Things You Probably Didn't Know

[IceWizard]

About Secretariat




Secretariat - Belmont Stakes 1973


On June 9, 1973, Secretariat won horse racing's Triple Crown with a victory
at the Belmont Stakes. Known as one of the greatest racehorses to ever live,
Secretariat became the first horse since 1948 to win America’s coveted Triple Crown.
Here are a few things you didn't know about the racehorse commonly known
as "Big Red".




Secretariat’s fate rested on a coin toss.

In the fall of 1969, stable owners Ogden Phipps and Penny Chenery met in the offices of the
New York Racing Association for what turned out to be one of the most important coin tosses
in sports history. The winner would receive the recently born foal of the sire Bold Ruler and
the mare Hasty Matelda, while the loser would get a second foal from Bold Ruler with a different
mare, Somethingroyal. Phipps won the coin toss, but Chenery won for the record books:
In March of the following year Somethinroyal gave birth to a red chestnut colt with three
distinctive white “socks” on his legs–Secretariat. Chenery went on to fame as the legendary
horse’s owner, while the Phipps family, successful breeders for six generations, didn’t win the
Kentucky Derby until May of this year, when Orb captured the 139th Run for the Roses.



Secretariat was named Horse of the Year twice.

After losing his very first race, at Aqueduct on July 4, 1972, Secretariat lost just once more in
his two-year-old campaign, and even that was due to a controversial disqualification in a race.
At the end of that season, he was unanimously voted the winner of the Eclipse Award as
Horse of the Year—the first 2-year-old to be so honored. In fact, only one other two-year-old
has won the award: Favorite Trick, in 1997. He was a shoo-in the following year, when his
Triple Crown wins earned him top honors in every major racing award.



Nerves were on edge when Secretariat 
lost the run-up to the Derby.

Secretariat easily won the first two races as a three-year-old, before running a disappointing
third in the Wood Memorial, his final tune-up before Churchill Downs. With many in the racing
world dismissing his chances at the Derby, Secretariat’s owner and trainers believed that their
horse’s showing at the Wood had little to do with his stamina or possible nerves. Just days
before the race, an abscess had been discovered on the top of the colt’s mouth, leaving him
in severe pain. While some prognosticators now touting another horse, Sham, a half-cousin
of Secretariat’s, as the Derby favorite, Secretariat’s team successfully lanced the painful infection
and the horse was soon on the mend.



Secretariat set records that 
are still standing today.

As the 1973 Derby began, Secretariat broke out of the gate last, before quickly moving up
on the field. Accelerating with each quarter-mile segment, he crossed the finish line at
1:59 2/5th, a new (and still standing) course record. In the 40 years since, only one other
horse, Monarchos, has finished in under 2 minutes. Two weeks later at the Preakness he
once again raced to catch up with the rest of the field before winning easily. Though his
victory was never in doubt, his official time remained a point of controversy for almost
40 years. Members of the Daily Racing Form had clocked him at 1:53 2/5th, a new track
record, while officials at Pimlico posted his official time as 1:54 2/5th. It wasn’t until
June 2012 that the Maryland Racing Commission, using a forensic review of the race,
determined that not only had Secretariat set a course record in 1973, he had been
even faster than previously believed—1:53 flat.



Secretariat was a media superstar.

Secretariat-mania reached a fever pitch as he prepared for the final leg of the Triple Crown:
The week before the Belmont, Sports Illustrated, Time and Newsweek magazines featured him
on their covers in the same week—an unheard of accomplishment that has never been repeated.
After his victory, demand for the thoroughbred’s time grew go great that his owners hired the
William Morris Agency to oversee his public appearances, surely making him the rare horse
with a Hollywood agent. His fame continued long after his career ended. He was inducted into
the Horseracing Hall of Fame just a year after winning the Triple Crown.
In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative Secretariat stamp, making him the
first equine to earn the honor; and ESPN named him to their list of the 100 greatest athletes
of the 20th century.


Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes
by a jaw-dropping margin.

Racing against only four other horses in New York, Secretariat was considered such a favorite
that no third-place “show” bets were accepted on him. As was the case at both the Derby and
the Preakness, Secretariat faced off against Sham, but this time his cousin was unable to truly
challenge him, finishing last. Secretariat, however, opened an enormous lead on the field that
kept growing with every stride. By the time he crossed the finish line in yet another record-setting
time of 2:24, he was a full 31 lengths in front of the second-place finisher. Secretariat had become
the first horse in 25 years to win the Triple Crown. Rather than trade in their winning tickets
(which would have netted just $.20 in profit), most people who bet on Secretariat decided to keep
them as souvenirs instead.



Secretariat bailed out his financially beleaguered
owners even before he won the Triple Crown.

Helen “Penny” Chenery had inherited her father’s Meadow Stable in Virginia following his death in
1973, but the organization had begun losing money years earlier. Desperate to shore up the family’s
shaky finances, Chenery agreed to a “syndicating” agreement with Seth Hancock, the new owner
of one of the country’s most prestigious breeding operations, Kentucky Claiborne Farm.
In February 1973, four months before his history-making victory at Churchill Downs, it was
announced that 32 breeding “shares” had been sold at a record-breaking price of $190,000 a
share, netting Claiborne Farms and Meadow Stable more than $6 million—$30 million in
today’s money.



Secretariat was euthanized at just 19 years old.

Secretariat’s record off the track was not as successful as it had been on it. Put out to stud in
late 1973, he sired nearly 600 foals, including one horse that sold for more than $1 million at
auction—but nearly all of his male offspring failed miserably at the racetrack. Secretariat’s
grandsires fared a bit better, with grandsons A.P. Indy a Horse of the Year winner and
great-granddaughter Rags to Riches the 2007 Belmont Stakes champion. In the fall of 1989,
the 19-year-old champion developed laminitis, an incurable hoof condition;
he was euthanized in October of that year.




His Heart Was Enormous

Not only was Secretariat was known for being kind-hearted, but he also had a big heart in
the literal sense. In fact, his heart was about two and a half times larger than the average
horse. After Secretariat was euthanized on October 4, 1989, at the age of 19, veterinarian
Thomas Swerczek performed a necropsy. Swerczek discovered that the stallion had an
abnormally large heart. While the average heart of a horse weighs 8.5 pounds,
Secretariat’s weighed between 21-22 pounds.