TBGreats.com was not always a domain. WAAAAAYY back in late 1996-ish, I read a book by Walter Farley named “Man o’ War.” I am not sure who gave it to me or how I acquired it ( I would have been around 12 at the time, and HORSE CRAZY in general!), but I read that (fictional) book and fell in love.
It was a made up story of a farm boy who had the task of handling this big red horse name Man o’ War. It just captivated me, it was a great coming of age story for both the horse and the boy narrator. And it went through “Big Red’s” whole career, and I just couldn’t put it down.
Also around this time, I was so excited for the 1996 Triple Crown with Real Quiet going for it after and exciting Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins!
It was also the dawn of the computer age and there I was researching how to make a website. I settled on Geocities.com to host my first site, I learned how to write HTML and I was off! The first website I ever made was solely on this one horse that captivated me Man o’ War!
In order to have an in depth look at his life, I read more books about him and just drank up any information I could. I was young and excited and I went all in! And people came to the site! A LOT of people! My early years of the geocities and early .com years saw a lot of organic traffic and people genuinely interested in my content. So I made more sites! I am not sure of the order but we have Ruffian, Seabiscuit, Regret, Citation, Ghostzapper, Cigar and Wise Dan!
Over the years the google algorithm has not been in my favor, but we are still standing tall. I still get a few emails here or there from an excited kid or older person who loved reading my content. My Citation website was actually inspired by a gentleman that emailed me a few times about it. I said I would o it if he wrote the biography, and he did! It’s reasons like that that keep me going 20+ years with this website.
I am currently in a bit of a restructure. We will see how things go. This is a passion project and not my full time gig. So bear with me.
In the mean time, check out the books that have inspired me:
Man o’ War: Thoroughbred Legend by Edward Bowen
Man o’ War by Page Cooper and Robert Treat
I have read all of these books, and they are great for anyone that wants to know more about the Greatest Racehorse of All Time!
Leave a Reply