The 1970s also marked the tail end of horse racing’s peak popularity, making Secretariat one of the sport’s final superstars before it transitioned into its present-day thriving, but much smaller, cultural niche. Among other distinctions, Secretariat was the first horse to win the Triple Crown in 25 years, at that time by far the longest gap between Triple Crown winners. Nevertheless, there’s always been something different about Secretariat’s 1973 win. Twelve horses have won the Triple Crown over the last century. Consequently, three-year-old racing represents the appealing combination of athletically mature horses who could still surprise punters. Two-year-old horses are still considered juveniles, whereas elite four-year-old horses have already developed into well-known entities. The rationale behind this restriction has been lost to history, but it’s generally believed that it makes for more exciting, unpredictable racing. Unlike the UK’s Grand National, horses only get one shot at the Triple Crown in their lifetimes – the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont are all restricted to three-year-old horses. The Derby, however, remains the most famous of the three, as well as the race most likely to attract a casual fan’s attention. An important race in its own right, the Derby simultaneously serves as the first jewel in the Triple Crown, a trio of high-prestige races that also includes the Preakness Stakes (held two weeks after the Derby) and the Belmont Stakes (run three weeks after the Preakness). The Kentucky Derby is a one-and-a-quarter-mile flat race over a dirt track. Jockey Ron Turcotte walks Secretariat towards the winners’ circle after winning the 1973 Belmont Stakes before a crowd of 70,000 fans at Belmont Park. Concerns emerged about his ability to run the longer distances required in races like the Kentucky Derby. In what was considered an upset at the time, Secretariat placed third in the Wood Memorial later that week (after winning every previous race that year). I didn’t want to take any chances and have cut in front of me, so I didn’t let him work fast that morning.” I was supposed to go faster, but the horse that was in front of me threw his rider and the horse was zigzagging in front of me. Turcotte specifically mentions one prematurely abandoned workout with Secretariat in the days before the Wood Memorial, the last race the pair would run in preparation for the 1973 Kentucky Derby. He remembers training sessions just as well as high-profile races. Speaking with Turcotte, it becomes quickly evident that, at the age of 81, his memory surrounding his horse racing career borders on the photographic. “He ate 18 quarts of oats a day.” For comparison, the average racehorse eats a daily ration of 12 to 14 quarts of oats. “He was a heavy horse – by that I mean he ate a lot,” says Turcotte. Even then, Turcotte speaks with the gently surprised fondness of a grandparent ribbing a particularly ravenous grandchild. Indeed, one of the few times Turcotte mentions Secretariat’s physicality is in reference to the horse’s prodigious appetite. “Never seemed to fight the rider – never fought me anyway – and he would relax … You could make as many moves as you wanted to in a race.” “He was a very intelligent horse,” Turcotte says. It is therefore remarkable that, for the most part, Turcotte speaks of Secretariat’s personality when describing what made him such a great horse.
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