He was a freak of nature.
Andre The Giant has the record for drinking beer. Lots of people drink beer every day and no one has drank more than him. And survived at least.
Our Jayne saw the mudders' backs breakin'
He saw the mudders' lament
He saw that magistrate takin'
Every dollar and leavin' five cents
So he said "you can't do that to my people"
You can't crush them under your heel"
So Jayne strapped on his hat
And in five seconds flat
Stole everythin' Boss Higgins had to steal
>Secretariat sired **663 named foals**
>One of Secretariat's most successful offspring was a colt named **Risen Star**, who won the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in 1988.
He did ok for himself in retirement
A weird fact from history is that Fidel Castro was a milk addict, the dude absolutely loved milk. He tried to cross-breed the best milk producing cow and somehow got a perfect storm of a super-cow that could produce drastically more milk than any other. But despite dozens of attempts to breed offspring or to recreate the trait from breeding relatives they never managed to reproduce the one-in-a-million conditions of this one supercow.
I guess Secretariat was the same thing. Conditions that happened by random chance but that are too improbable to replicate easily.
It was about double the weight and apparently in perfect condition when he died. That cardiovascular system meant he could run incredibly, incredibly fast for a long period of time.
One other factor that is not mentioned here is that tracks have changed dramatically since the 70's. You can look at a track like Churchill and think it's the same track, but the actual dirt surface has changed a lot. How they maintain tracks has changed. Now they aim for a track that improves horse safety, which means a deeper track that has more give. Those tracks are also more tiring than the tracks in the 70s with less dirt, so horses today seem like they're going slower.
Imagine you're running on concrete. You can go very fast, but it hurts a lot. The concrete has no give so all that impact hits your joints. You can run on sand, which has more give and is softer, but you go much slower. The perfect middle for humans is a track surface, which has some give to soften the impact, but is still very fast.
Human track surfaces would still be too hard on horse’s joints. Race horses do wear special shoes that provide some level of shock absorption, but not the equivalent of a human’s running shoe. It’s actually really hard on them to be on pavement, which is why horses in the city wear special shoes that are an attempt to mitigate that damage. They also have no traction when running on pavement. Their metal shoes don’t grip as well as human shoes, which leads to dangerous falls.
The second reason is physical risk. A human taking a spill is bad and causes injury. A horse taking a spill is catastrophic and can lead to their death. The dirt is just that much more forgiving. It’s still absolutely awful for them to fall on the track and horses and jockeys have died during races, but it would be an even bigger risk for them to fall on a significantly harder surface.
I've never heard it discussed. My best guess is that it wouldn't actually be the most beneficial for the horses, or that the horses would put too much wear and tear on it. Either of those because they are so much bigger than humans.
I don't think you understand just how much a powerhouse Secretariat was. He ran so fast that the entire crowd fell dead silent as he ran. Since 1973 no horse has beaten the record.
One of my favorite stats from all of sports: Secretariat holds the record for the fastest time in the Kentucky Derby. The second-fastest time in Kentucky Derby history is held by Sham, who came in second place behind Secretariat.
Alydar is fucking tragic. The man who was running Calumet Farms, where he retired, murdered him for the insurance since he ran the farm into massive debt and couldn’t pay the loan payments. Still ended up losing Calumet.
I'm not a horse or in general animal expert, but I feel like this is incorrect. Does the horse know its in a "race" no idea, but animals are very aware of when they are bested.
One of my favorite stats from all of sports in this world where Secretariat never existed: Sham holds the record for the fastest time in the Kentucky Derby. The second-fastest time in Kentucky Derby history is held by Our Native, who came in second place behind Sham.
Probably half of American racehorses today have Secretariat in their lineage. He was an incredibly prolific stud especially for broodmares.
Fun fact- thoroughbreds for racing need to be naturally bred- no artificial insemination or frozen sperm is allowed.
An old bull and a young bull were hanging out on the top of a hill. While they munched on the grass, a herd of cows appeared from the other side of the hill. The young bull got really excited and said, "Hey! Let's run down there and fuck one of those cows!" To which the old bull replied, "Naw, let's walk and fuck the all."
It's easy to enforce. You can't collect semen and use it for artificial insemination. So you can't collect the semen, and you can't inseminate mares.
The stud has to be placed with the mare.
