America's Superhorse!

Today's History Lesson
 
If you are into horse racing, this day in 1973 held 100,000 people spellbound! This story is not about just any horse, it is about the most famous horse in horse-racing history, Secretariat, Triple Crown Champion and America's Superhorse! Secretariat was owned by Penney Chenery Tweedy, trained by Lucien Laurin and groomed daily by Eddie Sweat. 

This Day in History: June 9, 1973

Secretariat during his retirement as photographed by Dell Hancock

Image Source: en.wikipedia.org

It is not just the fact that Secretariat, aka "Big Red", won but what all he won and by what margin in the final race. He had already won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes setting the stage for the final win, which would earn him the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. 

By the time the race was over and all counts were in, Secretariat, ridden by Ron Turcotte, won the Belmont Stakes by a spectacular victory which awarded him the Triple Crown...he set a new record completing the 1.5-mile race in 2 minutes and 24 seconds, a dirt-track record for its distance. That wasn't all either! He didn't just win...he beat his greatest competitor Sham (not only his peer but also his half-cousin) by an unheard of 31 lengths!

Secretariat, a horse that was revered during his lifetime, is now immortalized in bronze in the courtyard at The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York. A major attraction in the Museum, this sculpture captures the excitement and thrill of Secretariat’s Triple Crown win in 1973.

 Will there ever be another superhorse? I would speculate not in my lifetime!