The Triple Crown: Secretariat

[SWC75]

SECRETARIAT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-5hAkgZqtI

Secretariat blew away the 25 years since the last Triple Crown winner, setting a record in the Kentucky Derby and possibly the Preakness, (there was a timer malfunction- Update: on 6/19/12 video tapes were reviewed and his time was changed to 1:53 from 1:54.5 so he holds the records in all three Triple Crown races) and destroying the world’s record for a mile and a half, (12 furlongs) in winning the Belmont by an incredible 31 lengths. In the footage, you never see jockey Ron Turcotte using his whip. It was all he could do to hold Secretariat back so as not to exhaust him and keep him tight on the turns. At the Belmont, he didn’t hold him back. He was a passenger.

People’s reaction to his victory there was so emotional nobody had ever seen anything like it. It wasn’t enough to cheer or jump or even dance around. They were weeping. Watching from his home in Florida, Jack Nicklaus found himself doing the same. Later, he talked to Heywood Hale Broun about what it was like to be there that day and why he had wept. “Because Jack, you’ve spent your life chasing perfection and on that day, you saw it.” Big Red was so good, he made people cry. Who else can you say that about?

Secretariat stood 16.2 hands high, weighed 1175 pounds and had a 75 inch girth.(Man ‘O War was the same height, weighed 1150 pounds and had a 72 inch girth.) His heart, after his death, was found to be 2 ½ times the size of a normal thoroughbred’s heart.
He was foaled at Meadow Farm in Virginia. He was owned by Penny Chenery, trained by Lucien Laurin and ridden by Ron Turcotte. In 21 races he had a record of 16-3-1.

 

[SWC75]

Here is the ESPN “Sport Century” bio of Secretariat,. I think it’s the best one they ever did on that series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtuEoiYiqZw

The live calls of his three Triple Crown races:

Kentucky Derby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyqllleV6WA

Preakness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV89InWOENc&feature=related

Belmont: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V18ui3Rtjz4&feature=related

 

[SWC75]

The two most famous American race horses are Man ‘O War and Secretariat, both of whom were called “Big Red” because of their Chestnut coloring. Here is a statistical comparison:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=PZ0jnHuqsX4

Many of the U-Tube posts about Man ‘0 War and Secretariat have a comment under them from an Italian racing fan who chastises American posters for their myopia. He insists that the greatest horse of all time was the Italian horse Ribot, who was undefeated in 16 races in Europe in the mid-50’s and was named horse of the year multiple times and in multiple countries. Here is Ribot showing his stuff in England:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjTbqvje26I

Here’s a longer clip on Ribot. It’s in Italian but I think you can see why he’s so highly regarded, especially by Italians.

There’s a system for evaluating race horses in Europe considering various factors such as weight carried, distance, track conditions, surface type, etc. It’s called Timeform after the publication that created it. I don’t know how to figure it or what to make of it but Ribot got a rating of 142, which actually isn’t the highest on the list, (a French Horse named Sea Bird from the 60’s was at 145 when I first posted this but a British horse named Frankel, in mid-career, is currently rated at 147). The American equivalent of this system is called the “Beyer Speed Figure”. Wikipedia doesn’t have an all-time ranking under this system, but Secretariat at the Belmont is rated at 139. The highest rating since they began the Beyer system for any other horse is 134. But “The popular rule of thumb for a rough equivalent of the Timeform score is to deduct 12-14 points to achieve the Beyer figure.” This would put Secretariat, (at least the way he ran at the Belmont), at 151-153 under the Timeform system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeform_rating

Sea Bird: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXaWeZLmlC4

Frankel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtPwx__6RKU

Australians will tell you about Phar Lap, who died mysteriously after coming to America:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGJ4XWFceiQ

Another great but tragic horse was Ruffian:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkbYM_YLOaM
(This is part 1: parts 2 & 3 can be found in the right-hand column.)

She was the greatest filly until Zenyatta, who, like Ruffian was unbeaten until her last race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qUZXtTzT6M


Internet listings of the greatest horses ever that include all the top international horses, not just American horses, are hard to come by but here’s one with some interesting commentary:
http://shareranks.com/1219,Best-Racehorses-of-All-Times

There’s never been a horse that would have beaten Secretariat at the Belmont.

 

[AirForceOrange]

Secretariat was and is the greatest of all time, in my opinion.

 

[upperdeck]

if you go back and watch all the Secretariat races there is almost a time in every race that makes you go wow. horses today win races but they dont make the crazy move he made that make you sit back and wonder how good he was. the triple crown was amazing, but there were half a dozen other races with impressive runs in them. running a fast race is one thing. running 3 in a row in that short time frame is a feat noone else has come close too..

the move he made in the preakness to from last to first on the curve in about 15 secs is the most devastating move you can find . 7-8 lengths back of a horse trying to run fast and just blew away the field that early in a race, its something you just can find on any other film. never even used a whip to run that fast

You have to wonder how SHAM would have done had he been alone that year.. dominated the first two races in almost track records and probably wins the triple crown if not trying to outrun Secretariat in the belmont

 

[br801]

the move he made in the preakness to from last to first on the curve in about 15 secs is the most devastating move you can find . 7-8 lengths back of a horse trying to run fast and just blew away the field that early in a race, its something you just can find on any other film. never even used a whip to run that fast

There's a reason you don't see horses make a last to first move in the first turn of a two-turn race: it's racing suicide. Most horses that try something like that finish badly beaten at the end, and the jockey normally isn't asked to ride that horse again. To see Secretariat do that in a Triple Crown race and go on to win under a hand ride remains breathtaking.