I can't help thinking Secretariat had a bit of ATTITUDE: "Ok. Ima gonna let all of you get ahead of me. Then when y'all are running as fast as you can, I'll run past you like you're just standing still."

Oh my goodness, I can't stop watching Secretariat run..BTW my last name is Green ( : Incredible Jockey too !!

Lets not forget that Secretariat ran on a hot day over 90 degree temperature.

try DR. Fager in the Washington Cup @ Arlington park (I'll post the link), according to some race people it was a sub .20 qtr from when he made his move. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bN2GdbGT0snFcXk.html

You have not seen Whirlaway, the winner of the 1941 TC.

Ronnie said it was like he dropped diwn 6 inches and hit another gear.

Watch the vid of Secretariats last race in Canada! At about 2:03 he just shows off and hits the gas like Kennedy Roead was standing still! Red was a showman and loved to run!

That is a one of a kind feat you'll never see again. He leapt like the tiger in the Calvin and Hobbs cartoon, arms out and up. He in one leap went into high and passed them like a Vette going around some VW Beetles.

He passed the other horses like a race car on the highway.

Agreed !

Did you get goosebumps when secretariat lost races after the triple crown Victory LMAO 😂 got destroyed never again won a race 🤣

@@dabking3611 "Victory LMAO 😂 got destroyed never again won a race" Did you forget that Canadians wanted to see Secretariat race against their champion, "Kennedy Rhoads" and on that race track Secretariat broke Canada's record, and then retired?

@@mariabykofsky4502 YOU RIGHT 🤔 CANADA COMPETITION WAS AWFUL PLUS ON TURF WHATEVER 👀 TIJUANA MEXICO CLUB CALIENTE HAD BETTER HORSES AT THE TIME THEN CANADA 🤫 WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO BEAT ANYONE ON DIRT AFTER THE BELMONT WIN 😂 SECRETARIAT IS THE MOST OVERRATED HORSE IN THE HISTORY 😂 TAKE AWAY THAT 30 LENGTH WIN AND SECRETARIAT WOULD BE JUST ANOTHER TRIPLE CROWN WINNER WHO BEAT TOMATOES CAN'S 🍅 SECRETARIAT GOT BEAT BY A GELDING CALLED ONION 🧅 A NOBODY DESTROY SECRETARIAT AFTER THE BELMONT WIN 🤣

@@dabking3611 Every horse generally gets beaten, even the "Great Citation" had to stop racing... Now get lost troll...

@@mariabykofsky4502 NOPE NOT FLIGHTLINE ✈️🛫 UNBEATABLE THE BEST HORSE EVER UNDEFEATED CHAMPION FLIGHTLINE ✈️🛫 SECRETARIAT LOST TO ONION 🧅 LMAO 😂 SECRETARIAT THE MOST OVERRATED TRIPLE CROWN WINNER 😂

True, he looked like a man among boys.

break his record? what record?

That big heart gave him a slower metabolism. He needed to run. That is why Lucien worked Secretariat hard between races while other trainers rested their horses. He was happiest running.Penny said it best nobody could have made Secretariat do what he did in the Belmont. All the experts were sure that horse was going to drop dead before the finish line. He had a 110 degree stride angle. MOW had an 88 degree stride angle.

Yah, where was sec's 22 pound heart which was soppose to be an advantage cause he was getting more oxegen, when he got his big ass kicked? Kelso was a little guy dude, who was just at 16 hands and weighed only 900 pounds and, looked like a deer, and, whupped butt all over the place for 5 years he was beating the 3 year old champions who were in some of those triple crown races those years, giving away weight to the when he hit 4 and, on! Kelso is in a class all by himself and, he beat 5 generations of good horses einstein!!!!!! Forget about it, it's not even close. Kelso was some really scary thing, really crazy great man, especially for his size. My God, poor kelso he looked like a deer. KELSOS' BIGGEST FAN.

He was a handsome devil, too.

So do I, love my beautiful Secretariat...

Please ----- run up times. Like they invented that just for him in 1973. How about how many times he broke slow and had to circle horses three and four wide during races? His times would have been even faster.

So says somebody who doesn't know what he is talking about. I have heard the same stupidity about him being on steroids. Just go away.

