Secretariat: Greatest Race Horse Ever?

On March thirtieth, nineteen seventy, arguably the greatest racing horse of all time was born known as Big Red until he got his official name as Secretariat. Here's this story behind the horse that captivated a nation and even led to his own movie forty years later. Today we could dive into Secretariat on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Rees, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day now. Racing has been popular ever since we've been able to tame and ride horses. So, going back pre the founding of the United States, horse racing was popular in anytime a horse won a race, they demanded more value, especially after they were tired and went into breeding, and how Secretariat was born was through this process. His father was Bold Ruler, who's an American Hall of Fame racehorse in one of the Triple Crown races, the Preakness Sakes, and his mother Something Royal was also a Thoroughbred race horse, with many other thorough racehorses in their lineage ahead of them. And interestingly, there was actually two two horse owners that had the rights to the offspring that Bold Ruler would have, and they settled on a coin flip who would have the first pick of the first two horses that he would bear, and Christopher Channery lost the right for the first pick and would get the second horse. The first horse was born in nineteen sixty nine. It was named the Bride who never won the race, but the second with more than nineteen seventy on March thirtieth and given to Christopher Chennery and his Meadow Stables. And he was a bright red chestnut colt, and the manager of the stables, Howard Gentry, said he was the most perfect foul he had ever delivered, and it is said that Secretariat may have been the most perfect race horse ever. He grew massive, standing at sixteen point two hands, which is roughly sixty six inches when he was full grown. In his composition in biochemistry made his stride nearly perfect, and he's still two inches taller than the average racehorse. Many racing experts say there were no major flaws, which made it less likely he would be injured. Then he can maximize his power, so the Meadow Stables started getting ready, started getting him ready for racing in his second year. In his two year old season, at first he was awkward and clumsy, and he would often be outran by his peers. Even some of his exercise riders called him a big, fat sucker, saying he was big and in no hurry to do anything, but they did say there is a lot of power that just needed to be unleashed. And his first race happened on July fourth, nineteen seventy two, at the Aqueduct Racetrack in New York, but he was only a lukewarm favorite at three to one given his lineage. At the starter for the race, a horse named Quebec cut in front of the field, causing a change reactions and resulting in Secretariat being bumped hard, so much that if Secretariat wasn't so strong, the jockey would have fell off, and he recovered and was only beaten by one in a fourth Linx, so arguably the greatest race horse did not win his first race, and this actually led to most of his races him starting slow in order to not get bumped in the crowd. But on the next race, being only favored six to five, he started slow and then rushed back to win by six links. And this was continuing trend of him continuously winning by a wide margin, and after winning multiple races, he came to the Champagne Stakes at Belmont on October fourteenth and he was a seven to ten favorite and he started off slow, again, passing his rivals by two links. However, an inquiry by the race track disqualified him for interfering with another horse, so this was his second loss. He finished his two year old season with nine wins and two losses and one award for the Top American Champion Male Horse and even one American Horse of the Year honors, which is rare for a two year old season. But his three year old season is the one that we all remember, and it's actually the one that helped save Christopher Channery in his Meadow stables as they were in financial hardship, and before his first race as a three year old, he was able to sell thirty two shares worth of his future of breeding at one hundred and ninety thousand each or total of six million dollars at the time in nineteen seventy three, which is roughly over forty million dollars to day. And this is all before he became a legend. But in his final prep for the famed Kentucky Derby at the Wood Memorial. He finished third, as the two other horses that beat him, Angle Light and Sham, had set a pretty slow pace without Secretariat went along with and didn't make a move. They later found out he had an abscess in his mouth that caused him to not feel one hundred percent. They later lanced this before the Kentucky Derby and losing to those two would be the favorite at the Kentucky Derby in the following race. No Secretariat was helped in this Kentucky Derby by another horse named Twice a Prince hitting the stall, causing other horses to injure themselves, including the favorite Sham, who ended up hitting his head losing two teeth, but stop Scham from running a good race and being leading down the stretch till Secretariat took over, winning by two and a half links, setting a record of one minute in fifty nine seconds, a record that still stands to this day. The next was the second part of the Triple Crown, which is the Preakness. Again, Secretariat broke last in this and made a move from last to first on the first turn, and he won by another two and a half links, beating Sham again. Now was his chance to win the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes, and he only ran against four horses that day, including scham As. It was a foregone conclusion that Terriot was going to win, and there were almost no bets taken against him, and he was a ten to one favorite. Many put their bets in on Secretariat just to hold the ticket as a souvenir. In front of a crowd of almost seventy thousand people, the largest in attendance ever in the race being televised by CBS in over fifteen million homes, a shaff of over fifty five percent of the viewership of that day, Secretariat did not disappoint. He won the race by an astounding thirty one links, breaking the record previously of twenty five links, a margin that doesn't even seem realistic. After this, of course, he won Horse of the Year and continued to race for out his three year old season and even passed that and his last race was at the Canadian International Invitational against where he won his final race by six and a half links, finishing his career with sixteen wins and three losses with over one point three million dollars in earnings. He would later go on to be a stud, as his shares already sold before his three year old season winning the Triple Crown, and he produced nineteen eighty six Horse of the Year Lady's Secrets, in nineteen eighty eight Preakness and Belmont winner Rising Star, and many other racers that had talent but never won one of the Triple crowns. Unfortunately, in nineteen eighty nine, Secretariat was infected with laminitis, which affects the hoof of the horse, and despite medication and treatment, he did not recover and it was euthanized on October fourth at the age of nineteen, although they did perform an autopsy on him and noticed he was in perfect health otherwise, but may have had one of the biggest hearts they had ever seen in a horse, a condition that is known as X factor and has passed down through genetics and likely passed on to his children as well. Secretary is I will always be argued who was the greatest horse of all time, and Secretary It's name is always in that argument. 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