Reminded of the Greatest: Secretarriat

[JohnStOnge]

Took my wife to a movie then out to eat last night. Movie was "Secretariat" as she loves horses. Reminded of just what a freak of nature that animal was. As always, not entirely historically accurate. But I found myself wondering what the 1973 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes races would've been like if Secretariat's team had let him run from early in those races instead of holding him near the rear though much of the race then hitting the gas.

I am not even a horseracing fan but I still stare in awe when I watch video of the 1973 Belmont Stakes. It's been 37 years and Secretariat's record in that race is still two seconds faster than #2 (http://www.belmont-stakes.info/fastest.php). And the his 2:24 time still stands as a record for 1 1/2 miles on a dirt track. I mean, as with any other endeavor, I'm sure the science behind maximizing racehorse potential has improved tremendously since that time. It's kind of like if some guy ran a 9.5 flat 100 meters 37 years ago. Just unbelievable.

What an animal. And, again, they held him back in the two other triple crown races because they thought maybe they had to keep him from becoming fatigued. He wasn't going to become fatigued. Even though I'm not a horse racing fan this is one of those things that I'd go to if I could hop in a time/place machine and be at a particular place at a particular time. I would love to have witnessed this first hand:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS4f6wiQJh4

[ngineer]

Undoubtedly one of the greatest "athletes" of all time. Secretariat was to horseracing, what Jim Thorpe was to football, and Babe Ruth to baseball.

[JohnStOnge]

Undoubtedly one of the greatest "athletes" of all time. Secretariat was to horseracing, what Jim Thorpe was to football, and Babe Ruth to baseball.

The thing with Secretariat is that if you could get a time machine and bring that horse from 1973 to 2011 next triple crown season the sucker would probably win the triple crown in 2011; especially if his trainer and jockey just used the "let him run" strategy they used in the Bellmont instead of holding him to the back at first like they did in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. That's the thing that really wows me. 37 years later his time in the one triple crown race where they just let him run from start to finish is STILL 2 seconds faster than any time run by any other horse in that race. I don't know what that translates to in lengths but a horse running full speed covers a pretty good bit of ground in two seconds. That represents being WAY ahead at the finish line of any other Bellmont ever run by any other horse even now.

[MSUDuo]

I get what you are saying John, but there is a huge difference between horse racing in '73 and today. Only 5 horses ran in the '73 Belmont. I think having to go against an additional 7 or more horses would affect how Secretariat ran a race. Like you, I am not a huge horse racing fan so I don't have the slightest clue if that would make a difference, just the first thing I saw from your clip above.

[93henfan]

Readers Digest did an excellent story about Secretariat after he died. They did an autopsy (not sure of the exact term for horses) and found that his heart was something like twice the size of a normal horse's and not due to any abnormality or drug abuse. Just a true freak of nature.