Belmont Stakes. 1973. Record still stands. Also one of the best sports calls ever given by Chick Anderson. When Secretariat hits the back stretch and just continues to leave the field behind the incredulity in Anderson's voice is awesome.




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCMtaNiMDM&t

Amazing now, as it was then.

That was incredible - wish I could have been there ( I wouldn't be born until July 24 of that year - LOL ).

Movie was pretty cool too with Diane Lane

MDS

I was into horse racing from 66-75 Secretariat was an amazing animal, there was another great horse named Damascus.In'67 the greatest horserace battle occurred between Damascus and Dr. Fager!

Secretariat, in my opinion, was the most dominant athlete in his sport, ever. No other athlete has dominated his sport like him!

This photograph of Ron Turcotte looking back at the field from the vantage of a 25 length lead is somewhat iconic. I think selling autographed prints has kept Turcotte in beer money since retirement.

The movie did not do this race justice.

It always helps when in an endurance sport and your heart is 150% normal size.

quote:

Originally posted by daikyu:
It always helps when in an endurance sport and your heart is 150% normal size.

More like a little more than twice normal size. Sham, the other good horse in the Triple Crown races that year also had a similarly large heart, but he had the bad luck to run against Secretariat. In any other year, Sham might have won a Triple Crown. Apparently extra large hearts are a trait sometimes inherited by thoroughbreds.

One of the greatest sports achievements in history!! Truly amazing and also a "tremendous" call of the race by Chic Anderson. For an "endurance race" Secretariat accelerated the entire race!!

Only horse race I ever felt emotional about. What a horse. Once in a lifetime event for sure.

So for anybody that knows, was he actually faster or could he hold top speed longer ?

MDS

quote:

Originally posted by craigcpa:
Secretariat, in my opinion, was the most dominant athlete in his sport, ever. No other athlete has dominated his sport like him!

Wayne Gretzky might be up there. Something like 65 NHL records many which will never be broken. They even made a rule change to try and slow him down.

It’s impressive that Secretariat still holds the record even though horses have been using PED’s for years.

quote:

Originally posted by Harleysbluff:
So for anybody that knows, was he actually faster or could he hold top speed longer ?

MDS

Probably both. Secretariat was exceptionally well built for racing. His conformation, as they call it, was close to perfect for a thoroughbred, which made his running mechanics better than most horses. And he had that big heart. But, you'd like to think he had something in his head that made him want to race. His jockey said he just loved to run - if he turned him loose, he just wanted to run.

Are we sure Secretariat wasn't using some illegal horse tire, engine modification, transmission, wing? Oh wait, wrong racing sport. Seemed like an unfair advantage. That was an unreal horse. I forgot about how dominant Secretariat was.

Following a review of the timing of the Preakness Stakes that took place in 2012. Secretariat holds the record for all three races of the Triple Crown—and that’s a fairly recent development, as this article explains.

Secretariat, The Preakness, and a 39-Year Controversy

You can argue over GOATs, but not that one.

If I remember correctly in the Derby he ran each quarter mile faster than the previous quarter with his last quarter mile being the fastest finishing the race with a time of 1:59 and two fifths seconds. The fastest derby ever.

In the Belmont he ran a mile and a quarter in 1:59. This was faster than his derby time and he still had a quarter mile to go. He slowed down just a bit running the last quarter mile in 25 seconds, his slowest quarter mile in the race.

I remember watching that live. Never saw anything like it before or since.

My sister was an exercise girl at Belmont at the time. She saw Secretariat close up. She said the horse was a mutation. Bigger and stronger than any other horse she ever saw.

The story about the race I saw was that in the prior two races Turcotte tried to hold Secretariat back to save something for the stretch if he needed it. He didn't but he felt the horse wasn't running as hard as he could at the finish (it still managed to win both.) So in the Belmont, he just let the horse run. That's when we truly saw what this horse had.

quote:

Originally posted by RoboV:
If I remember correctly in the Derby he ran each quarter mile faster than the previous quarter with his last quarter mile being the fastest finishing the race with a time of 1:59 and two fifths seconds. The fastest derby ever.

In the Belmont he ran a mile and a quarter in 1:59. This was faster than his derby time and he still had a quarter mile to go. He slowed down just a bit running the last quarter mile in 25 seconds, his slowest quarter mile in the race.

That's incredible. Thanks for posting that.

MDS