SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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There have been 11 Triple Crown winners: Sir Barton in 1919, Gallant Fox in 1930, Omaha in 1935, War Admiral in 1937 Whirlaway in 1941, Count Fleet in 1943, Assault in 1946, Citation in 1948, Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977,and Affirmed in 1978. What if they all had a race? Seattle Slew actually did race Affirmed twice- winning the first and finishing ahead of him the second time in a race won by another horse.
Actually, the list should include another horse: Man O’ War, who was not entered in the 1920 Kentucky Derby because his owner had something against the way they raced “out west”. He won the Preakness and the Belmont, beating all the horses that had been in the Derby. He went onto win 20 of 21 races in his career, including a match race with the first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, whom he beat by 7 lengths. His only loss was to a horse whose name became a synonym for a victory by an underdog, “Upset”. Man O’ War gives us an even 12 horses in the “dream race“.
But how to “race” them? First, I took note of the distance on the three Triple Crown races, reducing them to feet. The Derby has been a mile and a quarter since 1896. That comes to 6600 feet. The Preakness was a mile and an eighth, or 5940 feet through 1924. After that it was a mile and 3/16. That’s 6270 feet. The Belmont was a mile and 3/8, (7260 feet) until 1926, when it became a mile and a half. (7920 feet).
Now we need to figure out the rate at which the horses were moving. Sir Barton ran the Derby in 2:09.8. That’s 129.8 seconds. 6600 feet divided by 129.8 seconds is 50.847457 feet per second. He ran the Preakness in 1:51.6 or 111.6 seconds. Divide that into 5940 feet and you get 53.225806 in feet per second. He ran the Belmont in 2:17.4 or 137.4 seconds. Divide that into 7260 feet and you get 52.838427 feet per second. Average those three rates and you get the combined speed with which Sr. Barton won the Triple Crown.
I did that for each horse, using only the Preakness and Belmont for Man ’O War:
Sir Barton52.303893 feet per second
Man O’ War52.828983 feet per second
Gallant Fox51.847443 feet per second
Omaha 52.641140 feet per second
War Admiral 53.134216 feet per second
Whirlaway 53.057653 feet per second
Count Fleet 53.216116 feet per second
Assault 51.962756 feet per second
Citation 52.296200 feet per second
Secretariat 54.882336 feet per second
Seattle Slew 53.773870 feet per second
Affirmed 54.259006 feet per second
I decided our fantasy race should be over the current Belmont distance, a mile and a half. That’s 7920 feet. At 54.882336 feet per second, Secretariat would run that in 144.31 seconds, (2 minutes, 24.31 seco9nds). At 52.828983 feet per second, how far would Sir Barton have traveled in 144.31 seconds? He’d have traveled 7548 feet, finishing 372 feet behind Secretartiat. A “length” is supposed to be 8 feet, so that’s 47 lengths behind.
I did the same thing for each horse, producing the following results. To give a visual representation of the distance between the horses, I hit the “enter”, (next line) button once for each length:
Secretariat 2:24.31
Affirmed 2:25.97
Seattle Slew 2:27.28
Man O’ War 2:29.92
Count Fleet 2:28.83
War Admiral 2:29.06
Whirlaway 2:29.27
Omaha 2:30.45
Sir Barton 2:31.52 and Citation 2:31.44
Assault 2:32.42
Gallant Fox 2:32.76
So what does this prove? Nothing. It’s just fun to imagine all these great horses in the same race and you have to base your imaginings on something. It’s interesting how dominant Secretariat is. I thought Citation was a lot better than that. His fame seems to have rest on the fact that there was no Triple Crown winner for a generation after that
There is a general, but not absolute, trend toward the more recent horses doing the best. But of course, track conditions are variable and I’ve read several opinions that track conditions have, in general, improved over the years, favoring the more recent horses. On the other hand, human athletes tend to get bigger and better as the generations pass. It may be the same with horses.
Actually, the list should include another horse: Man O’ War, who was not entered in the 1920 Kentucky Derby because his owner had something against the way they raced “out west”. He won the Preakness and the Belmont, beating all the horses that had been in the Derby. He went onto win 20 of 21 races in his career, including a match race with the first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, whom he beat by 7 lengths. His only loss was to a horse whose name became a synonym for a victory by an underdog, “Upset”. Man O’ War gives us an even 12 horses in the “dream race“.
But how to “race” them? First, I took note of the distance on the three Triple Crown races, reducing them to feet. The Derby has been a mile and a quarter since 1896. That comes to 6600 feet. The Preakness was a mile and an eighth, or 5940 feet through 1924. After that it was a mile and 3/16. That’s 6270 feet. The Belmont was a mile and 3/8, (7260 feet) until 1926, when it became a mile and a half. (7920 feet).
Now we need to figure out the rate at which the horses were moving. Sir Barton ran the Derby in 2:09.8. That’s 129.8 seconds. 6600 feet divided by 129.8 seconds is 50.847457 feet per second. He ran the Preakness in 1:51.6 or 111.6 seconds. Divide that into 5940 feet and you get 53.225806 in feet per second. He ran the Belmont in 2:17.4 or 137.4 seconds. Divide that into 7260 feet and you get 52.838427 feet per second. Average those three rates and you get the combined speed with which Sr. Barton won the Triple Crown.
I did that for each horse, using only the Preakness and Belmont for Man ’O War:
Sir Barton52.303893 feet per second
Man O’ War52.828983 feet per second
Gallant Fox51.847443 feet per second
Omaha 52.641140 feet per second
War Admiral 53.134216 feet per second
Whirlaway 53.057653 feet per second
Count Fleet 53.216116 feet per second
Assault 51.962756 feet per second
Citation 52.296200 feet per second
Secretariat 54.882336 feet per second
Seattle Slew 53.773870 feet per second
Affirmed 54.259006 feet per second
I decided our fantasy race should be over the current Belmont distance, a mile and a half. That’s 7920 feet. At 54.882336 feet per second, Secretariat would run that in 144.31 seconds, (2 minutes, 24.31 seco9nds). At 52.828983 feet per second, how far would Sir Barton have traveled in 144.31 seconds? He’d have traveled 7548 feet, finishing 372 feet behind Secretartiat. A “length” is supposed to be 8 feet, so that’s 47 lengths behind.
I did the same thing for each horse, producing the following results. To give a visual representation of the distance between the horses, I hit the “enter”, (next line) button once for each length:
Secretariat 2:24.31
Affirmed 2:25.97
Seattle Slew 2:27.28
Man O’ War 2:29.92
Count Fleet 2:28.83
War Admiral 2:29.06
Whirlaway 2:29.27
Omaha 2:30.45
Sir Barton 2:31.52 and Citation 2:31.44
Assault 2:32.42
Gallant Fox 2:32.76
So what does this prove? Nothing. It’s just fun to imagine all these great horses in the same race and you have to base your imaginings on something. It’s interesting how dominant Secretariat is. I thought Citation was a lot better than that. His fame seems to have rest on the fact that there was no Triple Crown winner for a generation after that
There is a general, but not absolute, trend toward the more recent horses doing the best. But of course, track conditions are variable and I’ve read several opinions that track conditions have, in general, improved over the years, favoring the more recent horses. On the other hand, human athletes tend to get bigger and better as the generations pass. It may be the same with horses.
