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 #2 to Man O' War in the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century by Blood-Horse magazine[1]. 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 Ms 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 (June 9), making him the first Triple Crown winner in a quarter of a century, long enough that many racing fans had thought it would never happen again.
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 could. After his racing career was over, Bold Ruler was retired to Claiborne Farms, but he was still controlled by the Phipps family. This meant that 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 with Bull 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 ten 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 was still without a name. Meadow's secretary, Elizabeth Ham, had submitted ten names to the Jockey Club and all ten were denied for one reason or another. Approval finally came with the eleventh submission, a name Ham herself picked from a previous career association, the name was Secretariat.
Secretariat's 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).
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 the fact that Sham's time of 1:59 4/5 would have won any other running of the Kentucky Derby, before or since. 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 its 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.
Only four horses joined Secretariat for the June 9th 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 twelve, Secretariat by fourteen 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 sixteenth 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 eighteen 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 twenty-two 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 twenty-five 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. But nobody expected the pure and absolute domination that Secretariat exhibited.
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.
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.
Secretariat was voted Horse of the Year, the most prestigious honor in racing, both as a two-year-old (the first horse so honored at that age) and at age three. He was retired to stud at the end of that racing season, after four more victories and two second-place finishes. His last two races were on grass, and he won them both. Altogether, he won 16 of his 21 career races and finished out of the money just once - in his debut as a two-year-old, when he was jostled coming out of the gate and finished fourth.
In 1974, Secretariat was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame[2].
Secretariat became a beloved figure with fans and non-fans of horse racing coming to see Big Red standing at stud. 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.
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 autopsied at the University of Kentucky; Dr. Thomas Swerczek, the veterinarian who performed the autopsy, 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. A normal heart size for a Thoroughbred is eight and a half pounds. The great Australian racehorse, Phar Lap, had a heart size of fourteen 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.
Unlike most enlarged hearts, Secretariat's showed absolutely no signs of disease. Popular belief has that the heart weighed 21 pounds (9.6 kg); the truth is, the heart was never weighed and only estimated.
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 (new track record)
- 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
- Second:
- Third:
Pedigree
| Sire Bold Ruler dkb/br. 1954 |
Nasrullah b. 1940 |
Nearco b. 1932 |
Pharos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nogara | |||
| Mumtaz Begum | Blenheim | ||
| Mumtaz Mahal | |||
| Miss Disco b. 1944 |
Discovery | Display | |
| Ariadone | |||
| Outdone | Pompey | ||
| Sweep Out | |||
| Dam Somethingroyal b. 1952 |
Princequillo b. 1940 |
Prince Rose | Rose Prince |
| Indolence | |||
| Cosquilla | Papyrus | ||
| Quick Thought | |||
| Imperatrice dkb/br. 1938 |
Caruso | Polymelian | |
| Sweet Music | |||
| Cinquepace | Brown Bud | ||
| Assignation (F-No.2-S) |