Secretariat (racehorse)
Secretariat
Trained by Canadian Lucien Laurin and ridden by fellow Canadian jockey Ron Turcotte, he won the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes, making him the first Triple Crown 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 racing history and one of the most incredible individual athletic achievements ever, both human and non-human.
A lesser-known but perhaps more awesome accomplishment of his took place in that year's Derby. On his way to a 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 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, he was listed 35th, the only non-human on the list.
He was retired to stud 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 Fame.
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.
1999 stamp honoring Secretariat
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.