Monday Milestone: Thirty-One Lengths

Filed in Other by on June 2, 2013

This Week in History:
1973
, June 9,
Secretariat becomes the first horse in a quarter of a century to win the Triple Crown with a record victory in the Belmont Stakes

“Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a tremendous machine!”
– Chic Anderson’s famous commentary

The Milestone loves a request.

So following on from the reflection on Secretariat’s record sub-two minute victory in the Kentucky Derby on May 6, the Milestone, at the behest of SemiPro, hops back in the Delorean and returns to 1973, to watch the Big Red Horse in one final race, at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

Considered the most demanding leg of the United States Triple Crown, over 2400m it takes a special kind of horse to win the Belmont Stakes. A horse like Secretariat, who is paying just $1.10 at the track. It was already evident that 1973 had been a special year in American turf, with the fastest ever Kentucky Derby, followed up by a tremendous finish in the Preakness two weeks later.

Both times it had been Secretariat claiming victory in emphatic fashion. Both times the horse Sham had run second. It had been an epic rivalry. But with no horse winning the Triple Crown since Citation in 1948, and with a field of just five lining up for the Belmont, in front of a record crowd, the two great three-year olds were about to race head to head one more time.

The gates opened.

From the outset, it immediately became a race between these two tremendous thoroughbreds, and by the mid-point of the race, Secretariat and Sham had already extended their lead out to about ten lengths. Already it was living up to its billing as one of the great all-time duels in American racing.

But there was more to come.

First, something had to give. The pace was frenetic. Sham, like both the previous two races could not match Secretariat, and began to tire. But remarkably this only seemed to bolster Secretariat, and with Ron Turcotte steering, amazingly they began to pull away, striding further in front, towards racing immortality.

Nobody had ever seen an effort like this as on the far sweeping Belmont turn, the big red horse extended his lead from seven lengths out to twenty. Turcotte did not seem to need to even ask the horse for anything. This was instinctual. The record of a twenty-five length victory was about to be surpassed as they both gave everything in the final straight.

Those that were there watching the Belmont Stakes that day, estimate that by the time Secretariat crossed the line to just become the fifth horse to win the Triple Crown, estimate his winning margin was thirty-one lengths, approximately 1/16 of a mile, some 100m ahead of the field.

The clock had stopped, and this was the fastest 1½ miles on dirt ever recorded. No horse had ever run that distance in less than 2:25. Secretariat ran 2:24 flat. Secretariat now held the fastest time for all three Triple Crown races.

Experts estimate that for the 1973 Belmont Stakes, over 5,500 tickets were never cashed in. With such a short price, it is presumed that they were kept by punters as souvenirs. Perhaps this is understandable, given that those present were struggling to comprehend what they had just witnessed. They wanted a memento, as they believed that they would never see an achievement like that again.

To this day, they remain right.

 

Milestone Five: Horses to win the Triple Crown

5. 1978 – Affirmed – The most recent winner of the Triple Crown, he fought off his rival Alydar in the stretch of the Belmont to be crowned.

4. 1948 – Citation – With only one loss in the Chesapeake Trial Stakes, he finished his three-year-old season with nineteen wins from twenty starts, including the Triple Crown.

3.. 1930 – Gallant Fox – As a champion who won nine of his ten races as a three-year old, he won the Triple Crown before going on to sire Omaha who would also win the Triple Crown in 1935.

2. 1919 – Sir Barton – With Johnny Loftus on board, he became the first American thoroughbred to win the Triple Crown.

1. 1973 – Secretariat – Breaking all three course records, the Big Red Horse stormed home to win all three as one of the greatest American thoroughbreds of all time.

Image:

Comments (1)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. SemiiPro says:

    Tremendous machine! Thanks for that Doug.