Rooting for the Underdog

July 15, 2009

“The Glen Riddle Farm's great two-year-old, Man o' War, met with his first defeat here today in the running of the Sanford Memorial,” the New York Times announced on August 13, 1919. “He was forced to bow to Harry Payne Whitney's Upset in a neck-and-neck finish in this six-furlong dash.”

At the time, there were no starting gates in horse races. Instead, the horses lined up behind a piece of webbing and began running when it was raised. According to some reports, Man o' War was circling with his back to the starting line when the webbing was raised to start the race. Starting out behind, his jockey then made three more fatal calculations, boxing in the surging Man o’ War behind other horses. 

“Man o' War gained his speed in a few strides and then started to pass horses all along the back stretch,” the New York Times reported. “Steadily Man o' War drew up on Upset. On the last part of the turn into the stretch, Man o' War took third position, about two lengths back of Upset. A few strides down the stretch Golden Broom suddenly gave up, and Upset ran past him. In another instant Man o' War had dashed by his chestnut rival and it became a question whether Upset could last to win. Steadily Man o' War drew up on Upset. A hundred feet from the wire he was three-fourths of a length away.”

Close, but no cigar. While he crossed the finish line going much faster than any other horse on the track that day, the fact remained that Man o’ War lost to Upset by a mere half-length.

Man o’ War will always be remembered as a great champion, but Upset holds a special place in history as the David to Man o’ War’s Goliath. As the victorious underdog, Upset succeeded at which every other horse had failed: to defeat the sure winner. How did he do it? Certainly, some of it was luck. But it was also a matter of determination. Upset's jockey Willie Knapp described the end of the race:

"We'd passed the quarter pole and were going to the eighth pole, I guess it was, and I heard something right behind me and I knew it was Big Red coming at me now. I looked back and there he was. Johnny Loftus was riding like a crazy man and he yelled at me, `Move out, Willie! I'm coming through!' So I yelled back at him, `Take off! Take off me, bum, or I'll put you through the rail!' Then I set down to riding and we won."

The mighty Man o' War was defeated by Upset in 1919. Today, it's technology and agility that provide the competitive advantage for small- and medium-sized companies to defeat their larger competitors. Is your enterprise maximizing technology to reduce expense and increase revenues? For more information on how to win the race against the competition, contact Tortus Technologies!

Source: Fred Van Ness: “A Horse Named Upset Beats Man o’ War”, The New York Times, August 13, 1919.

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