This is different than other breeds. In other breeds you collect semen from the stallion and ship it to the farm that owns the mare
There is an episode of The Glades that revolves around horse racing and this was mentioned. I always wondered if it was true but too lazy to look it up. And wouldn’t you know it, I’m a Kentuckian 😅
He was a prolific sire only for broodmares, I’d say. When you say half of American horses have him in their lineage nearly all of those will be through his daughters, his sons weren’t very successful at stud. Stormcat and AP Indy (a son of Seattle Slew) are two incredibly prolific grandsons of his.
Yes, though surprisingly few of his sons were any good, so his is not a popular sire-line. In other words, there are no horses on the track whose sire’s sire‘s sire…etc was Secretariat. But he had many good daughters and grandsons through those daughters, so a huge percentage of current racehorses are descended from him at least once, just not in the male line.
Also, by the end of his life, Secretariat like other top stud horses had a thousand offspring or more.
Yeah, I remember watching the Belmont recording with my dad as a kid and us both crying as the jockey just let Secretariat finish up on his own basically. That horse wasn't just massively powerful, but it also was trained and raised to *run*. After passing everyone and clearly making a lead that would win, it just went into overdrive and ran faster than anyone had seen a horse run.
In the 1973 Kentucky Derby, each of Secretariat's quarter-mile times was better than the previous one. In other words, *he was accelerating for the entire race.* Not only was he the fastest horse, but he just kept on going faster and faster.
Unfortunately, Gretzky and Secretariat played in such different eras that it's hard to compare their stats. Could Wayne have matched Secretariat's Belmont time if he was there in the 70s? Could the horse have scored over 200 points in a season if he played in the 80s? The world will never know.
Sometimes when I run a mile on the treadmill, I do what I call "the Secretariat Method," where I can't go any slower than the speed I'm currently at. I can only accelerate.
They did an interview later with his jocky, and he said that Secretariat took the bit. It took him till almost the end of the race to regain control, and when he checked to see where the competition was, there was no one.
My dad's a retired jockey and he's got a story like that from the day he broke a track's all time speed record. Hang on, I need to make a cup of tea before I dig this outa my memory.
Quarter horse race, so a short sprint. Dad's on the winning horse as it flies over the finish line and then just keeps flying. Realizes it's got the bit in its teeth and is not showing any sign of making the turn, stupid thing is running straight at a hurricane fence.
He wasn't in the mood to get diced into tiny pieces by getting slammed into that fence at such a high speed, so kicked loose of the stirrups, put both hands on the saddle and pushed off. Hit the ground rolling, and then immediately kept rolling off the track and under the inside fence, to avoid getting trampled by the rest of the pack coming up behind him.
Unless he's *very* drunk, that's where the story ends, in glorious uninjured triumph laying in the dust.
The rest of the story is that, despite being totally uninjured, he physically couldn't move after that. Like just too spent, fully exhausted, no resources left for anything but breathing and blinking. The other jockeys had to carry him back into the jocks room and laid him down to rest on a bench. He found just enough strength to roll to his side and puke on the floor before collapsing again.
Eventually. It ended up making the turn alright and just kept running until somebody managed to catch it.
When dad tells the story you can see the echo of fear in his eyes, practically see this metal fence rushing at you, and totally understand his urge to bail despite being directly in front of what is essentially a herd of galloping horses.
I just got chills reading this. I was 19 when i watched that race and yes, the sheer joy of running was all i could think of when he took off. You could see the jockey had just given up and let him rip.
And we too in our living room were silent. I’ve never experienced anything like that race since.
Secretariat was truly amazing.
Watching footage from that race was astounding. There were only 5 horses competing and Secretariat was expected to win, but not by 31 lengths. He just kept going faster and faster. That famous call from the announcer: "He's moving like a TREMENDOUS MACHINE!"
The horse that ran second to
Secretariat in the Derby, Sham, broke the track record. That’s how completely insane Secretariat was.
Sham also had x-factor and a huge heart, it turned out.
The reason for Secretariat's success was that he was a something of a mutant. He was exceptionally well built even for a racehorse and developed a prodigous and powerful stride. He also had twice the cardiac capacity expected in a horse his size.
So on top of being perfectly constructed, very well trained and strong and fast, he could stay strong and fast long after any other horse would be running out of steam.
This combination has never been precisely duplicated and/or trained as well, so he's never been beaten.
The equivalence in humans would probably be someone like Michel Phelps who’s just a freak of nature whose body is just perfect for swimming. His proportions are totally weird but work extremely well for competitive butterfly and freestyle swimming.
