Secretariat: The Horse Who Became an Athlete

There are champions, there are legends, and then there was Secretariat.

In 1973, the magnificent chestnut colt didn't simply win horse racing's Triple Crown. He delivered three performances that transformed him from a racehorse into something much larger—a genuine American sports icon.

The Kentucky Derby came first. With jockey Ron Turcotte aboard, Secretariat broke last and began his familiar charge through the field. He won in 1:59 2/5, becoming the first Derby winner to break two minutes—a track record that still stands.

Then came the Preakness Stakes. Once again, Secretariat started behind the leaders. This time Turcotte let him make an extraordinary early move, sweeping around the field on the first turn and taking command. He won by 2½ lengths. After decades of controversy surrounding the original timing, the Maryland Racing Commission officially recognized his time as 1:53, another record.

But nothing prepared the sporting world for Belmont.

On June 9, 1973, Secretariat wasn't merely racing the other horses. He seemed to be racing history itself.

Turcotte allowed him to run.

Secretariat pulled away—and kept pulling away.

At the finish, he was an astonishing 31 lengths ahead, completing the mile and a half in 2:24, a world record on dirt that still stands. The photograph of Turcotte looking back for competition that simply wasn't there became one of racing's defining images.

Secretariat had become the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years.

More importantly, people began talking about a horse as they would a great human athlete. His enormous stride, acceleration, stamina and competitive brilliance inspired fascination far beyond racing. Secretariat appeared on the covers of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. America wasn't merely following a racehorse. It was following a celebrity.

And beside him throughout the Triple Crown was Ron Turcotte.

Turcotte understood Secretariat well enough to know when to guide him—and when to let greatness run. Nowhere was that partnership more evident than at Belmont. Horse and jockey trusted one another, and together they produced a performance that remains almost unbelievable more than half a century later.

Secretariat retired after his three-year-old season to Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, where he began a successful second career as a stallion. Visitors continued coming to see the champion whose racing days had already become legend.

He lived there until 1989, when laminitis led to his euthanasia at age 19. An examination afterward famously revealed an exceptionally large heart, although later claims assigning it an exact weight should be treated cautiously because it reportedly wasn't actually weighed.

Secretariat was buried at Claiborne—an honor traditionally reserved for exceptional horses.

His records tell us how fast he was.

The films show us how dominant he was.

But neither fully explains Secretariat.

For a few remarkable weeks in 1973, Americans stopped seeing merely a horse.

They saw an athlete.

And at Belmont, they watched one of the greatest athletes in sporting history produce the race of a lifetime.

Secretariat didn't just win the Triple Crown. He made it his own.