@@richd3044 It is proven! Going around a curve, Secretariat ran each 1/4 of a mile faster. He was also powered by centrifugal force. He has been deemed the perfect specimen of a horse by professionals, not me! He had it all and gave his all. It is written!

Well said stephen39217. I agree 100%

@@ValleyoftheRogue He was never on roids.

Suppose Sec had a muddy track, like his stablemate Riva Ridge had. World records out the window!!! He had 3 super fast tracks.

I honestly believe Secretariat could set records "running on broken glass" as Ron Turcotte once put it. Simply in a class above all others. "His only frame of reference was himself..."

48 years now and his records still stand.

@@HoustonIsImmortal Well said and I love the broken glass comment!

and not only does the belmont reord still hold, it happens to be a mile and a quarter WORLD record. The only faster time is from turf & downhill shit.

Definitely, Sham was the real deal. Put a different jockey on him and who knows, in another year of course. No horse was denying Red that year, but Sham sure gave him some competition. Think it’s cool how Arcaro rode Bold Ruler, Secretariats sire. Ronnie was perfect for Red.

The more I rewatch Sham in those triple crown races with Secretariat, the more I see what a great racehorse he really was. Of course Secretariat was better, but Sham was damn good!

@@didiwongo Sham was near the finish line in 2 triple crown races against the greatest race horse of all time.

Sham would have won the TC if Secretariat wasn't there. He broke down in the Belmont only because he was trying to beat Secretariat.

@@nancyjanzen5676 100%

Yes, yes, yes...

Secretariat only has one distance record and it's a dirt record. Hawkster has the record for the fastest 1.5 and he did it on turf, which is slower than dirt. Several horses have beaten Secretariat's record on slower tracks.

@jasonwiggins I'm referring to his triple crown Derby, Preakness and Belmont records. The second fastest record in the Derby is held by Rising Star a son of Secretariat. Yes Hawster was a great horse as many others like Kelso, Zenyatta and Seattle Slew, Seabiscuit and the great Man 'O War to name a few of the ones that have made their marks. There's many great broodmares who have contributed to the kings of racing. I love the horse more than the race, but if it weren't for the race we wouldn't know the horse.

that is a weird "if"...if I would of been born this year I would be younger...hey hey all in fun...just messin with ya

Sham would have won 2 of the triple crown races, not all 3. He suffered a hairline fracture in his right front leg and finished last in the Belmont. He never raced again after that.

Citation won the triple crown 8 months after I was born. And Secretariat when I was 26. You would get clips of Citation in the waiting periods as fillers before the races aired on TV.

Mat: Oh reallyy!!! One race makes him the greatest racehorse of all time?!! That is simply ridiculous. He is nothing compared to Kelso, Spectacular Bid, Native Dancer, Forego, who all have great records, ran with weight on their backs, when Sec didn't and who proved themselves true runners ran in handicaps, like all great horses do.

Yup, Secretariat was a phenomenon. Ignore the hater.

@@brucerobbins3584 Dear Miss Robbins: Your ice cream is shitty and your pompous asshole remark is typical of one whose head is permanently up his ass. I smell a donnie dump supporter.

Man you need to quite hating. Then tell me why he is ranked 2 all time in blood horse and number 1 on most list. He broke records being hand ridden. How about the Belmont of 79’. Yeah the bids rider was trying to break secretariats record and ran out of gas. Just plain stupid non educated statements

@@brucerobbins3584 Moronic statement

Yeah so imagine what secretariat would have done as a 4 year old!!! That would be scary

A child kicked a bucket before the Belmont. This is what upset Secretariat. He seemed to get over it quickly though and ran his race! Did he ever:) He will forever be etched in history! A gorgeous, smart, docile and fast American Equine Hero!

A pony girl rattled a bucket against a block wall near the walking ring.

And Ronnie didn't use his whip either. At least not from what I can see.

Well yes, by crackle.

American Pharoah was Secretariats great-great-great- grandson

Let's distinguish the actual race from the distance of the race. His times were not records for the Derby or the Preakness if you look at the distances run. Other horses have run faster. Only the Belmont will probably never be broken at that distance. Closest is 2;26. Prove Out in the mud came very close.

