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Secretariat
Belmont Park
Sire:	Bold Ruler
Grandsire:	Nasrullah
Dam:	Somethingroyal
Damsire:	Princequillo
Sex:	Stallion
Foaled:	1970
Country:	USA
Colour:	Chestnut
Breeder:	Meadow Stud
Owner:	Meadow Stable. Racing silks: Blue, white blocks, white stripes on sleeves, blue cap.
Trainer:	Lucien Laurin
Record:	21:16-3-1
Earnings:	$1,316,808
Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards
Major Racing Wins
Sanford Stakes (1972) Hopeful Stakes (1972) Futurity Stakes (1972) Laurel Futurity (1972) Garden State Futurity (1972) The Bay Shore Stakes (1973) Gotham Stakes (1973) Arlington Invitational (1973) Marlboro Cup (1973) Man o' War Stakes (1973) Canadian International (1973) American Classic Race wins: Kentucky Derby (1973) Preakness Stakes (1973) Belmont Stakes (1973)
Racing Awards
9th U.S. Triple Crown Champion (1973) U.S. Horse of the Year (1972 & 1973) Leading broodmare sire in North America (1992)
Honours
U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1974) U.S. Postage Stamp (1999) #2 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century Statue at Belmont Park & Kentucky Horse Park Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park
Infobox last updated on: February 5, 2007.

Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Secretariat won the 1973 Triple Crown, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years, and set still standing track records in two of the three races in the Series, the Kentucky Derby (1:59 2/5), and the Belmont Stakes (2:24). Secretariat was affectionately nicknamed "Big Red" by his owner because of his size and brilliant chestnut color, or, perhaps, in an attempt to draw comparisons to the great Man o' War.

Contents 1 Background 2 The Triple Crown 2.1 The Kentucky Derby 2.2 The Preakness Stakes 2.3 The Belmont Stakes 3 After the triple crown 4 Final race 5 Honors and retirement 6 Race record at age 2: 7 Race record at age 3: 8 Pedigree 9 External links 10 References

Sired by Bold Ruler out of the dam Somethingroyal, Secretariat was born at Meadow Farm in Caroline County, Virginia. Owned by Penny Chenery, he was trained by Canadian Lucien Laurin and ridden by fellow Canadian jockey Ron Turcotte.

The story of Secretariat began with the toss of a coin in 1968 between Christopher Chenery of Meadow Stables and Ogden Phipps of Wheatley Stable. The idea of a coin toss came from Phipps, the owner of Bold Ruler, and Bull Hancock of Claiborne Farms as a way to get the very best mares for Bold Ruler, and when the toss went their way, to add well-bred fillies to their own broodmare band. Bold Ruler was considered one of the important stallions of his time. He had a fine balance between speed and stamina, having finished 3rd in the 1957 Kentucky Derby. After his racing career, Bold Ruler was retired to Claiborne Farms but still was controlled by the Phipps family. This meant he would be bred to mainly Phipps' mares and not many of his offspring would find their way to the auction ring. Phipps and Hancock agreed to forgo a stud fee for Bold Ruler in exchange for getting to keep one of two foals produced by the mare he bred in successive seasons or two mares he bred in the same season. Who obtained which foal or even received first pick would be decided by a flip of a coin.

In 1968, Chenery sent two mares named Hasty Matelda and Somethingroyal to Bold Ruler, and in 1969, a colt and filly were the result. In 1969, Hasty Matelda was replaced by Cicada, but she did not conceive. Only one foal resulted between Bold Ruler and Somethingroyal. As stated in the original agreement, the winner of the coin toss could pick the foal he wanted but could only take one, while the loser would get the other two. Both parties assumed Somethingroyal would deliver a healthy foal in the spring of 1970. The coin toss between Penny Chenery and Ogden Phipps was set for the fall of 1969 in the office of New York Racing Association Chairman Alfred Vanderbilt II, with Hancock as witness. As Vanderbilt flipped the coin, Phipps called "Tails!" The coin landed tails up. Phipps decided to take the weanling filly out of Somethingroyal, leaving Chenery with the colt out of Hasty Matelda and the unborn foal of Somethingroyal.

On March 30, at 12:10 a.m., Somethingroyal foaled a bright red chestnut colt with three white socks and a star with a narrow blaze. By the time the colt was a yearling, he was still unnamed. Meadow's secretary, Elizabeth Ham, had submitted ten names to the Jockey Club, and all ten were denied for one reason or another. Approval finally came with the eleventh submission, a name Ham herself picked from a previous career association, Secretariat.

Nicknamed Big Red (as he was a large chestnut horse like Man o' War), he won the Kentucky Derby by gradually moving up on the field in the backstretch, then overtaking rival Sham in the middle of the dash for home.

