Secretariat’s Ride To Derby Glory
Even the most hallowed of sports records get eclipsed. Roger Bannister was the first to run a four-minute mile, but that feat has been vanquished again and again. Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs went untouched for 39 years before Henry Aaron surpassed him. But no horse in 149 years has ever run the Kentucky Derby as fast as the chestnut colt named Secretariat on May 5, 1973.
It was the 99th running of the Derby and Secretariat staggered from the gate, last among 13 horses. Favored to win, he languished in 11th at the first turn, fueling the wisp of doubt that had blossomed after his third-place finish at the Wood Memorial just a few weeks before. Then he displayed the late kick for which he would become famous. “Secretariat has made a sudden move and is now sixth,” came the excited voice of inimitable race caller Chic Anderson. He was only getting started.
Secretariat charged hard from the outside, catching up to Sham, ridden by jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. “That other horse was just too much,” he later said. Normal horses hit a wall on a one-and-a-quarter mile track, but Secretariat ran each quarter mile faster than the one before. The Kentucky Derby had always been described as “the most exciting two minutes in sports,” but Secretariat altered that description when he became the first horse to ever break that two-minute barrier. He crossed the finish line at 1:59 and 2/5 seconds, nearly half a second faster than any horse since.
The Derby win alone would have made Secretariat a legend. But he then set records in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, winning the latter by a ridiculous 31 lengths and becoming the first Triple Crown victor in 25 years.
It was often said that Secretariat, the greatest closer in the history of racing, had heart, and he literally did. His heart (which stopped beating in 1989) was estimated at 22 pounds, compared with the average horse size of nine. Then again, nothing was average about Secretariat, forever etched in the lore of the Kentucky Derby.