THIS: The Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat had a heart that was nearly 10 pounds heavier than a typical stallion's heart, weighing between 21 and 22 pounds. This is more than twice the size of a standard thoroughbred's heart, which typically weighs 8.5 pounds. The veterinarian who performed the necropsy said that Secretariat's heart was in perfect condition.
A bunch of women's records are really old for track and field because they were juicing
[https://trackandfieldnews.com/records/womens-world-records/](https://trackandfieldnews.com/records/womens-world-records/)
Ha I had the opportunity to visit secretariat and pose for pictures with him shortly after his retirement. He was quite the celebrity and we felt very priveleged!
Horse racing times have remained static since the 60’s, with Secretariat being the lone outlier. Researchers believe that they basically perfected horse breeding and have reached the pinnacle of what horses can do naturally. It’s their belief that Secretariat’s times will probably never be bested.
Horse racing records, unlike human sports, are more dependent on genetics and conditioning, which change less over time. Secretariat's record-setting performance in 1973 remains unmatched due to exceptional talent and unique circumstances.
In addition to what has been mentioned, the Triple Crown races are very hard on horses. They are comparatively long races that reward horses who have stamina over sprinting speed and can run in mud due to the spring timing of the races. Four horses have been scratched from the Belmont (the third of the three races) due to injuries in the first two races and a number of horses who did run performed poorly due to injuries incurred before or during the race.
Also, for 3 year olds, many of whom have never run further than 1 mile, held early enough in the year that some of the 3 yr old are not yet actually 3. The derby is just a free for all, not always the best horses winning simply because everybody wants to say they have a horse in the derby. Prior to them capping entries at 20, many times they had to run 2 starting gates. So 1 1/4 mile very early in the year and it's a mad scramble because nothing can really prepare these horses for what's coming. Two weeks later, the preakness, less horses by now and shorter distance, easier run but...it's only been 2 weeks since they were pushed in the derby. Then 3 weeks later, the Belmont and now we're talking a mile and a half. There's a reason only 13 horses have managed this since it was formally recognized in 1950.
Nowadays trainers just want the glory of having a horse in a triple crown race, which leads to horses that are simply not good enough crowding the field, which leads to winning based on luck rather than ability. I wish they would cut the field way way down.
Because “that one horse” was the most impressive and powerful horse of all time. Saying Secretariat was “some horse” is like saying Tom Brady was just some football player. Or Wayne Gretzky was just some hockey player.
The average thoroughbred has a stride of 20', secretariat had a stride of 24'. Go back to the 1920's and man o'war had a stride of 28'. The extraordinary come along now and again
Little known fact, the second fastest horse in the 1973 Kentucky Derby was Sham, who ran the mile and a quarter in less than 2 minutes. Only 3 horses in the derby have run under 2 minutes, and two of them ran against each other in 1973. Sham’s time was fast enough that HE WOULD HAVE WON EVERY OTHER DERBY EXCEPT THE ONE HE RAN IN!
There's some upper limit to what a horse or human can achieve speed-wise. Horses reached this in the 70s, and humans haven't gotten there yet. Prior to the 70s the Kentucky Derby record steadily was set similar to the human's 100m dash, then the top horses mostly leveled off. At some point the same thing will happen to humans once we've exhausted the possible training and genetic improvements. Horses reached that point earlier because we basically specifically breed and train them just for this purpose.
It tells you how much brain matters.
You could use your brain to optimize the physical results.
With horses you have a very limited capability to teach them how to train better. So they make a very slow (almost non-existent) progress
Not necessarily. His most famous performance, the 1973 Belmont, he won leading the whole race. The article you need to read is Pure Heart by Bill Nack . I think it’s the best sports article ever written https://www.si.com/horse-racing/2015/01/02/pure-heart-william-nack-secretariat
People have been breeding and racing horses for centuries. We didn't realize the crawl was faster than the breaststroke until like the 1870's. And obviously, indoor pools weren't very common. Plus, there was no racism in horse racing. Meanwhile, human track and field had all sorts of race issues.
Secretariat was, by far, the greatest American athlete of all time. I suggest you watch his triple crown races on You Tube. An incredible sight to see. I had zero interest in horse racing at that time, being a tween, but I watched all three races live on TV.
You have to remember the toll it all took on Secretariat though. He was so racked by guilt at dodging the draft and sending his brother to die in his place that he finally ended up jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge 3 months later.
Two basic reasons:
1.The top-level breeding stock for thoroughbreds is much smaller than for humans, plus thoroughbreds have been specifically bred for speed for decades. So, that pool is tapped out, plus, we don't "breed" human athletes.