On his way to a still-standing record time in that race (1:59 2/5), he achieved the unheard-of feat of "negative splitting", running each quarter-mile (400 m) segment faster than the one before it. The successive quarter-mile times were: 25 1/5, 24, 23 4/5, 23 2/5 and 23. This means he was still accelerating as of the final quarter-mile of the race.

Secretariat did not wait long to make his presence known in the Preakness. In last place as the horses moved past the stands, Big Red made a big leap forward on the first turn -- all on his own, as jockey Turcotte later said. CBS Television sportscaster Chic Anderson:

But HERE comes Secretariat, he's moving fast, and he's going to the outside — he's going for the lead and it's right NOW he's looking for it!

Despite constant left-handed whipping by jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr., Sham could not overtake Secretariat, who won by two and a half lengths. The main controversy of the race was its time. The infield totalisator board flashed a time of 1:55. The track's electronic timer malfunctioned because of damage from the crowd crossing the track to reach the infield. The Pimlico clocker, E.T. McLean Jr., who is said to have admitted years later (though not at the time) that he had in fact delayed clicking his stopwatch accurately (Source: Secretariat - Raymond G. Woolfe), had informed them that he had clocked a time of 1:54 2/5, while at the same time two Daily Racing Form clockers claimed the time was 1:53 2/5 which would have been faster than the track record (1:54 by Cañonero II). Two tapes of the horses were played side by side and were reclocked and slowly examined and Secretariat got to the finish line first on tape, though this is not a reliable method of timing a horse race. The Maryland Jockey Club, which managed the Pimlico racetrack and is responsible for maintaining Preakness records, discarded both electronic and The DRF time and recognized 1:54 2/5 as the official time. In some programs, both DRF and official time are printed. The official Preakness record book maintains that the time was 1:54 2/5, and Pimlico officials have chosen not to revisit this issue. In the interim, Tank's Prospect (1985), Louis Quatorze (1996), and Curlin (2007) have all run 1:53 2/5, equalling the time attributed to Secretariat by the Racing Form. Farma Way won the 1991 Pimlico Special in 1:52 2/5, setting the current track record. Oddly enough, Secretariat's stablemate Riva Ridge also ran the same distance in 1:52 2/5 in the 1973 Brooklyn Handicap at Aqueduct, sharing the current American dirt record at that distance with Farma Way. The issue of Secretariat's time in the Preakness may never be finally resolved.

Only four horses joined Secretariat for the June 9, 1973, running of the Belmont Stakes, including Sham, who had finished second in both the Derby and Preakness, along with three relatively unaccomplished horses thought to have little chance by the bettors, Twice A Prince, My Gallant, and Private Smiles. With so few horses in the race, and with Secretariat expected to win, no "show" bets were taken. Before a crowd of 67,605, Secretariat and Sham set a blistering early pace, opening a 10-length cushion on the others. But while Sham faded after the halfway mark, ultimately finishing last, Secretariat astonished spectators by continuing on the fast pace; eventually straining the television cameras' wide-angle capability as they struggled to keep the distant challengers in the same frame. Turcotte has said in documentaries that he could sense the horse wanted to be let loose, and he did so, letting the horse shift into "high gear" and run his own race.

In one of the best-known of American sports calls, 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! Secretariat by 12, Secretariat by 14 lengths on the turn! Sham is dropping back. It looks like they'll catch him today, as My Gallant and Twice a Prince are both coming up to him now. But Secretariat is all alone! He's out there almost a 16th of a mile away from the rest of the horses! Secretariat is in a position that seems impossible to catch. He's into the stretch. Secretariat leads this field by 18 lengths, and now Twice a Prince has taken second and My Gallant has moved back to third. They're in the stretch. Secretariat has opened a 22-length lead! He is going to be the Triple Crown winner! Here comes Secretariat to the wire. An unbelievable, an amazing performance! He hits the finish 25 lengths in front!"

In fact, the champion's winning margin was 31 lengths — a distance it took careful examination of videotape and trackside photographs to measure, although veteran Daily Racing Form trackman Jack Wilson accurately recorded it as Secretariat hit the wire. Secretariat's time of 2 minutes and 24 seconds flat has remained the world record on dirt at that distance; no horse has come within 1 2/5 seconds of the time. During Anderson's call of the stretch run, the CBS camera had to pull back to keep both Big Red and his opponents in the frame, and as a result caught a poignant image in TV sports history — the backs of tens of thousands of Belmont Park spectators cheering and applauding as Secretariat neared the wire. Almost as iconic as the still and video images of Secretariat blowing away the competition was the scene of owner Penny Chenery Tweedy waving her arms in exultation (and relief) in the Belmont owners' boxes. Anderson:

An amazing, unbelievable performance by this miracle horse — and look at Mrs. Tweedy! (laughing) She's having the time of her life!

