Secretariat (horse)

Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989) was an American thoroughbred racehorse considered by many to be the greatest of all time. He was ranked No. 2 to Man O' War in the Top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by Blood-Horse magazine ^* (although Secretariat consistently posted faster times than Man O' War ever did, albeit without carrying the weight and without consistently being held back by his jockeys, as was Man O'War). He was affectionately nicknamed Big Red after Man O' War, who was also called Big Red.

Sired by Bold Ruler out of the dam Somethingroyal, Secretariat was born at Meadow Farms Stables in Doswell, Virginia. Owned by Penny Chenery, he was trained by Canadian Lucien Laurin and ridden by fellow Canadian jockey Ron Turcotte. Secretariat won the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, making him the first Triple Crown winner in a quarter of a century, long enough that many racing fans had thought it never would happen again.

Background

The story of Secretariat began with the toss of a coin in 1968 between Chris Chenery of Meadow Stables and Ogden Phipps of Wheatley Stables. The idea of a coin toss came from Phipps, the owner of Bold Ruler, and Bull Hancock of Claiborne Farms as a way to get the very best mares for Bold Ruler, and when the toss went their way, to add well-bred fillies to their own broodmare band. Bold Ruler was considered one of the important stallions of his time. He could carry weight and go distances like no other horse. After his racing career, Bold Ruler was retired to Claiborne Farms but still was controlled by the Phipps family. This meant he would be bred to mainly Phipps' mares and not many of his offspring would find their way to the auction ring. Phipps and Hancock agreed to forgo a stud fee for Bold Ruler in exchange for getting to keep one of two foals produced by the mare he bred in successive seasons or two mares he bred in the same season. Who got which foal or even first pick would be decided by a flip of a coin.

In 1968, Chenery sent two mares named Hasty Matelda and Somethingroyal to Bold Ruler, and in 1969, a colt and filly were the result. In 1969, Hasty Matelda was replaced by Cicada, but she did not conceive. Only one foal resulted between Bold Ruler and Somethingroyal. As stated in the original agreement, the winner of the coin toss could pick the foal he wanted but could only take one, while the loser would get the other two. Both parties assumed Somethingroyal would deliver a healthy foal in the spring of 1970. The coin toss between Penny Chenery and Ogden Phipps was set for the fall of 1969 in the office of New York Racing Association Chairman Alfred Vanderbilt II with Hancock as witness. As Vanderbilt flipped the coin, Phipps called "Tails!" The coin landed tails up. Phipps decided to take the weanling filly out of Somethingroyal, leaving Chenery with the colt out of Hasty Matelda and the unborn foal of Somethingroyal.

On March 30, just 10 minutes past midnight, Somethingroyal foaled a bright red chestnut colt with three white socks and a star with a narrow blaze. Almost immediately, the colt was thought to be too pretty, a title that would haunt him early in his racing career and then earn him fame for his beauty as a Triple Crown winner. By the time the colt was a yearling, he still was without a name. Meadow's secretary, Elizabeth Ham, had submitted 10 names to the Jockey Club, and all 10 were denied for one reason or another. Approval finally came with the 11th submission, a name Ham herself picked from a previous career association, Secretariat.

The Triple Crown

The Kentucky Derby

Nicknamed Big Red, he won the Kentucky Derby by gradually moving up on the field in the backstretch, then overtaking rival Sham in the middle of the dash for home. Making Secretariat's Derby win more impressive is that Sham's time of 1:59 4/5 would have won any other running of the Kentucky Derby, before or since.

A lesser-known but perhaps more awesome accomplishment of his took place in that year's Derby. On his way to a still-standing record time in that race (1:59 2/5), he achieved the unheard-of feat of running each quarter-mile (402 m) segment fractionally faster than the one before it. The successive quarter-mile times were: 25 1/5, 24, 23 4/5, 23 2/5 and 23.