@@brucerobbins3584 man you are a real dumb ass!!! He does hold the record for those races. Not track records but race records.

@@brucerobbins3584 fuck you asshole!!!

@@brucerobbins3584 well said, Bruce Robbins -it's great to see someone ho actually understands Horseracing and not these teeny boppers that only know Secretariat from his press clippings. Thanks for mentioning PROVE OUT--The Secretariat people WANTED NO PART OF PROVE OUT AND DUCKED HIM MANY TIMES AFTER HE BEAT SEC'S ASS!!

Secretariat also ran them with conventionally "terrible" tactics, so those times he set are by no means the peak times who could have set using more conventional racing tactics.

The sucker was right by the rail from the very start all the way. What's the shortest way around any track einstein. Secretariat my ass. Go look up kelso, you're gonna have nightmares. You'll survive. My God and, kelso looked like a deer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KELSOS' BIGGEST FAN.

@@teddylopez747 man o man. Are you serious. Where is Kelso triple crown. What did he do as a 3 year old. 2:24 will never be broken. Hell he was hand ridden all the way.

@@teddylopez747 SFB!

No horse has even approached it.

Are you kidding carrying the same weight no horse would or could have beaten Man O' War!

When a horse has no competition, it is called "running" not "racing." There is no strategy, you have your choice of position, you are not pinned on the rail or forced wide, losing ground. Most important, you are not pressed by a horse or horses that are pacesetters or stalkers. The multitude of complexities that developed over the next several decades with the vast improvement of the breed would have been extraordinarily difficult for MOW to deal with. The competition improved drastically, weights standardized as such, the number of foals dropped each year skyrocketed and many greats were upset by very capable horses or horses that ran outstanding races, but not consistently. The fact is that the 1917 crop was both small and very weak. Case in point is the 1920 Dwyer. MOW runs against the horse considered to be the 2nd best of that crop, John Grier. John Grier carries 108 pounds.....................again.................108 pounds. That weight is unheard of in a grade one race in the near future. An allowance horse might carry that weight. THAT alone shows you the level of competition whereby the #2 horse is at minimum 18 pounds the worse of the #1 horse. Imagine if during her prime Zenyatta's handlers arranged for a match race with an allowance horse. No one would show up and they would have been laughed out of the racing industry. Back to the 1920 Dwyer. MOW was finally pressed and forced to run a faster 3/4 fraction that he wanted to. As a result, both horse slowed to a pace of over 26 seconds per 1/4 mile over the final 3/8 of a mile. That is pull-up speed and tells you that both horse were spent. Dorothy Ours wrote that MOW sides were heaving like a bellows after that race. Abram Hewitt, who loved MOW, wrote that both horses were spent. Mr. Hewitt commented on the difference between running and racing. As far as imposts are concerned, the reason MOW, on rare occasion, carried weight was due to the fact that the horse he was running against stood no chance of winning. Further, performance under weight is the true measure of how a horse handles that weight and none of MOW performances while carrying weight were impressive. Now.....if you want to be a rookie, a fool...please feel free. Writing simple and stupid proclamations are nothing but a source of embarrassment that you likely do not realize.

I disagree. Man O' War was never allowed to run full out, and I think he could have beaten any horse, including Secretariat. That said, I think ONLY Man O' War could have beaten Secretariat and that's no small compliment to Secretariat.

I am no horse person and pitting famous race horses against each other when they could not race each other will never answer the what ifs. That being said, I am a fan of Secretariat, not only because of his extraordinary and seemingly effortless speed, but also because of his physical beauty, intelligence, and kind temperament. Other TC winners were not described as possessing the combined traits I mentioned. The fact that Secretariat's heart was a lot bigger than the other thoroughbreds and was in perfect condition when they put them down (too early, in my opinion) may point to the reason why he was capable of overtaking other horses from the outside and even accelerated with great ease as he moved past them. I suspect that his lung capacity was also double those of the other horses given the breadth of his chest. He was a freak of nature and it was a pity that he did not race when he was a older and more experienced.

Sean C --- YES. Secretariat was a super star.

Absolutely. Unrivaled.