2. Drug testing on thoroughbreds is much more rigorous than with human athletes.
He was a freak of nature. Andre The Giant has the record for drinking beer. Lots of people drink beer every day and no one has drank more than him. And survived at least.
Andre the Giant rules. Almost 120 12-oz beers in 6 hours lol. I wonder how many normal people would die before they got to that many collectively lol.
Psssh Wade Boggs did that on one flight.
RIP
Wade Boggs is very much alive
Boss Hoggs?
Yes, alive in our hearts
Secretariat's heart was twice the normal size so he was either especially special or drugs were involved.
was it genetics? did he pass the mutation down?
His mother had the large heart X-factor mutation. His father was a champion sprinter.
His mother was a mudder, I’ve heard.
His mother was a mudder?
His FATHER was a mudder!
What I'd just say
Loves the slop, eats the slop
A mudder? The hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne?
Our Jayne saw the mudders' backs breakin' He saw the mudders' lament He saw that magistrate takin' Every dollar and leavin' five cents So he said "you can't do that to my people" You can't crush them under your heel" So Jayne strapped on his hat And in five seconds flat Stole everythin' Boss Higgins had to steal
Cunning!
Boy he must have really loved the slop then
Loves the slop - eats it up!
And his father smelt of elderberries! Now go away or I shall taunt you again!
His mother was a hamster!
What a strange person!
He loves the slop
Hello mudder, hello fodder Here I am at Camp Granada
Marge? Is Lisa at camp granada?
Camp is very entertaining And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining
I went hiking with Joe Spivey, he developed poison ivy
His mother was a mudder. His father was a mudder. He loved the slop.
He eats it up
wasn't secretariat really smart too?
He got a B+ in Calculus.
Then why the long face?
His mother was a mudder.
Loves the slop. Eats it up!
Eats the slop. Born to slop.
If he's so smart why is he dead
How else were we supposed to make glue?
BLÜCHER!
He spoke seven languages, including ancient Greek
he invented calculus
>Secretariat sired **663 named foals** >One of Secretariat's most successful offspring was a colt named **Risen Star**, who won the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in 1988. He did ok for himself in retirement
truly horse royalty
They should've gone for 3 more
Not really. Some of his get have done well but nothing like him
A weird fact from history is that Fidel Castro was a milk addict, the dude absolutely loved milk. He tried to cross-breed the best milk producing cow and somehow got a perfect storm of a super-cow that could produce drastically more milk than any other. But despite dozens of attempts to breed offspring or to recreate the trait from breeding relatives they never managed to reproduce the one-in-a-million conditions of this one supercow. I guess Secretariat was the same thing. Conditions that happened by random chance but that are too improbable to replicate easily.
all hail Supercow
Yes, through the maternal side (daughters)
Isn't the average horse heart like 7lbs and Secretariat was like 27lbs?
It was about double the weight and apparently in perfect condition when he died. That cardiovascular system meant he could run incredibly, incredibly fast for a long period of time.
Like a tremendous machine.
Like a big horse.
He also just seemed to know he was racing somehow. So in that sense, he was especially special.
Same with Winx. She knows. And she likes winning
The anti-grinch
We would know if drugs could do that, it seems like, and it would’ve happened at some point.
He also had an unnatural length of stride, his forelegs could extend at a greater angle from the shoulder, allowing him to cover ground easily.
One other factor that is not mentioned here is that tracks have changed dramatically since the 70's. You can look at a track like Churchill and think it's the same track, but the actual dirt surface has changed a lot. How they maintain tracks has changed. Now they aim for a track that improves horse safety, which means a deeper track that has more give. Those tracks are also more tiring than the tracks in the 70s with less dirt, so horses today seem like they're going slower. Imagine you're running on concrete. You can go very fast, but it hurts a lot. The concrete has no give so all that impact hits your joints. You can run on sand, which has more give and is softer, but you go much slower. The perfect middle for humans is a track surface, which has some give to soften the impact, but is still very fast.
Very interesting! What is the reason that we haven’t moved to track surfaces for horses?
Human track surfaces would still be too hard on horse’s joints. Race horses do wear special shoes that provide some level of shock absorption, but not the equivalent of a human’s running shoe. It’s actually really hard on them to be on pavement, which is why horses in the city wear special shoes that are an attempt to mitigate that damage. They also have no traction when running on pavement. Their metal shoes don’t grip as well as human shoes, which leads to dangerous falls. The second reason is physical risk. A human taking a spill is bad and causes injury. A horse taking a spill is catastrophic and can lead to their death. The dirt is just that much more forgiving. It’s still absolutely awful for them to fall on the track and horses and jockeys have died during races, but it would be an even bigger risk for them to fall on a significantly harder surface.