The Preakness Stakes

Secretariat didn't wait long to make his presence known in the Preakness. In last place as the horses moved past the stands, Big Red made a big leap forward on the first turn. CBS Television sportscaster Chic Anderson:

But HERE comes Secretariat, he's moving fast, and he's going to the outside — he's going for the lead and it's right NOW he's looking for it!

Despite constant left-handed whipping by jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr., Sham could not overtake Secretariat, who won by two and a half lengths.

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. Both horses set a blistering early pace, opening a 10-length cushion on the others. But while Sham faded after the halfway mark (ultimately finishing last), Secretariat astonished spectators by picking up the killing pace — eventually straining the television cameras' wide-angle capability as they struggled to keep the distant challengers in the same frame.

In one of the best-known of American sports calls, Anderson — later Belmont Park's track announcer — punctuated Secretariat's powerful move on the final turn of the Belmont this way:

'' ...Secretariat is blazing along! The first three-quarters of a mile in 1:09 and four fifths. Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a TREMENDOUS machine! Secretariat by 12, Secretariat by 14 lengths on the turn! Sham is dropping back. It looks like they'll catch him today, as My Gallant and Twice a Prince are both coming up to him now. But Secretariat is all alone! He's out there almost a 16th of a mile away from the rest of the horses! Secretariat is in a position that seems impossible to catch. He's into the stretch. Secretariat leads this field by 18 lengths, and now Twice a Prince has taken second and My Gallant has moved back to third. They're in the stretch. Secretariat has opened a 22-length lead! He is going to be the Triple Crown winner! Here comes Secretariat to the wire. An unbelievable, an amazing performance! He hits the finish 25 lengths in front!"

In fact, the champion's winning margin was fully 31 lengths — a distance it took careful examination of videotape and trackside photographs to measure. During Anderson's call of the stretch run, the CBS camera had to pull way back to keep both Big Red and his opponents in the frame, and as a result caught a poignant image in TV sports history — the backs of tens of thousands of cheering Belmont Park spectators cheering and applauding as Secretariat neared the wire.

Almost as iconic as the still and video images of Secretariat blowing away the competition was the scene of owner Penny Chenery Tweedy waving her arms in exultation (and relief) in the Belmont owners' boxes. Anderson:

An amazing, unbelievable performance by this miracle horse — and look at Mrs. Tweedy! (laughing) She's having the time of her life!

His winning margin of more than 31 lengths in the long and grueling Belmont Stakes is remembered as one of the most dramatic events in thoroughbred racing history and one of the most incredible individual athletic achievements ever, both human and non-human. It's no coincidence that Secretariat was featured on the covers of three prominent magazines on June 11, 1973: Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated. He was the first ever personality to be featured on all three magazines' covers in the same week. But nobody expected the pure and absolute domination that Secretariat exhibited.

Final race

After three more victories and two second-place finishes in 1973, Secretariat won his last race with another impressive performance. With jockey Ron Turcotte out with a five-day suspension, Eddie Maple rode Secretariat to victory in the Canadian International Stakes on grass and against older horses. He not only won the race but set the record for the winningest margin of victory over a field that included the best horses from North America and Europe.

Altogether, Secretariat won 16 of his 21 career races and finished out of the money just once — in his debut as a 2-year-old, when he was jostled coming out of the gate and finished fourth.

Honors and retirement

Secretariat was voted the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, the most prestigious honor in racing, both as a 2-year-old (the first horse so honored at that age, although Man O'War was also named Horse of the Year as a 2-year-old, over Sir Barton, who had that year become the first winner of the Triple Crown) and at age 3. His race records in the Derby and the Belmont stand to this day; his run in the Belmont is not only a race record but the world record for a mile and a half (2.4 km) on a dirt track. He set a new speed record in each of the Triple Crown races, the only horse in history to do so (although he was not recognized as the Preakness record holder because the official timer malfunctioned).

He was nicknamed "Big Red" by his legion of fans, and in a survey of the 100 greatest athletes of the 20th century by ESPN, he was listed 35th, one of three non-humans on the list.

