List of historical horses

Racehorses

A

• Adios: leading sire of harness racehorses
• Adios Butler: famous harness racer
• Affirmed: U.S. Triple Crown winner (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; successful sire
• American Pharoah: 2015 winner of the U.S. Triple Crown
• Animal Kingdom: American Thoroughbred racehorse; won 137th Kentucky Derby and 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

• 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; underwent several operations; eventually healed, but developed laminitis and could not be saved; euthanized January 29, 2007
• Bernborough: Australian racehorse and winner of 15 consecutive races at big weights; sold to US film producer Louis B. Mayer
• 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
• 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; had 62 wins from 69 starts; the only horse to be 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
• Buckpasser: won 15 consecutive races; one of the greatest broodmare sires in history

C

• California Chrome: won the 140th Kentucky Derby; won 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; first horse to earn $1 million
• Crisp: remembered for his epic race in the Grand National with Red Rum
• Curlin: richest North American-based horse of all time

D

• Dan Patch: America's greatest pacer
• Dawn Run: 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; ran the second fastest Belmont Stakes of all time behind Secretariat; had a great rivalry with Sunday Silence
• Eclipse: celebrated 18th-century racehorse that won 18 races in 18 starts; influential sire
• Eight Belles: first filly to win the Martha Washington Stakes, by a record 13½ lengths
• Enquirer: Thoroughbred born 1867; sired a long line of show horses
• 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
• Flyingbolt: Widely considered as the second best Steeplechaser of all-time. Stablemate of Arkle. Timeform rated 210. 2lb inferior to Arkle.

G

• Gainsborough: winner of the English Triple Crown; leading sire
• Galileo: Seven-time Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland; Sire of Frankel; Has sired 102 Group 1 winners worldwide as of December 2015.
• Genuine Risk: 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
• Go Man Go: champion running Quarter Horse
• Goldsmith Maid: famous harness racing mare of the 19th century^[2]
• Greyhound: named trotting horse of the century in the US

H

• Huaso (1933 – August 24, 1961): famous Chilean jumping horse that still holds the record in highest jump: 2.47 m (8 ft 1 ¹⁄₄ in)
• Hambletonian 10: the "father of American trotting"
• Hickstead: Olympic gold medal-winning show jumping horse; died in a cardiac accident while jumping in a Comp
• Hurricane Fly: Irish hurdler, winner of a record 20 Grade I races
• Hyperion: winner of the Epsom Derby and the St Leger Stakes; top sire for six years in the UK

I

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

J

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

K

• Kelso: only five-time U.S. Horse of the Year
• Kincsem: Hungarian race mare 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

• La Troienne: most important broodmare of the twentieth century
• Lady Suffolk: first horse to beat the 2.5 minute mile^[3][4]
• 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 the Melbourne Cup on three occasions
• Man o' War: often considered America's greatest racehorse; won 20 of 21 career starts
• Master Charlie: winner of the 1924 Remsen Stakes, Tijuana Futurity, Hopeful Stakes, Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes; awarded 1924 American Champion Two-Year-Old-Male/Colt
• Might and Power: World Champion Stayer (1997); Australian Horse of the Year (1998, 1999)
• 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; 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 (placed 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); sire of the dam of Man o' War
• 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
• Sardar: stallion presented as a gift to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy by President Ayub Khan on her visit to Pakistan
• 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
• Seattle Slew: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1977)
• Secretariat: U.S. Triple Crown winner (1973); one of the most famous horses in Thoroughbred 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, and 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
• Skewball: immortalized in 18th century poetry as a sku-ball winning against a Thoroughbred
• 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]
• Storm Cat: one of the most successful U.S. sires of the late 20th century
• Sunday Silence: winner in the US; champion sire in Japan
• Sunline: first Southern Hemisphere horse to top $10million in stakes earnings; three-time Australian (2000-2002); four-time New Zealand (1999-2002) horse of the year; 13-time Group 1 winner

T

• Totilas: first horse to score above a 90 in dressage

V

• Vain: champion front runner; great, great grandsire of Black Caviar
• Valegro: Current world record holder in dressage with 94,3% Royal Dutch Sport Horse. Ridden by Charlotte Dujardin
• 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 filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1988)

Z

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

Competition horses

• Arko, Olympic-level show jumping horse
• Big Ben, Canadian international show jumper and Olympian
• Hickstead, 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, British international show jumper and Olympian ridden by John Whitaker
• Noble Flaire, 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; influential sire in Australia
• Seldom Seen, pony who successfully competed in dressage despite being unusually small
• Snowman, 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; twice named the American Horse Shows Association Horse of the Year
• Touch of Class, bay TB mare, ridden by Joe Fargis, won two 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
• Brandklipparen, horse of Charles XII of Sweden
• Bucephalus: favorite horse of Alexander the Great; 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
• 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, main horse of Simon Bolivar
• Reckless, became a decorated Marine for carrying supplies and ammunition into battle for the US Marine platoon in the Korean War
• Red Hare, also known as Chitu, Lü Bu's horse from the Three Kingdoms; inspired the phrase "Among men: Lü Bu. Among horses: Red Hare"
• Streiff, horse of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden at the battle of Lützen (1632)
• Tencendur, warhorse of King Charlemagne
• Traveller, Robert E. Lee's horse
• Veillantif, horse of Roland, a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne
• Warrior, "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, favourite mount of Queen Elizabeth II; 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, all-time leading reining sire and Quarter Horse
• Huckleberry Bey, US National Champion and leading sire of performance horses Arabian 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, 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
• Mister Ed, from the television show of same name, retired in Shasta County
• Muhamed, German horse allegedly capable of solving cubic roots
• 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; a Shire; 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.