When Secretariat Won the Preakness

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When a horse wins the Kentucky Derby, it sets off a certain amount of speculation about whether that horse can win the Triple Crown.

But most railbirds don't get excited about a horse's chances of winning the Triple Crown until the Derby winner actually wins that second jewel, the Preakness.

After all, someone has to win the Kentucky Derby, right? Win the Preakness, too, and then we'll talk.

(There will be no such talk this year. Oxbow won yesterday's Preakness, not Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner.)

When Secretariat won the 1973 Kentucky Derby, there was still some residual uncertainty about whether it was a true representation of the likely outcome of a duel between Secretariat and Sham. After all, Sham had beaten Secretariat decisively in the Wood Memorial a few weeks earlier.

The rematch of the top two finishers in the Derby was highly anticipated, and the Secretariat–Sham showdown riveted the attention of the sports world for the five weeks of the Triple Crown.

And when Secretariat won the Preakness 40 years ago today, it triggered a wave of excitement in the sports world. It had been 25 years since a horse had won the Triple Crown, and, in that time, only seven horses had won the first two jewels of the Triple Crown. Five of them had come along in the last 10 years alone.

While many people in horse racing did not believe a horse could win the Triple Crown again, others believed recent history indicated otherwise.

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Could he do it?

The sports world was about to find out if Secretariat could become the eighth horse in 25 years to win the first two jewels of the Triple Crown, and a record crowd was on hand at Pimlico in Baltimore for the 100th running of the Preakness Stakes.

Other than the fact that Secretariat set a speed record in the Derby, perhaps the only thing that made him stand out was the hype that followed him everywhere. Investors had been paying record prices for breeding shares — as if Secretariat had already won the Triple Crown.

As he did in the Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier, Secretariat started almost casually, lumbering out of the gate and settling into the back of the pack. Investors' hearts must have skipped a beat or two.

But, about halfway through the race, he made his move and passed the other horses as if they were standing still, seizing the lead and sprinting down the stretch.

Frankly, I never saw anything like Secretariat. It's probably safe to say no one else had, either. He set records in all three Triple Crown races — records that still stand today.

And his most impressive performance was still to come — in the Belmont Stakes three weeks later when he beat Sham again, this time by 30 lengths.

The Dawning of the Age of Secretariat

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I don't know if Orb, the winner of yesterday's Kentucky Derby, will be the first winner of the Triple Crown in 35 years. I guess we'll know in five weeks.

But he's off to a start similar to Secretariat's in 1973. Like Secretariat, he had to come from behind to win the Kentucky Derby — and he won by two lengths.

Forty years ago today, most Americans probably had not heard much about Secretariat.

The name was familiar to those who followed horse racing, and a record crowd was on hand, many strictly to watch him run in the first jewel of the Triple Crown, but the average American who tuned in to watch the Kentucky Derby that Saturday afternoon in 1973 probably did not know who Secretariat was.

In fact, if casual horse racing fans had heard anything about Secretariat in the weeks prior to the Kentucky Derby, it wasn't good. In the Wood Memorial, his final Kentucky Derby prep race, Secretariat finished third behind his stablemate, Angle Light, and his top foe in the Triple Crown races, Sham.

It was discovered that Secretariat was suffering from an abscess in his mouth.

Secretariat recovered from the abscess by post time at Churchill Downs; nevertheless, many observers were influenced by the results of the Wood Memorial, leaving no clear consensus by the time the race began. Secretariat and his stablemate went off as 3–2 favorites. Sham was just behind at 5–2.

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In his trademark fashion, Secretariat meandered out of the gate and ran at the back of the pack for awhile before making his move and giving the racing fans at Churchill Downs a dramatic finish in which he overtook Sham to win by two lengths.

I've known a few horse people in my day, and some would tell you that a horse knows a lot more than people give him credit for. Others would tell you that horses may have a certain level of intelligence, but they can't understand a language or speak one (sorry, Mister Ed), and they can't process/analyze information.

I don't know if either is true, but I do know Secretariat was different. Secretariat almost seemed to be lounging in the back, as if lolling in a hammock, conserving his energy until just the right moment — when he would burst from behind in the blink of an eye.

Secretariat seemed to shift into an entirely different gear, one unknown to mere horses. They called it hyperspace in "Star Wars," I think. But Secretariat came along several years before the first "Star Wars" movie. The concept of hyperspace was largely unknown.

Except, perhaps, to Secretariat.

Then again, maybe he was just making it look good.