A homebred of Samuel D. Riddle, his sire was Man o' War who was ranked #1 in the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century. His dam was Friar's Carse, the United States' Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1925 who was the daughter of Friar Rock, the 1916 Belmont Stakes winner and Horse of the Year. After trainer George Conway's death on June 20, 1939, War Relic's race conditioning was taken over by Walter A. Carter.
