It is almost Belmont time again and I can't think about the Derby, Preakness or the Belmont Stakes without remembering 1973 when Secretariat won the Triple Crown. I was 16 when I watched Secretariat race to immortality. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen in my life. He set a track record in the Kentucky Derby that has never been broken. The Preakness was even better, he started last and in a matter of seconds shot around the other horses to take the lead, there was a large crowd of people on the infield of the track and many of them got so excited that they broke through the barriers meant to hold them back, running and shouting as he ran down the stretch, there were children who were standing on the actual rails cheering him on as he raced by them, unfortunately the people breaking through the barriers also malfunctioned the time clock. By the end of the Preakness Secretariat had become a hero to all of us who followed the races that year. By the time the Belmont rolled around, everyone thought Secretariat would win and be the first Triple Crown Winner in 25 years, but what he did that day was more than win the Belmont or the Triple Crown, he proved he was the greatest racehorse of the 20th Century and possibly of all time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-KvaeuIIsw
Secretariat knocked 2 3/5 seconds off the track record and set a record that will probably never be broken. There is a movie about Secretariat being released this fall. Mrs. Chenery, his owner, is well into her 80's now and she says that even after all these years, hardly a day goes by that she doesn't get a letter from someone about Secretariat.
In 1989 when Secretariat died and they performed his autopsy they found out what those of us who loved him already knew, he had a perfectly healthy heart that was 2 1/2 times larger than that of a normal horse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-KvaeuIIsw
Secretariat knocked 2 3/5 seconds off the track record and set a record that will probably never be broken. There is a movie about Secretariat being released this fall. Mrs. Chenery, his owner, is well into her 80's now and she says that even after all these years, hardly a day goes by that she doesn't get a letter from someone about Secretariat.
In 1989 when Secretariat died and they performed his autopsy they found out what those of us who loved him already knew, he had a perfectly healthy heart that was 2 1/2 times larger than that of a normal horse.