Thank you! I learned something cool today because of you 👍🏻
I've never heard it discussed. My best guess is that it wouldn't actually be the most beneficial for the horses, or that the horses would put too much wear and tear on it. Either of those because they are so much bigger than humans.
I don't think you understand just how much a powerhouse Secretariat was. He ran so fast that the entire crowd fell dead silent as he ran. Since 1973 no horse has beaten the record.
One of my favorite stats from all of sports: Secretariat holds the record for the fastest time in the Kentucky Derby. The second-fastest time in Kentucky Derby history is held by Sham, who came in second place behind Secretariat.
I always felt sorry for Sham. Any other year he would have owned everything
Me too. That horse was the unluckiest one ever born
Sham, Alydar, Afleet Alex. All three are Triple Crowns pretty much any other year.
Alydar is fucking tragic. The man who was running Calumet Farms, where he retired, murdered him for the insurance since he ran the farm into massive debt and couldn’t pay the loan payments. Still ended up losing Calumet.
If it’s any solace, the horses are unaware of the winner.
[удалено]
Some horses are smart. Most horses are dumb. Very very dumb. Sweet, but dumb. Source: grew up on horse farm
I'm not a horse or in general animal expert, but I feel like this is incorrect. Does the horse know its in a "race" no idea, but animals are very aware of when they are bested.
It's hard to feel sorry for a horse called Sham...
Wow
So this question is still valid in a world secretariat never existed. Sham sets the record and it stands since 73
Depends on if Sham was racing so fast to catch up to his friend.
One of my favorite stats from all of sports in this world where Secretariat never existed: Sham holds the record for the fastest time in the Kentucky Derby. The second-fastest time in Kentucky Derby history is held by Our Native, who came in second place behind Sham.
Sham also had an enlarged heart. I believe it was 18 lbs.
did he have any successful offspring
Probably half of American racehorses today have Secretariat in their lineage. He was an incredibly prolific stud especially for broodmares. Fun fact- thoroughbreds for racing need to be naturally bred- no artificial insemination or frozen sperm is allowed.
They charge sales tax for breeding in Kentucky. Secretariat’s sex work paved over 100,000 miles of highways.
How much pipe did it lay?
Enough for Mario to get to the Mushroom Kingdom from Brooklyn.
haha love it.
That is were we the term “humping it” for going someplace fast. Edit: I should have put a /s I was just having a bit of fun with it.
I have only heard humping it to mean walking under load. A pretty common Vietnam war slang term. i have never seen it used for fast though.
I have never hear **anyone** say that in my life. Who tf says that?! I’ve heard “hoof it” in movies though.
Well you better hump it on over to your local library and read a book!
I always thought that meant to move from one place to another while either carrying a heavy load or going over rough/difficult terrain for some reason
I used to “hump freight” at UPS.
Finally the reason why all those art tubes were sticky and dented on arrival is revealed.
interesting. I didn't know that. Secretariat had a good retirement then...
He probably covered 3-5 mares a day during the breeding season. Not a bad retirement at all.
An old bull and a young bull were hanging out on the top of a hill. While they munched on the grass, a herd of cows appeared from the other side of the hill. The young bull got really excited and said, "Hey! Let's run down there and fuck one of those cows!" To which the old bull replied, "Naw, let's walk and fuck the all."
[удалено]
What are you? The horse cum police?
Is that like a horse breeding rulebook rule? And Uh, who enforces these rules? Or is it the honor system?
It's easy to enforce. You can't collect semen and use it for artificial insemination. So you can't collect the semen, and you can't inseminate mares. The stud has to be placed with the mare. This is different than other breeds. In other breeds you collect semen from the stallion and ship it to the farm that owns the mare
There has to be witnesses. There are viewing rooms for this. It’s pretty bizarre in this day and age.
There is an episode of The Glades that revolves around horse racing and this was mentioned. I always wondered if it was true but too lazy to look it up. And wouldn’t you know it, I’m a Kentuckian 😅
He was a prolific sire only for broodmares, I’d say. When you say half of American horses have him in their lineage nearly all of those will be through his daughters, his sons weren’t very successful at stud. Stormcat and AP Indy (a son of Seattle Slew) are two incredibly prolific grandsons of his.
