Home > Secretariat (racehorse)

Trained by Canadian Lucien Laurin and ridden by fellow Canadian jockey Ron Turcotte, he won the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont StakesThe Belmont Stakes is a prestigious horse race held yearly on the first Saturday of June, at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The race is the third leg of the Triple Crown, following the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. 4 km) thoroughbred horse r ( June 9June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. Events 68 Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditus to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging), making him the first Triple CrownThe Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing Triple Crown for short, but the term is also used in other sports, and thus the full name should be used when it could cause confusion) consists of three races for three-year-old thoroughbred horses. Winning all thr winner in a quarter of a century, long enough that many racing fans had thought it would never happen again.

Secretariat's race records in the Derby and the Belmont stand to this day; his run in the Belmont is not only a race record, but the world record for a mile and a half on a dirt track. He set a new speed record in each of the Triple Crown races, the only horse in history to do so (although he was not officially recognized as the Preakness record holder because the official timer malfunctioned).

On the morning of the Belmont, America was primed to see Secretariat become the first Triple Crown winner in twenty-five years. It's no coincidence that Secretariat was featured on the covers of three prominent magazines the week prior: Time Magazine, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. But nobody expected the pure and absolute domination that Secretariat exhibited.

His winning margin of more than 31 lengths in the long and grueling Belmont Stakes is remembered as one of the most dramatic events in thoroughbred racingThoroughbred horse racing is the main form of horse-racing throughout the world. A trainer, who is hired by the thoroughbred horse's owner, would train the horses for a particular event (the horse trains on a local training track near the stable) and also history and one of the most incredible individual athletic achievements ever, both human and non-human.

In one of the all-time great sports calls, CBS Television broadcaster Chic Anderson -- later Belmont Park's track announcer -- punctuated Secretariat's powerful move on the final turn of the Belmont this way: "...Secretariat is blazing along! The first three-quarters of a mile in 1:09 and four fifths. Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a TREMENDOUS machine!"

A lesser-known but perhaps more awesome accomplishment of his took place in that year's Derby. On his way to a still-standing record time in that race (1:59 2/5), he achieved the unheard-of feat of running each quarter-mile segment fractionally faster than the one before it. The successive quarter-mile times were: 25 1/5, 24, 23 4/5, 23 2/5 and 23.

He was nicknamed "Big Red" by his legion of fans, and in a survey of the 100 greatest athletes of the 20th century by ESPN, he was listed 35th, one of two non-humans on the list.

Secretariat was voted Horse of the YearHorse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. It has been awarded since 1887 to the horse, irrespective of age, whose performance during the racing year is deemed the most outstanding. In 1936, the American Daily Raci, the most prestigious honor in racing, both as a two-year-old and at age three. He was retired to studStud could refer to any of these : stud, a horse employed for horse breeding stud, a male gender role ear stud, a form of earring for pierced ears. wall stud, a vertical member within a wall frame, usually a two-by-four which reaches from floor to ceiling at the end of that racing season, after four more victories and two second-place finishes. His last two races were on grass, and he won them both. In 1974, he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of FameThe National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. Each spring, following the tabulation of the final votes, the announcem.

Secretariat became a beloved figure with fans and non-fans of horse racing coming to see Big Red standing at stud. He was generally perceived as a disappointment at stud; however, this view of Secretariat as a stallion is not shared by most racing insiders. Secretariat sired a substantial number of major stakes winners, including 19861986 is a common year starting on Wednesday. Events January January 1 Spain and Portugal enter the European Community January 1 Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles. January 9 After losing a pa Horse of the Year Lady's Secret and 1988 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Risen Star. His "failure" as a stallion was mostly due to his inability to produce offspring as great as he was—an unrealistic expectation, even for a truly great horse. During his lifetime he sired as many as 600 foals.

In the fall of 1989, Secretariat was afflicted with laminitis, a painful and incurable hoof condition. His condition failed to improve, and he was euthanized on October 4. He is buried at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky. In death, he received the ultimate honor for a horse—he was buried whole. Because of space limitations, horses are almost never buried whole; by tradition, the only parts of a (male) horse that are normally buried are the head, heart, hooves, and testicles.

Before his burial, he was autopsied at the University of Kentucky; the veterinarian who performed the autopsy found that Secretariat's heart was the largest he had ever seen in a horse—approximately twice the size of a normal horse's heart. Unlike most enlarged hearts, Secretariat's showed absolutely no signs of disease.

On October 16, 1999, in the winner's circle at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, the United States Postal Service honored the great horse, unveiling a 33 cent postage stamp with his image.

In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Secretariat was ranked #2.