters
# All Along
# Noor
# Shuvee
# Regret
# Go for Wand
# Johnstown
# Bald Eagle
# Hill Prince
# Lady's Secret
# Two Lea
# Eight Thirty
# Gallant Bloom
# Ta Wee
# Affectionately
# Miesque
# Carry Back
# Bimelech
# Lure
# Fort Marcy
# Gamely
# Old Rosebud
# Bewitch
# Davona Dale
# Genuine Risk
# Sarazen
# Sun Beau
# Artful
# Bayakoa
# Exceller
# Foolish Pleasure
# Beldame
# Roamer
# Blue Larkspur

Controversy about the list

Author Bill Nack commented regarding the outcome of why Man'OWar was selected #1 in the The Blood-Horse poll.

"I spent two days on the project. The final results were skewered when, I am told, one of the judges put Secretariat fourteenth on his top-100 list. I don't know who this particular voter was---individual voting has remained a secret on that panel---but it was an idiotic judgment that should have been dismissed out of hand. Had I known any voter would do such a thing, I'd have put Man o' War in fourteenth place just to counterbalance the loony. That would have leveled the playing field. Here was a horse who had broken three track records in all three Triple Crown races, including the controversial Preakness clocking, two of which records (Derby and Belmont) still stand today; whose 31-length Belmont Stakes victory, in which he earned a Beyer of 137, is by consensus regarded as the greatest performance by a racehorse in history; and yet here was a voter who concocted a list suggesting that Secretariat would have finished last, behind 13 horses, in a field made up of that voter's first 14 horses on the list. It warped the voting and thereby tainted the list."