In 1974, Secretariat was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame ^*.

Secretariat became a beloved figure with fans and non-fans of horse racing coming to see Big Red at his stud farm. He was generally perceived as a disappointment at stud; however, this view of Secretariat as a stallion is not shared by most racing insiders. Secretariat sired a substantial number of major stakes winners, including 1986 Horse of the Year Lady's Secret and 1988 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Risen Star. His "failure" as a stallion was mostly due to his inability to produce offspring as great as he was — an unrealistic expectation, even for a truly great horse. During his lifetime he sired as many as 600 foals. He has also had several other major descendants in his bloodline, including 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, 1992 Horse of the Year and prolific breeder stallion A.P. Indy, Secretariat's grandson through mare Weekend Surprise, who was sired by another Triple Crown winner, Seattle Slew.

In the fall of 1989, Secretariat was afflicted with laminitis, a painful and incurable hoof condition. His condition failed to improve, and he was euthanized on October 4. He is buried at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. In death, he received the ultimate honor for a horse—he was buried whole. By tradition, the only parts of a Thoroughbred buried are their head (to symbolize intelligence), heart (to symbolize strength), and legs (to symbolize power).

Before his burial, he was necropsied at the University of Kentucky; Dr. Thomas Swerczek, the veterinarian who performed the necropsy, found that Secretariat's heart was the largest he had ever seen in a horse— approximately three times the size of a normal horse's heart. Dr. Swerczek states in correspondence:

"Certainly, after performing autopsies on several thousand thoroughbred horses, including mares and stallions, no other horse came close to Secretariat’s heart size. The second largest heart I found was the heart of Sham, who actually broke the Kentucky derby record, but still lost to Secretariat. Sham’s heart weighted 19 pounds. The third largest heart I found was stallion Key to the Mint, which was 16 pounds. The majority of all others were smaller, in the range of 10 to 12 pounds. Bold Ruler, the sire of Secretariat had an average size heart. The heart size seemingly is inherited from the female side of the pedigree. When I performed the autopsy on Secretariat, which was necessary because of insurance and we needed to determine the cause of the laminitis, the cause of destruction, I did a cosmetic autopsy. The reason being I did not want to dismantle such a remarkable specimen and the farm personnel and handlers were present to immediately collect all organs in large plastic bags which were immediately returned to the farm to be buried with the body. Normally, with other horses we can keep all organs and the body for further study, or to preserve large specimens, like the heart, but I was not allowed to do this with Secretariat. For this reason, all specimens were immediately collected and returned to the farm, and I did not get a chance to weigh the heart. However, by comparing it to numerous other hearts I got actual weights on, I am certain the weight was between 21 to 22 pounds. So I considered the heart weight officially as 21 pounds. The heart was in perfect shape, not diseased in any way, but just considerably larger than any other horses I autopsied." (see reference below)

A normal heart size for a Thoroughbred is 8 1/2 pounds. The great New Zealand/Australian racehorse, Phar Lap, had a heart size of 14 pounds. This new information led the way for new research to be conducted on factors leading up to great thoroughbreds and the size of their hearts. It is known as the X-factor which leads to enlarged heart sizes given by the dam to her foal as she acquired it from her sire. This is why Secretariat was such a valuable broodmare sire, he passed on the X-gene to his daughters, who in turn passed it on to their offspring.

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

Race record at age 2:

Wins:
- Sanford Stakes
- Hopeful Stakes
- Belmont Futurity
- Laurel Futurity
- Garden State Stakes
- Champagne Stakes (disqualified to 2nd)

Race record at age 3:

Wins:
- Kentucky Derby (new track record)
- Preakness Stakes (timers clocked him as establishing a new track record, but a malfunctioning official timer did not)
- Belmont Stakes (new world record)
- Bay Shore Stakes
- Gotham Stakes (tied track record)
- Arlington Invitational
- Marlboro Cup (new world record)
- Man O' War Stakes (new course record)
- Canadian International Stakes