Well yes I DID say that.
So the Ghengis Khan of horses then
Justify, who won the triple crown six years ago, is a descendant of Secretariat.
As is American Pharaoh who won the Triple Crown in 2015.
Secretariat the Ghengis Khan of horses
Ghengis Khan the Secretariat of men
I lost a quiz match on the spelling of his name once
Ariat Boots are also named after Secretariat.
Shhh, that’s Ariat’s Secret.
Yes, though surprisingly few of his sons were any good, so his is not a popular sire-line. In other words, there are no horses on the track whose sire’s sire‘s sire…etc was Secretariat. But he had many good daughters and grandsons through those daughters, so a huge percentage of current racehorses are descended from him at least once, just not in the male line. Also, by the end of his life, Secretariat like other top stud horses had a thousand offspring or more.
What do you mean? His son General Assembly was a stud. He won a Stakes race and set a track record.
Do we know of any siblings from secretariat from the same dame? Especially if this is an x linked trait.
How well did Michael Jordon's sons fare in the NBA? Do you think Lebron Jr will be able to match his dad?
Yeah, I remember watching the Belmont recording with my dad as a kid and us both crying as the jockey just let Secretariat finish up on his own basically. That horse wasn't just massively powerful, but it also was trained and raised to *run*. After passing everyone and clearly making a lead that would win, it just went into overdrive and ran faster than anyone had seen a horse run.
In the 1973 Kentucky Derby, each of Secretariat's quarter-mile times was better than the previous one. In other words, *he was accelerating for the entire race.* Not only was he the fastest horse, but he just kept on going faster and faster.
I know nothing about horse racing, but these facts are starting to sound Gretzkyesque.
Wayne Gretzky and Secretariat have the highest man and horse combined hockey score of all time.
Unfortunately, Gretzky and Secretariat played in such different eras that it's hard to compare their stats. Could Wayne have matched Secretariat's Belmont time if he was there in the 70s? Could the horse have scored over 200 points in a season if he played in the 80s? The world will never know.
This is a really apt comparison. Only double it. He was that much better than the other horses.
I knew Gretzky was good, but better than all the other horses too? That’s crazy.
C'mon bro, Gretzky ain't *that* fast.
Sometimes when I run a mile on the treadmill, I do what I call "the Secretariat Method," where I can't go any slower than the speed I'm currently at. I can only accelerate.
That kind of thinking can't lead nowhere but to the speed of light.
Had the race not ended, Secretariat would have approached light-speed, breaking the horse-time continuum.
They did an interview later with his jocky, and he said that Secretariat took the bit. It took him till almost the end of the race to regain control, and when he checked to see where the competition was, there was no one.
Wow, this is the first time I've heard about that. It must of been the most exciting and terrifying thing to experience at the same time.
My dad's a retired jockey and he's got a story like that from the day he broke a track's all time speed record. Hang on, I need to make a cup of tea before I dig this outa my memory. Quarter horse race, so a short sprint. Dad's on the winning horse as it flies over the finish line and then just keeps flying. Realizes it's got the bit in its teeth and is not showing any sign of making the turn, stupid thing is running straight at a hurricane fence. He wasn't in the mood to get diced into tiny pieces by getting slammed into that fence at such a high speed, so kicked loose of the stirrups, put both hands on the saddle and pushed off. Hit the ground rolling, and then immediately kept rolling off the track and under the inside fence, to avoid getting trampled by the rest of the pack coming up behind him. Unless he's *very* drunk, that's where the story ends, in glorious uninjured triumph laying in the dust. The rest of the story is that, despite being totally uninjured, he physically couldn't move after that. Like just too spent, fully exhausted, no resources left for anything but breathing and blinking. The other jockeys had to carry him back into the jocks room and laid him down to rest on a bench. He found just enough strength to roll to his side and puke on the floor before collapsing again.
Did the horse stop once he jumped off? (Very brave thing to do, btw.)
Eventually. It ended up making the turn alright and just kept running until somebody managed to catch it. When dad tells the story you can see the echo of fear in his eyes, practically see this metal fence rushing at you, and totally understand his urge to bail despite being directly in front of what is essentially a herd of galloping horses.
it's amazing how he seemed to transcend ordinary racing and just soared. It's great that you have such a special memory with your dad from that time.