I agree. Watching him pull away in the back stretch at The Belmont is experiencing a miracle.

jan h However, Secretariat's dominance is not limited to the Belmont, although that's what most people remember him for. Watch the Preakness, and how he went from last to first in an incredible burst of speed moving through the first turn. Watch the Derby, where he ran each quarter mile faster than the previous one. In addition, 42 years later, Secretariat still holds the record for fastest time in all 3 Triple Crown races, and his Belmont is still a world record for a mile and half (again, 42 years later).

+jan h when the trainer of Citation died, it was only then,in an interview,before he died, that Arcaro said Secretariat was the greatest horse he has ever seen. Arcaro rode some of the greatest racehorses-Whirlaway,Citation,Nashua (son of Nasrullah who was the grandsire of Secretariat),mighty great Kelso and the greatest sire of all time,Bold Ruler (sire of Secretariat and great great grandsire of Seattle Slew.

yes,i saw that video about 3 times. Eddie was still relatively young and healthy in that interview.,many years before he died.Before he died of cancer in 1997,in an interview i read, he did say he thought Sec was the best he has ever seen.He was talking about greatest moments that defy time and space, not records. Even Pincay said that. When we talk about greatness,in a spiritual sense,we refer to moments of experience that endure time and space. People and animals possess different records of greatness and often,incomparable and unique in its own way.

GOD is a wonderful creator. Do you noticed that no horse,man or creature was given everything? each horse is the greatest in its own era.and He did not create them all at the same time.because it would not be fair to other eras not to enjoy a great horse.Alydar was a great horse but consistently beaten by Affirmed but oh boy,He was a better sire than Affirmed.So no one can say God did not love his creatures in so many different ways. and He does the same with all species.There is a lesson there in nature.

+Kevin Small Don't know why you have a grudge against Secretariat but he was and still is the greatest horse to ever run on a race track

+Kevin Small Awesome...another lie. Ma'am, you have reduced yourself to a blithering idiot. A pure liar. The notion that you were watching the race and, as a result of that, the clock was accurate is a mind of distortion. A mind that will resort to anything, including lies to so cowardly try to make a point. That time was called into question immediately upon the race's finish. From the DRF...#1 Preakness Move...In the wake of Secretariat’s victory in 1973, the Maryland Racing Commission had to deal with hard evidence that the official time of 1:55 flat posted by the track was incorrect, and that Big Red had actually run the 1 3/16 miles in 1:53.40. At least, that was the time provided by various independent clockers, including Frenchy Schwartz of the Daily Racing Form, and verified by CBS video analysis. In its wisdom, track officials ended up accepting a time in between, depriving Secretariat of a Preakness and Pimlico record.Like he cared. Secretariat’s time for the '73 Preakness was, as far as his legacy is concerned, meaningless. It was what he did around the clubhouse turn of the race that will live forever.Going past the stands the first time, Secretariat was taking his usual early stroll, a big guy getting his act together. Ron Turcotte, approaching the first turn and sensing a modest pace, gave Secretariat the cue to pass a couple of horses, then a couple more -- all around the bend going at straightaway speed -- until they reached the backstretch on the verge of taking the outright lead. So....my little bitch, please keep lying. Your implosion is outstanding.

There is no actual evidence of those supposed gallop out times, and certainly no reason to believe them, given the desire of Secretariat fans to take horses like Spectacular Bid and Swaps out of the conversation.

Your comment is sheer stupidity. Multiple people timed Sec...and...the times are quite reasonable if one actually understands fractions, pull-up speed...math. See if you can actually write something you can back up.

To the comment here about taking Spectacular Bid and Swaps out of the conversation, I'm a Secretariat fan and I think those horses are definitely in the conversation as they were great. I just think Secretariat was better. As far as the Bid goes, if you compare the times of Bid and Secretariat in the same races they both competed in (Laurel Futurity, Champagne, Derby, Preakness, Belmont, Marlboro Cup, Woodward/Jockey Club), Secretariat is better by some 50 lengths and that's including him running on two sloppy tracks. Swaps posted most of his ridiculous times out on the faster CA tracks as a 4 year old. We never got to see Secretariat run at 4, but I'm thinking it would have been absolutely insane stuff.