After Secretariat galloped out for 1/8 mile after the race his time for 1 and 5/8 miles including the cool down is alleged to be 2 minutes 37.6 seconds, which would have broken a world record set by the great Swaps in 1956 by three lengths. Secretariat's winning margin of 31 lengths in the long and grueling Belmont Stakes is remembered as one of the most dramatic events in thoroughbred racing and sports history. Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated featured Secretariat on their covers on June 11, 1973, the first to be featured on all three magazines' covers in the same week, though no journalists or racing experts had expected the pure and absolute domination that Secretariat exhibited. If the Beyer Speed Figure calculation had been developed during that time, Andrew Beyer calculated that Secretariat would have earned a figure of 139, one of the highest figures he has ever assigned. [1] Bettors holding 5,617 winning on-course Tote tickets never redeemed them.

Secretariat never duplicated his Belmont Stakes performance, but continued to run impressively after the Triple Crown. He shipped to Chicago and easily won the Arlington Invitational at Arlington Park, won the inaugural Marlboro Cup against a fantastic field that included 1972 Derby and Belmont winner, Secretariat's stablemate Riva Ridge, top California stakes winner Cougar II, Canadian champion Kennedy Road, and Onion, who had upset Secretariat in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga. Secretariat stopped the clock in 1:45 2/5 for 1 1/8 miles, at the time, a world record on any surface.

He also won his first start on grass in the Man o' War Stakes in a still standing track record time of 2:24 4/5, without being touched by the whip. Secretariat is alleged to have galloped out an extra furlong in 2:37 4/5, which would have equalled the world record at that distance on any surface (Source: Secretariat, Raymond G. Woolfe Jr.).

But Secretariat did not always fire. His fans argue that there were extenuating circumstances for each of those defeats. In his final preparation race for the Kentucky Derby, he had lost to an ordinary horse named Angle Light as well as his nemesis Sham. It is alleged that Secretariat's trainer Lucien Lauren, a Hall of Famer who would not likely commit malpractice by concealing a star horse's injury and risking his life, withheld knowledge of a bad abscess on his horse's upper lip from owner Tweedy and jockey Turcotte. (Source: Secretariat - The Making Of A Champion, William Nack). Similarly, after the Triple Crown, he lost to two horses trained by "giant killer" H. Allen Jerkens (who also beat five-time Horse of the Year, Kelso, with Beau Purple) -- Onion and Prove Out. Hall of Fame trainer Lauren ran Secretariat against Onion in the Whitney even though his horse allegedly had a low grade fever, and entered Secretariat to compete against Prove Out in the Woodward, when he allegedly had inadequate training (1 1/8 mile Marlboro Cup) and was originally being pointed toward the 1973 Man o' War Stakes on grass, thus running 1 1/2 miles much earlier than scheduled. (Source: Secretariat - The Making Of A Champion, William Nack)

After three more victories and two second-place finishes in 1973, Secretariat won his last race with another impressive performance. With jockey Ron Turcotte out with a five-day suspension, Eddie Maple rode Secretariat to victory in the Canadian International Stakes on grass and against older horses. He won the 1⅝ miles race by an impressive 6 1/2 lengths, a tremendous accomplishment on grass where large winning margins are much less common than they are in the Belmont Stakes on dirt.

Altogether, Secretariat won 16 of his 21 career races and finished out of the money just once — in his debut as a 2-year-old, when he was jostled coming out of the gate and finished fourth.

Secretariat was voted the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year, the most prestigious honor in racing, both as a two-year-old (the first horse so honored at that age) and as a three-year-old. Secretariat demonstrated his superiority on grass with wins in the Canadian International Stakes and the Man o' War Stakes against older horses. His performance on grass earned him the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Male Turf Horse.

His race records in the Derby and the Belmont stand to this day; his run in the Belmont is not only a race record but still the fastest time ever run at mile and a half (2.4 km) on a dirt track. Indeed, no horse has ever come within 1 2/5 seconds (approximately 5-6 lengths at 1 1/2 miles) of Secretariat's time, and the second fastest Belmont Stakes time is a full 2 seconds slower. Were the official Preakness time disregarded, and the word of the Daily Racing Form clockers accepted, it could be said that he set a new speed record in each of the Triple Crown races, and he would have been the only horse in history to do so.