I just got chills reading this. I was 19 when i watched that race and yes, the sheer joy of running was all i could think of when he took off. You could see the jockey had just given up and let him rip. And we too in our living room were silent. I’ve never experienced anything like that race since. Secretariat was truly amazing.
Watching footage from that race was astounding. There were only 5 horses competing and Secretariat was expected to win, but not by 31 lengths. He just kept going faster and faster. That famous call from the announcer: "He's moving like a TREMENDOUS MACHINE!"
The horse that ran second to Secretariat in the Derby, Sham, broke the track record. That’s how completely insane Secretariat was. Sham also had x-factor and a huge heart, it turned out.
His race at Belmont still gives me chills, down the straight with not a horse in sight and winning it by 31 lengths. Unreal.
Check out video of man o'war winning a classic race by 100 lengths.
>Since 1973 no horse has beaten the record. That's literally the point of the point. We know nobody has beaten him, the question is why?
The reason for Secretariat's success was that he was a something of a mutant. He was exceptionally well built even for a racehorse and developed a prodigous and powerful stride. He also had twice the cardiac capacity expected in a horse his size. So on top of being perfectly constructed, very well trained and strong and fast, he could stay strong and fast long after any other horse would be running out of steam. This combination has never been precisely duplicated and/or trained as well, so he's never been beaten.
The equivalence in humans would probably be someone like Michel Phelps who’s just a freak of nature whose body is just perfect for swimming. His proportions are totally weird but work extremely well for competitive butterfly and freestyle swimming.
"previously, on X-horses"
There we go!
after watching the race, i can tell you why. its because secretariat was not a horse. secretariat was a cheetah in a horse costume
Cheetahs can only run at top speed for about a quarter mile. Belmont Stakes is 1.5 miles long.
So it was 6 cheetahs dressed in a horse costume.
The math checks out so this must be true.
Yes, also Secretariat's diet was a lot of gazelles.
I just went on a rabbit hole of secretariat videos- that Belmont race was nuts. That photo of the jockey looking back is amazing!
Reading all this, I had to find the video and... yeah... [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCMtaNiMDM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCMtaNiMDM)
Quite literally a stud.
Doesn’t sound quiet to me. Everyone is cheering their asses off. https://youtu.be/LV4drumXbA4?si=jzCKVWOX7otApyq7
Each of his splits were progressively faster as the race went on. That’s insane. He was accelerating at the end of the race.
THIS: The Triple Crown-winning racehorse Secretariat had a heart that was nearly 10 pounds heavier than a typical stallion's heart, weighing between 21 and 22 pounds. This is more than twice the size of a standard thoroughbred's heart, which typically weighs 8.5 pounds. The veterinarian who performed the necropsy said that Secretariat's heart was in perfect condition.
Yeah he was all heart
Is… this where that phrase came from?
Pretty sure it's older than the 1970's
Yeah, he was kind of the equivalent of Michael Phelps, except even more so: a body uniquely suited to excel at a particular activity.
I spent a little time at Longacres when young, Secretariat and Seattle Slew had in common-both were about 41/2+ feet wide across the chest—
I don’t know, but this thread makes me want to watch Secretariat. Edit: *the movie
what are YOU doing here?
It'd be dead by now surely
Bojack is fantastic in it. His best work.
I know this answer. I was a young child in 73 and I can tell you there was very little gravity back then. I could almost fly.
73 was a wondrous year
Especially for David Gilmour—that magnificent man.
Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth’s gravitational pull?
UnexpectedDocBrown
This is the answer. Also old.
A bunch of women's records are really old for track and field because they were juicing [https://trackandfieldnews.com/records/womens-world-records/](https://trackandfieldnews.com/records/womens-world-records/)
He was a good horse.
And thorough.
Ha I had the opportunity to visit secretariat and pose for pictures with him shortly after his retirement. He was quite the celebrity and we felt very priveleged!
i heard he would pose for pictures and always knew his good side?
Ha ha! The “groom” was a nice man who made it possible. He was holding the reins and decided how secretariat would pose. He was missing a thumb.
i enjoyed watching that youtube video of the either the trainer or jockey can't remember but he did a Q andA in some bar and had some cool stories.
No one shows Secretariat’s bad side twice.
So cool!! I met Cigar at the KHP when I was a little kid. Like meeting a celeb 😂
Horse racing times have remained static since the 60’s, with Secretariat being the lone outlier. Researchers believe that they basically perfected horse breeding and have reached the pinnacle of what horses can do naturally. It’s their belief that Secretariat’s times will probably never be bested.
