The Kentucky Derby will be run on Saturday, and Renegade is the favorite on Friday evening, at 4-1.
However, no matter who has run in the Derby, or in any leg of the triple crown, a shadow has hung over those races for 53 years, because what Secretariat did in 1973 is still unfathomable.
Secretariat was seen as an exciting colt as a 2-year-old, but he finished third in the Wood Memorial, his last race before the Derby, and a lot of people grew skeptical of his potential.
That didn’t last long.
This video
shows all three triple crown races from 1973. In the Derby, he comes from behind to win with relative ease. He also won the Preakness with relative ease. But it was the Belmont Stakes that still leaves people in awe.
Secretariat and Sham ran neck and neck for a bit, then the big horse just pulled away…and kept pulling away.
Big Red won the Belmont by an astounding 31 lengths. This picture is iconic: jockey Ron Turcotte looking back to see where the other horses were. Well, they were a huge distance behind, as it turned out.
No one had ever done anything like this before, and no one has ever come close to doing it since.
This is like Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 in basketball, or hitting six homers in an MLB game. It’s just an astounding performance by the greatest race horse that ever lived.
After his death, Secretariat was autopsied, and his heart weighed about 22 lbs. The typical thoroughbreds heart weighs about 9 lbs. No one had ever seen anything like it.
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