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Turcotte never even bothered to cock his whip—which means transferring it from between the last two fingers and the palm to the working part of the hand. Who needed a whip?
Now Belmont. Secretariat—along with Mrs. Tweedy, Laurin and Turcotte —is now ready for the ultimate test. Few three-year-olds will even dare take the track against him at Belmont but he will again have to face Sham, the horse that ran second in both the Derby and Preakness in efforts good enough to win in most years. There will also be a newcomer named Pvt. Smiles, which did not run in the first part of the Triple Crown but showed great promise of being a distance horse in last week's Jersey Derby.
Then there is the difference in tracks. The Kentucky Derby is 1¼ miles run on a surface at Churchill Downs that many horses find particularly tiring. The Preakness is considerably shorter, 1 3/16 miles, and Pimlico has sharp turns and a shorter stretch that generally favor horses with enough early foot to be in front with no more than half a mile to go. (From 1923 to 1931, the Preakness preceded the Derby and horses had a more natural progression of lengths building up to the Belmont Stakes.) The third race of the Triple Crown is once around the Belmont track, the only one in the country that is 1½ miles long. The Belmont is the fairest test of all, since the track provides a long run to the first turn and gentle, sweeping curves that give the horses plenty of maneuver room. There is less chance of bumps or other bad breaks than at any other major course.
The race, however, is run at a marathon distance that most American horses, young or old, find impossible to travel at anywhere near their top speed without falling apart from fatigue. Can Secretariat go the distance? If he can, he may not only capture the Triple Crown but also break the record for the race—2:26%, which is also the track record at Belmont Park, set by Gallant Man in 1957. The Belmont track is extremely fast this year for some reason —possibly because of the unusually heavy spring rains that have packed the surface, possibly because of the particular combination of sand and loam and clay that is being used.
Suspense may be building for fans, owners, trainers and jockeys, but the star remains supremely serene. Belmont is Secretariat's usual home between races elsewhere, and he is unconscionably comfortable there despite his celebrity status. The famous old track is a delightful place on a sunny morning in early June. The barns are set far apart; the buildings and roads are shaded by ancient trees. The slanting early sunlight casts shifting patterns on the grassy plots where horses graze.
All the work around the stables is concentrated in a single four-hour period, and from 6 to 10 a.m. the area sees a constant flow of activity—but activity that is controlled and subdued, conducted quietly, almost noiselessly, lest the high-priced and high-strung animals that are the center of all the attention become frightened by it.