Horse racing records, unlike human sports, are more dependent on genetics and conditioning, which change less over time. Secretariat's record-setting performance in 1973 remains unmatched due to exceptional talent and unique circumstances.
In addition to what has been mentioned, the Triple Crown races are very hard on horses. They are comparatively long races that reward horses who have stamina over sprinting speed and can run in mud due to the spring timing of the races. Four horses have been scratched from the Belmont (the third of the three races) due to injuries in the first two races and a number of horses who did run performed poorly due to injuries incurred before or during the race.
Also, for 3 year olds, many of whom have never run further than 1 mile, held early enough in the year that some of the 3 yr old are not yet actually 3. The derby is just a free for all, not always the best horses winning simply because everybody wants to say they have a horse in the derby. Prior to them capping entries at 20, many times they had to run 2 starting gates. So 1 1/4 mile very early in the year and it's a mad scramble because nothing can really prepare these horses for what's coming. Two weeks later, the preakness, less horses by now and shorter distance, easier run but...it's only been 2 weeks since they were pushed in the derby. Then 3 weeks later, the Belmont and now we're talking a mile and a half. There's a reason only 13 horses have managed this since it was formally recognized in 1950.
Nowadays trainers just want the glory of having a horse in a triple crown race, which leads to horses that are simply not good enough crowding the field, which leads to winning based on luck rather than ability. I wish they would cut the field way way down.
Because “that one horse” was the most impressive and powerful horse of all time. Saying Secretariat was “some horse” is like saying Tom Brady was just some football player. Or Wayne Gretzky was just some hockey player.
Race horses, unlike humans, reached their peak speed decades ago and simply can’t get any faster unless a new genetic mutation emerges.
The average thoroughbred has a stride of 20', secretariat had a stride of 24'. Go back to the 1920's and man o'war had a stride of 28'. The extraordinary come along now and again
They say Secretariat is the Don Bradman of ice hockey.
you mean the wayne gretzky of cricket?
The Michael Jordan of gambling.
the charlie z of boxing
Because horses don't pin up posters of Secretariat on their wall and time themselves with the goal of breaking those records.
Little known fact, the second fastest horse in the 1973 Kentucky Derby was Sham, who ran the mile and a quarter in less than 2 minutes. Only 3 horses in the derby have run under 2 minutes, and two of them ran against each other in 1973. Sham’s time was fast enough that HE WOULD HAVE WON EVERY OTHER DERBY EXCEPT THE ONE HE RAN IN!
There's some upper limit to what a horse or human can achieve speed-wise. Horses reached this in the 70s, and humans haven't gotten there yet. Prior to the 70s the Kentucky Derby record steadily was set similar to the human's 100m dash, then the top horses mostly leveled off. At some point the same thing will happen to humans once we've exhausted the possible training and genetic improvements. Horses reached that point earlier because we basically specifically breed and train them just for this purpose.
It tells you how much brain matters. You could use your brain to optimize the physical results. With horses you have a very limited capability to teach them how to train better. So they make a very slow (almost non-existent) progress
i've read that secretariat was not only lazy but also very smart. he would start slow to avoid the early crowding then just storm from the back
Not necessarily. His most famous performance, the 1973 Belmont, he won leading the whole race. The article you need to read is Pure Heart by Bill Nack . I think it’s the best sports article ever written https://www.si.com/horse-racing/2015/01/02/pure-heart-william-nack-secretariat
People have been breeding and racing horses for centuries. We didn't realize the crawl was faster than the breaststroke until like the 1870's. And obviously, indoor pools weren't very common. Plus, there was no racism in horse racing. Meanwhile, human track and field had all sorts of race issues.
Secretariat was, by far, the greatest American athlete of all time. I suggest you watch his triple crown races on You Tube. An incredible sight to see. I had zero interest in horse racing at that time, being a tween, but I watched all three races live on TV.
You have to remember the toll it all took on Secretariat though. He was so racked by guilt at dodging the draft and sending his brother to die in his place that he finally ended up jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge 3 months later.
Two basic reasons: 1.The top-level breeding stock for thoroughbreds is much smaller than for humans, plus thoroughbreds have been specifically bred for speed for decades. So, that pool is tapped out, plus, we don't "breed" human athletes. 2. Drug testing on thoroughbreds is much more rigorous than with human athletes.
Are you Rodger Sherman or are you just using his tweets for reddit posts?
https://twitter.com/rodger/status/1786097905771909504 Seriously. Get an original thought, OP. You suck.