War Admiral is one of the best known thoroughbreds in American horse racing history due to the dominance the animal demonstrated during its heyday in the 1930s. Among the many accomplishments War Admiral achieved by winning the coveted Triple Crown in 1937 , is the main of his successes. To this day, winning the Triple Crown is a feat that has only happened eleven times in the history of the sport.

The beloved horse known as War Admiral was born in 1934 and came from a very fine breed. The foal was the product of a successful breeding between an accomplished racehorse named Man o’War (a former Preakness Stakes winner) and a mare by the name of Brushup. Although War Admiral had a very large father (Man o’War had 16.2 hands) War Admiral was considered short by racehorse standards at 15.2 hands tall, a hand shorter than his father. By contrast, the average horse that competes in elite competitions like the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes is 16 hands tall.

The terminology of measuring height in terms of hands is still used in the sport of horse racing, although it is rarely understood by outsiders. The actual conversion is that one hand equals four inches. Therefore, a 16-handed horse is five feet four inches tall. This is the height when the animal is on all four legs and not when it is standing on its hind legs. The proper notation for a horse that is five feet one inch tall (61 inches) is to write 15.1 hands. The correct way to write 15 1/2 hands tall is actually 15.2 hands (not 15 1/2 or 15 hands and two inches).

An accurate measurement of a horse’s height involves measuring a straight line upward (vertically) from where a hoof touches the flat ground to the highest point on the animal’s back. The highest point on a horse’s back is known as the withers, a term that means the space between the shoulder blades of a four-legged animal. To clarify, when measuring the height of a horse, the head and neck are not considered at all, as the standard comparison basically involves comparing the heights of the horses based solely on how high their shoulders are off the ground without considering the size of the horses counts at all. neck and head.

The 2003 film Seabiscuit incorrectly describes War Admiral (the dominant horse of the Seasbiscuit era) as 18 hands tall. This theatrical ornament exaggerates the horse’s height by 2.2 hands, the equivalent of 10 inches. Anyone familiar with horses understands that exaggerating the height of a racehorse by two and a half hands (2.2 hands spelled correctly) or 10 inches makes a significant difference as the fit goes from describing an undersized racehorse to describe a large one. For comparison purposes, consider the difference between describing a basketball player as 6’10 “tall when his actual height is 6’0” tall. By NBA standards, you are effectively describing a player who is in the bottom ten percent of height as one who is in the top ten percent of height.