List of historical horses

Racehorses

A

• Adios: Leading sire of harness racehorses
• Adios Butler: Famous harness racer
• Affirmed: Last horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown (1978)
• Ajax: 18 consecutive race wins, before he was defeated at 1/40.
• Albatross: Harness racer who won 59 of 71 races, and as a sire produced winners of over $130 million, including Niatross
• Allez France: French Arc winner and first filly to win a million dollars
• Alydar: Finished second to Affirmed in all three Triple Crown races, and a successful sire
• Animal Kingdom: is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 137th Kentucky Derby and the 2013 Dubai World Cup.
• Aristides: Winner of the first Kentucky Derby
• Arkle: Highest Timeform rating for a steeplechase horseracer
• Assault: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1946)

B

• Bernborough: Australian racehorse and winner of 15 consecutive races at big weights. Sold to Louis B. Mayer, US film producer.
• Best Mate: 2002, 2003 and 2004 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, often given title 'Greatest Steeplechaser' since Arkle, and an equal to him
• Big Brown: 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, first horse since Clyde Van Dusen to win the Kentucky Derby from the 20th post position
• Barbaro: American thoroughbred who decisively won the 2006 Kentucky Derby, but shattered his leg two weeks later in the 2006 Preakness Stakes, ending his racing career, He underwent several operations, Though his leg eventually healed, the colt developed laminitis & could not be saved, Barbaro was euthanized January 29, 2007
• Black Caviar: Undefeated in 25 career starts. Fifteen time Group 1 winner.
• Bold Ruler: Leading sire of stakeswinners. Born in the same barn the same night as Round Table.
• Bret Hanover: One of only nine pacers to win the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers and he had 62 wins from 69 starts. The only horse to have even been made Harness Horse of the Year three times.
• Brigadier Gerard: Winner of 17 of 18 races in England including the 2000 Guineas and 11 other Group I races. Joint third highest Timeform flat rating of all time.
• Bucephalus: The favorite horse of Alexander the Great. Is considered to be one of the most famous horses of antiquity. Following his death after the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 BCE, Alexander promptly founded the city of Bucephala upon the spot in his memory.
• Buckpasser: Won 15 consecutive races, and one of the greatest broodmare sires in history

C

• California Chrome: Won the 140th Kentucky Derby and then moved on to win the Preakness.
• Carbine: Outstanding racehorse and sire. Winner of the Melbourne Cup
• Cardigan Bay: New Zealand's "million dollar pacer", the first to win a million in the US; appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show
• Cigar: Champion in the 1990s who won 16 consecutive races
• Citation: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1948); also won 16 consecutive major stakes races as well as the first horse to earn $1 million
• Crisp: Remembered for his epic race in the Grand National with Red Rum
• Curlin: The richest North American-based horse of all time

D

• Dan Patch: America's greatest pacer
• Dawn Run: The only horse ever to complete Champion Hurdle, Cheltenham Gold Cup double
• Deep Impact: Japanese horse who smashed the world record over 3200 metres
• Desert Gold: Race mare who won 19 races successive races during World War I. Often raced against Gloaming.
• Desert Orchid: Won King George four times and Cheltenham Gold Cup; national icon and beautiful grey loved by children
• Dr. Fager: "the Doctor": Set the world record at 1 mile on any surface, 1:32 1/5, and held it for more than 20 years

E

• Easy Goer: Hall of Fame champion who ran the fastest mile of all time on dirt by any three-year-old thoroughbred in 1:32.2, and ran the second fastest Belmont Stakes of all time behind Secretariat. Great rivalry with Sunday Silence
• Eight Belles: The first filly to win the Martha Washington Stakes, by a record 13½ lengths.
• Eclipse: Celebrated 18th century racehorse that won 18 races in 18 starts and was a very influential sire
• Exterminator: Exceedingly popular, "iron horse" of American racing history

F

• Frankel: Undefeated in 14 career starts. Highest rated flat race horse in history: WTR 140,^[1] Timeform 147, Racing Post 143
• Funny Cide: First gelding since Clyde Van Dusen to win the Kentucky Derby

G

• Gainsborough: Winner of the English Triple Crown and leading sire
• Genuine Risk: The second filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1980)
• Gloaming: Won 19 successive races in New Zealand and Australia. Record was 67 starts for 57 wins and 9 seconds.
• Goldsmith Maid: Famous harness racing mare of the 19th century^[2]
• Go Man Go: Champion Running Quarter Horse
• Greyhound: Named trotting horse of the century in the US

H

• Hambletonian 10: Known as the "father of American trotting"
• Hickstead: Olympic gold medal winning show jumping horse (died in a cardiac accident while jumping in a Comp)
• Hyperion: Winner of the Epsom Derby and the St Leger Stakes, and the top sire for six years in the UK
• Hurricane Fly: Irish hurdler, winner of a record 20 Grade I races

