Secretariat—the name has a kind of bureaucratic resonance. But no label could be more deceptive. The regal thoroughbred that carries it is not the tallest horse that ever lived, but he is enormous by any other measure of size or performance. He has a neck like a buffalo, a back as broad as a sofa. His chest is so deep and wide that it takes a custom-made girth to encircle its 75% in. and hold the saddle. And he is still growing.
At full speed, this huge and powerful combination of bone, muscle and glistening red chestnut coat covers just an inch short of 25 ft. in a single stride. He has finished first in 11 of 14 races. He has won $804,202 since last July 4 —more than any other single competitor in any sport—and in 1972 as a mere two-year-old, he was named horse of the year. Now, having won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness this spring, Secretariat is an odds-on favorite to run away with the Belmont Stakes this Saturday and earn his right to the Triple Crown of American horse racing.
Victory at Belmont would make Secretariat the first winner of the Triple Crown for three-year-olds since Citation turned the trick a quarter-century ago. He would be only the ninth horse in 91 years to accomplish the grand slam. The odds against any modern horse finishing first in all three races have grown longer every year. When Citation did it, he was one of about 6,000 three-year-old thoroughbreds on the books of the Jockey Club. Flat racing has become far more popular and populous since then, and Secretariat started out with about 25,000 contemporaries, all potential competitors. Further, the three major races, bunched within five weeks, present different problems in terms of length and race track surfaces. Yet, the chalk players have such confidence in Secretariat that a $2 bet will likely fetch no more than $2.10 or $2.20 if he wins at Belmont.
His Bloodlines. What has made Secretariat a superhorse? His is a riches-to-riches story, a compound of good genes, good training and good luck. He has been particularly fortunate in his three human partners: Principal Owner Penny Tweedy, proprietress of The Meadow farm in Virginia, and her two French-Canadian colleagues, Trainer Lucien Laurin and Jockey Ron Turcotte (see box next page).
It was Mrs. Tweedy who arranged the mating that produced Secretariat. As the father she chose Bold Ruler—a horse that had won 23 races, including the 1957 Preakness, and then turned into one of the greatest sires of all time; his offspring included 69 stakes races winners. Yet Bold Ruler progeny were not perfect. They always seemed at their best in shorter races. It became axiomatic in racing that the Bold Rulers seldom won at 1¼ miles or more.
"The best way to describe Bold Ruler's offspring," says Mrs. Tweedy, "is that they've been precocious and brilliant. Most of them have run their best at age two, at the shorter distances, and have been something of a disappointment at three, when they're asked to go farther. Also Bold Ruler was arthritic, and there's a tendency to unsoundness in the family." That means his offspring tend to go lame, early and often. Bold Ruler himself was to die of cancer at 17, which is relatively young.