Derrick. So do I. I don't like talk of "greatest horse" because that cannot be deterrmined. It depends on the qualifications, criteria, etc. I like "favorite". Mane people's favorite is Secretariat. That is fine. We don't have to fight. We have had so many fine horses. We are veryi lucky and should leave it at that.

+Richard Yanco I was waiting for Arcaro to repeat what he had said one time when he was asked to compare the two triple crown horses that he rode, Whirlaway and Citation. Arcaro said that "Whirlaway was a very good horse but that when he touched the whip to Citation that it was like downshifting in a souped up Cadillac."

+Richard Yanco What was that race Big red run 5 days before the Belmont? Maybe U can look that up for ur self. Oh yeah. the Man of war. Secretariat won n grass n his last race. Won that 1 2.

Sorry to be late. You are correct when you say that Secretariat won the Man O' War Stakes in 1973 and you are right when you say that it was on the grass. The Man O War was a "Weight For Age" race which is for 3 year olds and up. This race was always run in the early Fall usually September or October. They would never have run him against older horses while he was going for the Triple Crown. Between the Derby and the Belmont he only won one race and that was the Preakness. Sorry but you'll have to recheck your stats.

The Man O War was run in October of 73. The Belmont was run in June. Big Red ran 3 races from Derby to Belmont. Citation won 4 races in the same time frame.

Richard, of corse, is correct. Cy's 3 year old year will never be match, as horses do not run 20 times in their at 3 year olds, or at any time. He won the Sysonby Mile against older horses, then 3 days later,won the Jockey Club Gold Cup, then run at 2 miles, and beat all the good stayers by a big margin. Citation won by more average lengths (if you don't count the 31 length freak of a Belmont)

Flo: Sec's mare, Somethingrolyal, had her, the great Irish horse, Princequillo, whose blood in many of the great stayers.

Imagine, Secretariat and Zenyatta! What kind of Colt would that be! Of course in my imagination they both pass on their BEST genes! lol!

AND SECRETARIAT "WAS ALL ALONE." AS CHIC SAID AFTER HE SAID, "HE IS MOVING LIKE A TREMENDOUS MACHINE !!!" CHIC THEN SAID, "BUT SECRETARIAT IS ALL ALONE !!! AND HE WAS, BLESS HIS HEART ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️.

His record is a dirt record. Hawkster has the record for the 1.5 and he did it on turf, which is slower than dirt. Several horses have beaten Secretariat's time and have done it on slower tracks. It's not as impressive as you tell yourself it is.

@@jasonwiggins you are delirious. He beat the 1972 turf champion Tentam and was not pushed. The track record on turf in Belmont by Secretariat was 224 in the Man O War stakes. It has been beaten but the quality of the older horses he beat that day at 3 yrs old is unquestionable.

@@rudycantarini4649 Really?! Look it up. Lol!!! Hawkster has the record for the 1.5. It's an established fact whether you continue to lie to yourself or not.

@@jasonwiggins obviously you can't read. RIF "READING IS FUNDAMENTAL". Best part of Santa Anita turf course is running downhill. Nice to get momentum 😅😂🤣

Arcaro said Cy was the best EXCEPT for Secretariat in the Belmont. You sort of twisted the facts.

16 for 21, 81% win percentage. Not quite near perfect.

@@roundtable3501 Do a little research. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

@@philgoodpaster3161 You reading one of my comments does not give you a good perspective on what kind of knowledge I have about a particular topic. And considering my comment was based upon a factual statement, that gives you even less reason to attack me. It’s truthful that Secretatiat was 16 for 21 in his career. That’s a fact. With his one disqualification, which I accounted for in his win percentage, that’s 81%. Without it, it’s 76%. But I’ll do 81, since he won that race easily. 81% is solid, but it’s not perfect or near perfect. In school, that would be a B or B-. How the heck would you, a person who has never met me think you have a proper grasping of my knowledge about secretariat? It’s mind boggling how you could respond to my post in such a stupid way.

yes

Arcaro and, kelso together were almost unbeatable he won abut 98 pct of the races that he rode the great kelso. It was like someone said the greatest jockey of all times at the end of his carear riding the greatest racehorse of all-times at the start of his carear. Sad really. He understood kelso like no one did and, he had those strong hands to handle the great kelso who was so freakin strong for a horse that really looked like a freakin deer at 900 pounds and was still carrying at time 12 pct of his body weight! That was more than forego was 17.2 hands and, about 1,300 pouds! Kelso was something else. KELSOS' BIGGEST FAN.

