American Flag (horse)

American Flag

Sire	Man o' War
Grandsire	Fair Play
Dam	Lady Comfey
Damsire	Roi Herode
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1922
Country	United States
Colour	Chestnut
Breeder	Samuel D. Riddle
Owner	Glen Riddle Farm
Trainer	G. R. Tompkins
Record	18: 8-1-1
Earnings	$82,725
Major Racing Wins, Awards and Honours
Major Racing Wins
Manor Stakes (1924) Withers Stakes (1925) Dwyer Stakes (1925) American Classic Race wins: Belmont Stakes (1925)
Racing Awards
United States' Champion Three-Year-Old colt (1925)
Infobox last updated on: August 18, 2007.

American Flag (1922-1942) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by Samuel D. Riddle, who owned his sire, Man o' War, he was out of the dam Lady Comfey.

Trained by G. R. Tompkins, as a two year old American Flag's most important performance was a win in the Manor Stakes at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland. Undefeated at age three, he had important wins in the Withers and Dwyer Stakes plus he captured what became known as the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series, the Belmont Stakes. His 1925 performances earned him Champion Three-Year-Old colt honors.

Sent back to the track at age four, in the 1926 Suburban Handicap American Flag ran second to stablemate Crusader, who was another son of Man o' War.

Retired to his owner's Faraway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, as a stallion, American Flag met with modest success. He most notable offspring was the colt Gusto who won the American Derby, Arlington Classic Stakes and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and through his mating to the mare Nellie Morse, the filly Nellie Flag who was the 1934 U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and who became a significant broodmare for Calumet Farm.

In 1942, during World War II, owner Samuel Riddle gave American Flag to the U.S. Army Remount service. The twenty-year-old horse died that fall at the Remount station near Front Royal, Virginia. [1]

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