I

• Iroquois: The first American-bred racehorse to win the prestigious Epsom Derby

J

• John Henry: U.S. Champion Turf Horse (1980, 1981, 1983, 1984)

K

• Kelso: Only five-time winner of U.S. Horse of the Year
• Kincsem: Hungarian racemare and most successful racehorse ever, winning all 54 starts in five countries
• Kindergarten: Weighted more than Phar Lap in the Melbourne Cup
• Kingston Town: Won three Cox Plates. First Australian horse to top $1million in stakes earnings.
• Kissin George: One of America's premier sprinting Thoroughbred racehorses

L

• Lady Suffolk: The first horse to beat the 2.5 minute mile^[3][4]
• La Troienne: Most important broodmare of the twentieth century
• Lexington: America's leading 19th Century sire
• Longfellow: 19th century runner and stallion
• Lottery: Winner of the Grand National steeplechase in 1839

M

• Makybe Diva: Won Melbourne Cup on three occasions
• Master Charlie: Winner 1924 Remsen Stakes, Tijuana Futurity, Hopeful Stakes, Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, awarded 1924 American Champion Two-Year-Old-Male/Colt
• Man o' War: Often considered America's greatest racehorse; won 20 of 21 career starts
• Might and Power: World Champion Stayer (1997); Australian Horse of the Year (1998, 1999)
• Moorlands Totilas: First Horse to score above a 90 in Dressage
• Mr. Prospector: One of the most successful U.S. sires of the late 20th century

N

• Nasrullah: One of the most successful Thoroughbred sires of the 20th century
• Native Dancer: Won 21 of 22 career races, with only loss in the Kentucky Derby, and sire whose descendants have come to dominate modern Triple Crown racing
• Niatross: Pacer who won 37 of his 39 races and broke many records, considered to be one of the greatest harness racers of all time
• Nijinsky II: Last horse to win the English Triple Crown (1970)
• Northern Dancer: Canada's champion on the racetrack; most successful sire of the 20th Century

P

• Phar Lap: Australia and New Zealand's most famed thoroughbred racehorse; won 37 of his 51 career starts

R

• Rachel Alexandra: Filly and winner of the 2009 Preakness Stakes
• Red Rum: Only horse in the history of the Aintree Grand National to win the race three times (and place second on two other occasions)
• Regret: First filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1915)
• Ribot: Thoroughbred undefeated in sixteen races
• Rock Sand: English Triple Crown winner (1903) and sire of the dam of Man o' War
• Rocinante: Don Quixote's horse from the book by Miguel de Cerantes
• Round Table: sire of stakes winners. Born in the same barn the same night as Bold Ruler, in 1954.
• Ruffian: Filly champion who won every race since she started until her final (and fatal) race

S

• Sadler's Wells: One of Europe's most successful sires of the late 20th century
• Sea Bird: Second highest Timeform rated horse (rated 145)
• Sea the Stars: First horse ever to win the 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby, and Arc de Triomphe in the same year (2009)
• Seabiscuit: Beat War Admiral in a nationally broadcast 1938 match race; like Phar Lap, raced during the Depression
• Sergeant Reckless: Made 51 trips alone and carried wounded soldiers and delivered over 5 tons of supplies in the Korean War, and earned 2 purple hearts for her actions
• Seattle Slew: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1977)
• Secretariat: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1973); One of the most famous racehorses in all of thoroughbred horse racing
• Shergar: Winner of the 1981 Epsom Derby by a record 10 lengths, the longest winning margin in a race run annually since 1781. Kidnapped by the IRA in 1983, he was held for ransom, but the owner syndicate refused to pay, fearing that valuable horses would become targets. The stallion was never found.
• Silky Sullivan: Arguably the fastest closer of all time
• Smarty Jones: Became the first unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner since Seattle Slew in 1977.
• Spectacular Bid: Hall of Fame champion who went undefeated as a four-year-old, and won 26 of 30 career starts.
• Steel Dust: 19th Century quarter-mile racing horse^[5]
• Skewball: Immortalized in 18th century poetry as a sku-ball winning against a Thoroughbred
• Storm Cat: One of the most successful U.S. sires of the late 20th century
• Sunday Silence: Winner in the US and champion sire in Japan
• Sunline: First Southern Hemisphere horse to top $10million in stakes earnings. 3 time Australian (2000-2002) and 4 time New Zealand (1999-2002) horse of the year. 13 time Group 1 winner

V

• Vain: Champion front runner and great, great grandsire of Black Caviar
• Varenne: Italy's most famous harness horse

