Secretariat

         

                                                                                                                                              

On March 30, at 12:10 a.m., Somethingroyal foaled a bright red chestnut colt with three white socks and a star with a narrow blaze. By the time the colt was a yearling, he was still unnamed. Meadow Stables' secretary, Elizabeth Ham, had submitted 10 names to the Jockey Club, all of which were denied for various reasons. Approval finally came with the 11th submission, a name Ham herself picked from a previous career association, Secretariat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As a 2 year old

On July 4, 1972, Secretariat finished fourth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in his first race at Aqueduct Racetrack when he was impeded at the start, forced to take up on the backstretch and then could not make up the ground. After that loss, Secretariat then won 5 races in a row, including three important two-year-old stakes races, the Sanford Stakes and Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, and the Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park. In the Hopeful, he made a huge move, passing 8 horses in 1/4 mile to take the lead and then drawing off to win by 5 lengths. He then ran in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont, where he finished first but was disqualified and placed second for bearing in and interfering with Stop the Music, who was declared the winner.

Secretariat avenged that loss in the Laurel Futurity, winning by 8 lengths over Stop the Music, and completed his season with a win in the Garden State Futurity. He was named Horse of the Year at two, only the third two-year-old to win the honor (after Native Dancer in 1952 and Moccasin in 1965). Only one horse since then, Favorite Trick in 1997, has won that award as a two-year-old. Secretariat also won the Eclipse Award for champion two-year-old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Triple Crown

 The Kentucky Derby

 

Secretariat was the 3-2 favorite over Sham in the 1973 Kentucky Derby. Secretariat broke last but gradually moved up on the field in the backstretch, then overtook his rival Sham at the top of the stretch, pulling away to win the Derby by 2 1/2 lengths. Our Native finished in third place. On his way to a still-standing track record (1:59 2/5), he ran each quarter-mile segment faster than the one before it. The successive quarter-mile times were: 25 1/5, 24, 23 4/5, 23 2/5, and 23. This means he was still accelerating as of the final quarter-mile of the race. It would be 28 years before any other horse would win the Derby in less than 2 minutes (Monarchos in 2001).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Preakness Stakes

In the Preakness Stakes, Secretariat broke last but then made a huge, last-to-first move on the first turn. After reaching the lead with 5 1/2 furlongs to go, Secretariat was never challenged and won by 2 1/2 lengths, again with Sham finishing second and Our Native third. As Secretariat prepared for the Belmont Stakes, he appeared on the covers of three national magazines, Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated. He had become a national celebrity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Belmont Stakes

Only four horses joined Secretariat for the June 9, 1973, running of the Belmont Stakes, including Sham, who had finished second in both the Derby and Preakness, along with three other horses thought to have little chance by the bettors. Secretariat and Sham set a fast early pace, opening ten lengths on the rest of the field. After the 6 furlong mark, Sham began to tire, ultimately finishing last. Secretariat astonished spectators by continuing on the fast pace and opening up a larger and larger margin on the field. In the stretch, Secretariat opened a 1/16 mile lead on the rest of the field. At the finish, he won by 31 lengths (breaking the margin-of-victory record set by Triple Crown winner Count Fleet, who won by 25 lengths) and ran the fastest 1 1/2 miles on dirt in history, 2:24 flat, which broke the stakes record by more than 2 seconds. This works out to a speed of 37.5 mph for his entire performance. Secretariat's world record still stands, and in fact, no other horse has ever broken 2:25 for 1 1/2 miles on dirt. Secretariat became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and the 9th in history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Final race

Secretariat's owner entered into a syndication deal that precluded the horse racing past age three. Accordingly, Secretariat's last race would be against older horses in the Canadian International Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada. It would mark the second time in his career that he raced on grass and the first time he would be asked to go one and five-eighths miles. Secretariat won with another impressive performance. With jockey Ron Turcotte out with a five-day suspension, Eddie Maple rode Secretariat to victory by 6 1/2 lengths.

Altogether, Secretariat won 16 of his 21 career races, with three seconds and one third, for an in the money finish in 20 of 21 starts, and total earnings of $1,316,808.

Secretariat was again named Horse of the Year, as well as winning Eclipse Awards as the American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse and the American Champion Male Turf Horse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Honors and Retirement

Secretariat sired a number of major stakes winners, including 1986 Horse of the Year Lady's Secret, 1988 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Risen Star, and the 1990 Melbourne Cup winner Kingston Rule, who still holds the race record.

In the fall of 1989, Secretariat was afflicted with laminitis, a painful and often incurable hoof condition. When his condition failed to improve, he was euthanized on October 4 at the age of 19. Popular as a Triple Crown champion and in retirement alike, Secretariat was mourned by millions and buried at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, given the rare honor of being buried whole; usually only the head, heart and hooves of a winning race horse are buried, the rest cremated.

On October 16, 1999, in the winner's circle at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, the U.S. Postal Service honored the great horse, unveiling a 33-cent postage stamp with his image.

ESPN listed Secretariat 35th of the 100 greatest athletes of the 20th century, the highest of three non-humans on the list (the other two were also racehorses: Man o'War #84, Citation #97). Secretariat was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974, the year following his Triple Crown.

On May 2, 2007 Secretariat was inducted in the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame, marking the first time an animal received this honor.