Turcotte had a terrible accident and was in a wheelchair. That will age you.

Another point I would like to make that no one else has made is the fact that every time secretariat lost a race he would go out the very next race and break the track record. It takes a special kind of horse to do that.

+Mike Rodriguez LOSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT(:

Oh, please. ALL of Secretariat's losses were from circumstances beyond his control. ANY horse would have lost. Don't comment on Secretariat at all if you don't understand that. Only flat earthers deny he was the greatest of them all.

+Susan Nunes Don' t pay any attention to Mike R ,he's been trolling for years with the same worm , and doesn't even know the worm is long past dead!!!!!

+Stu Stewart I know. He is silly.

+Mike Rodriguez Hmmm. Maybe U forgot the 1st Marlboro Cup. Check out 2 horse of the year, older horse of the year. Plus a world record.

No, back in those days they actually had true handicap racing, and if you were a jock showing off exactly how fast your horse was than you better stick to weight for age racing, as opposed to handicaps where they would pile the weight on. Arcaro was way too smart for that kind of nonsense. And Citation was such a great 3 year old that Jimmy Jones only ran him in weight for age races. But he broke down anyway, in his last race as a 3 yr old, after winning 27 of 29 starts in his first 2 years of racing.

We don't really know for sure how fast Citation COULD go. His jockey never let him go all out. But if my personal opinion was correct, I would have to agree with you. Big Red was built to run just as Michael Phelps was built to swim. It was in their breeding and they both won the genetic lottery. I bet Secretariat could even beat the fictional Black Stallion of Walter Farley's, and The Black was the greatest horse in his fictional world. 😀

@@workingmothercatlover6699 We also don't know how fast Secretariat could have gone. Turcotte has always said he could have gone faster in the Belmont if he'd been asked. One of the great tragedies in horse racing was that Secretariat was not allowed to run as a four-year-old. If he had been, with another year of growth and training, he'd probably hold every world record from seven furlongs to two miles.

Dr. Fager won the 1968 Vosburgh Handicap with 139 pounds in 1:20 1/5, which was a track record at the time at aqueduct and only 1/5 off the world record.

leave me alone you were not there and u bully a 16 year old when your 30 wow so mature

+Mike Rodriguez shut up you sound like a would a kid cut it out.

+Mike Rodriguez lol u mad cause iam telling the truth and u realize it.

+Mike Rodriguez Such a hater if you could name any horse to beat any of his records then you could say something since i know you will not find one cause no one has done it then just stop your hating.

+Kevin Small finally someone with some actual times, your rite i know they ran the same time and some even had more weight but those times are still standing and you cant deny that the final race of the triple crown at Belmont that he won was one of the best ever hands down.

Well said !!

Secretart worshippers like SoHills cannot make their case without mentioning time. "Time only counts when you are in jail." Absolute time is worthless. It is relative time that counts. You have to be faster than any other h orse on the track, get your nose to the wire first. That is just win. Looked at that way, Citation was a much better horse than Secretariat. Look at their records as 3 year olds. Secretariat ran 12 times and won 9. 75% Citation ran 20 times and won 19. 95% Cy had a walk over as no owner wanted to race against him, as it was winner take all. He ran against older horses 7 times and beat them every time. Even when he was injured in his last race, he won. No horse, before or after, has done this. Yes, Secretariat was a Monster, as Sham found out and could not have beaten him in a 100 races. But Sec was beaten 3 times as a 3 year old. Twice by inferior horses. Prove Out was a fine horse and beat him fair and square at Belmont on a wet track at a mile and a half. If the track had been fast, like at Sec's Belmont, it would have tired his record. That's how good Prove Out was. He was also a 4 year old, and gave Sec a few pounds. I don't know the weight of Cy's heard. Sec's 25 pound heart could be part of the reason he was a monster. Sham also had a 25 pound heart. It was his bad luck to run the same year as Secretariat. Forego would not reach maturity until 4, when he became one of the great horses. Sham was retired after the Belmont. He had been hurt, and Turcotte knew it. So he went to the front and asked Sham to follow him. Sham tried, but had to drop back and finish last. Maybe Sham could not run a mile and a half, but that does not seem likely. This was 1973, not 2018.