W

• War Admiral: Fourth U.S. Triple Crown winner (1937)
• Whistlejacket: Marquess of Rockingham's racehorse. Painted by G.Stubbs (1762).
• Winning Colors: Third (and currently last) filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1988)

Z

• Zenyatta: Won 19 of 20 starts and the first mare to win the Breeders' Cup Classic (2009), plus the first to win two different Breeders' Cup races (Ladies' Classic in 2008, Classic in 2009)

Competition horses

• Arko, an Olympic level show jumping horse
• Big Ben, a Canadian international show jumper and Olympian
• Hickstead, a Canadian international show jumper and Olympic individual show jumping gold medal winner.
• Jappeloup, Olympic Gold winner, stood only 159 cm or 15.2 1/2 hh
• Milton, a British international show jumper and Olympian ridden by John Whitaker
• Noble Flaire, a Morgan horse who was the first to win three Park Harness World Championships at the American Morgan Horse World Championship Horse Show
• Radium, outstanding campdrafter and a very influential sire in Australia.
• Seldom Seen, a pony who successfully competed in dressage despite being unusually small.
• Snowman, a former plough horse rescued from being butchered by rider Harry de Lyer, won the 1958 National Horse Show Open Jumper championship against professional and Olympic level competition, and was twice named the American Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year.
• Touch of Class, bay TB mare, ridden by Joe Fargis, won 2 gold medals in the 1984 Olympics.

Military horses

• Babieca, horse of El Cid
• Black Jack, the last Quartermaster-issued U.S. Army horse, died February 6, 1976
• Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse
• Chetak, war horse of Rana Pratap of Mewar in India
• Cincinnati, one of Ulysses S. Grant's horses
• Comanche, only documented survivor of General Custer's 7th Cavalry detachment at the Battle of Little Big Horn
• Copenhagen, the Duke of Wellington's favourite horse, which he rode at the Battle of Waterloo
• Dhūljānāḥ, the horse of Husayn ibn Ali in the Battle of Karbala
• Kasztanka, horse of Józef Piłsudski, likely the most famous Polish horse
• Llamrei, steed of King Arthur
• Marengo, Napoleon's horse which was captured by the British, and outlived Napoleon by eight years
• Matsukaze, personal horse of Maeda Keiji
• Palomo, the main horse of Simon Bolivar
• Rocinante, the horse of Don Quixote
• Reckless, a small mare that became a decorated Marine for carrying ammunition into battle for the US Marine platoon^[6]
• Red Hare, also known as Chitu, was Lü Bu's horse from the Three Kingdoms; inspired the phrase "Among men: Lü Bu. Among horses: Red Hare."
• Traveller, Robert E. Lee's horse.
• Tencendur, is the warhorse of King Charlemagne.
• Veillantif, the horse of Roland, a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne.
• Warrior, called "Old Warrior", the mount of General Jack Seely in the First World War from 1914 to 1918, awarded the Dickin Medal in 2014

Horses of various other fames

• Burmese, the favourite mount of Queen Elizabeth II, which was a gift from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
• Buttermilk, Dale Evans' horse
• Champion, Gene Autry's horse
• Clever Hans, a smart horse
• Darley Arabian, Godolphin Arabian and Byerly Turk, stallions from whom all Thoroughbreds are descended
• Figure (also known by the name of one of his owners, Justin Morgan) – the foundation sire of the Morgan horse breed
• Gun Rock, the offspring of Man O' War used in the 1920s at UC Davis to breed horses for the U.S. Army Cavalry
• Hollywood Dun It, the all-time leading reining sire and Quarter Horse
• Huaso, Chilean bred horse, holder of the high jump world record set in Chile on February 5 of 1949, one of the world's longest unbroken sport records.
• Incitatus, Emperor Caligula's favorite horse, may have been made a Senator
• Jim, a former milk cart horse used to produce diphtheria antitoxin; contamination of this antitoxin inspired the Biologics Control Act of 1902
• King, a foundation sire of the Quarter Horse breed
• Marocco or Bankes's Horse, a late 16th- and early 17th-century English performing horse
• Muhamed, the German horse allegedly capable of solving cubic roots
• Mr. Ed (horse),Television Show of same name, retired in Shasta County
• Prometea, born May 28, 2003, the first cloned horse and the first to be born from and carried by its cloning mother
• Rugged Lark, famous quarter horse, owned by Carol Harris
• Sampson, the tallest horse ever recorded; he was a Shire and stood 21.2½ hands high
• Thunder, Red Ryder's horse
• Traveler, Mascot of the University of Southern California
• Trigger, Roy Rogers' Palomino
• Zippo Pine Bar

See also

• List of fictional horses
• List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses
• Wonder Horses

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Famous horses.