ESPN listed Secretariat 35th of the 100 greatest athletes of the 20th century, one of three non-humans on the list. In 1974, Secretariat was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Secretariat became a beloved figure with fans and non-fans of horse racing coming to see Big Red at Claiborne farm, where he stood at stud from 1974 through 1989, living in the same stall which was once home to his sire, Bold Ruler. Secretariat sired a substantial number of major stakes winners, including 1986 Horse of the Year Lady's Secret, 1988 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Risen Star, and the 1990 Melbourne Cup winner Kingston Rule, who still holds the race record. He also sired General Assembly, who won the 1979 Travers Stakes at Saratoga while setting a still-standing race record of 2:00 flat; Andrew Beyer has said that General Assembly's speed figure in that race was one of the fastest in history. Like Secretariat in the Belmont, General Assembly never duplicated that performance in another race. Secretariat's unfair criticism as a stallion was mostly due to his inability to produce offspring as great as he was — (and perhaps due to his expensive syndication deal); expectations were clearly unrealistic, and when viewed objectively, Secretariat was a very successful stallion. He sired as many as 600 foals during his retirement.

In contrast to most other great racehorses, with the notable exception of Man o' War, Secretariat never raced past age 3. His owner had promised breeding syndicators that he would retire after his 3 year old season. Unfortunately, this decision denied racing fans the opportunity to see him compete through a full season against open competition in handicap races under heavier weights and take on challengers on the harder tracks in the western United States. This comparatively early retirement is often cited by those who advocate other racehorses for the mythical "greatest ever" label.

His blood flows through many other notable racehorses, including 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, and he is most noted as a broodmare sire, being the broodmare sire of 1992 Horse of the Year and successful sire A.P. Indy, Secretariat's grandson through his daughter Weekend Surprise, who was sired by another Triple Crown winner, Seattle Slew. AP Indy is the sire of 2007 Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches, the first filly to win at Belmont since 1905. Secretariat is also the dam-sire of the great stallions Storm Cat (by Storm Bird), through his daughter Terlingua, herself an excellent racemare, and of Gone West, through his daughter Secrettame.

In the fall of 1989, Secretariat was afflicted with laminitis, a painful and often 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. By tradition, the only parts of a Thoroughbred buried at a gravesite are their head (to symbolize intelligence), heart (to symbolize strength), and legs (to symbolize power). Other parts are disposed of by other means.

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 2005, Secretariat appeared once more in ESPN Classic's show Who's No. 1?. In the list of "Greatest Sports Performances" (by individual athletes), the horse was the only non-human on the list, his run at Belmont ranking second behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game.

The horse was named the greatest athlete wearing #2 by Sports Illustrated.

• Wins:
  • Sanford Stakes
  • Hopeful Stakes
  • Belmont Futurity
  • Laurel Futurity
  • Garden State Stakes

• Second
  • Champagne Stakes (disqualified for interference)

• Wins:
  • Kentucky Derby (new track record, still standing)
  • Preakness Stakes (Daily Racing Form clockers claimed he established a new track record, but a malfunctioning official timer did not, and the clockers' time has not been officially recognized)
  • Belmont Stakes (still stands fastest time in history on a dirt track)
  • Bay Shore Stakes
  • Gotham Stakes (tied track record)
  • Arlington Invitational
  • Marlboro Cup (new world record)
  • Man o' War Stakes (new course record, still standing)
  • Canadian International Stakes

• Second:
  • Woodward Stakes
  • Whitney Stakes

• Third:
  • Wood Memorial Stakes

Pedigree of Secretariat

Sire Bold Ruler dkb/br. 1954	Nasrullah b. 1940	Nearco b. 1932	Pharos
			Nogara
		Mumtaz Begum	Blenheim II
			Mumtaz Mahal
	Miss Disco b. 1944	Discovery	Display
			Ariadne
		Outdone	Pompey
			Sweep Out
Dam Somethingroyal b. 1952	Princequillo b. 1940	Prince Rose	Rose Prince
			Indolence
		Cosquilla	Papyrus
			Quick Thought
	Imperatrice dkb/br. 1938	Caruso	Polymelian
			Sweet Music
		Cinquepace	Brown Bud
			Assignation (F-No.2-S)

• Secretariat Invitation
• Secretariat Introduction on YouTube
• Secretariat goes for The Triple Crown on YouTube
• Secretariat
• Secretariat in the Derby on YouTube
• Secretariat in the Preakness on YouTube
• Secretariat in The Belmont on YouTube
• SECRETARIAT - 1973 Kentucky Derby (Alternate Footage)
• SECRETARIAT - 1973 Preakness Stakes (Alternate Footage)
• SECRETARIAT - 1973 Belmont Stakes (Alternate Footage)
• Quick online racing game, inc. Secretariat
• Historiography on Secretariat
• Secretariat's Derby
• Tribute to Secretariat
• - A Moment of Eternity
• Secretariat (horse) Memorial at Find A Grave

• The official Secretariat website
• Woolfe Jr., Raymond G. Secretariat. (2001) The Derrydale Press. ISBN 1-58667-067-0