@@brucerobbins3584 Secretariat's heart weight 22 pounds not 25! In order for a horse to run like Secretariat, everything has to be in place anatomically! The lungs have to be perfect as well to metabolize air the way Secretariat did! Also, Secretariat just loved to run! I believe that Sham was related to Secretariat. It is not just a large heart that makes a horse more durable. You have to have the right team! Ron Turcotte was the perfect jockey for Secretariat. Hand ridden all the way at the Belmont! Poor Sham was whipped so many times, I can't even bear to look! The 1973 Belmont took everything away from Sham! At the necropsy of Secretariat, the vet said that his heart weighed approximately 22 pounds. It was 22 pounds of perfect!

@@lired70 I guess someone messed around with his innards in the three races he lost as a 3 yo!!! 220r 25, who cares?? There is no such thing as a PERFECT horse, certainly no Secretariat. If you look at Sham's pedigree, he was not related to Secretariat. Some people think he got his large heart from his grand dam, Somethingroyal, who got it from the great Irish horse Princequillo. The large heart thing is just a theory. Before the Belmont, Turcotte could see that Sham was not himself. So he went to the front and Sham's jockey tried to stay with him, but couldn't. He fell back, finished last, and never raced again. He was hurt. If he had been okay, he would not have beat Secretariat, but Sec would not win by no 31 lengths. The rest of the horses were window dressing. The rest of the h orses finished in 2:29 or 2:30. You can believe Sec was the greatest horse in the h istory of horse racing. I and nobody else is going to convince you that that is b.s. I'd love to see Sec race Sea Bird on a turf course in France. Nearco. Ribot. Spectacular Bid. Forego. Man o War. Citation. Kelso. Native Dancer. Little Northern Dancer. Count Fleet. Dr. Fager. Damascus. And scores of others. Sham also had a heavy heart. Maybe Man o War had a heavy heart. We'll never know. Citation won 19 of 20 races as a 3 year old, 15 straight. Did he have a heavy heart? What was Sec's record at 3?

Nobody knows for sure who is the greatest of all time as well. Cases can be made fairly effectively for several horses including Secretariat. For all the horses you listed, there is little doubt in my mind that Secretariat could run with any of them, let alone defeat them at his best. Regarding the turf, Turcotte thought he was 10 to 15 lengths better than on dirt. OK, I'm not necessarily buying that, but considering his records on the dirt, I wouldn't bet against him on the turf against anyone. Forego?? After the Kentucky Derby, Sherrill Ward said that he never wanted to face Secretariat again. Other than Kelso's 2:23 4/5 on a HARD turf course at Laurel and 8 1/2 furlongs where Secretariat missed a track record by 1/5th in the slop, Secretariat's times at the same distances as Kelso are open lengths better, and that's with Kelso having multiple races at those distances. During his too brief career ending at 3, Secretariat defeated at least 12 horses who at one time or another tied or set stakes, track or world records. Think about that. You say time is worthless?? These are races for god sakes - of course time means something. It doesn't mean everything, but it means something. Why the heck do people then pay so much attention to Beyer and Brisnet speed figures? I do get it that there are instances where certain champions were not ridden out in some of their wins which needs to be considered. You argue about times, but overall records don't mean as much as you make them out to be. Citation's three year old season is remarkable, but who did he defeat? Armed was done by 1948, and Coaltown didn't develop into a true distance champion until his 4 year old season. I actually think that Citation's performances at 5 against Noor are more impressive than most of his three year old wins. Count Fleet? Blue Swords was a nice horse, and that's about it. What do you think Native Dancer's record would have been had he been born two years later and had to race against Swaps and Nashua? Look at the sport of boxing. Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali have eight losses between them, but they are generally ranked ahead of undefeated Rocky Marciano by most boxing historians.

FFS, he didn't let him run because back in those days they had true handicap racing, and Citation was was so superior that Jimmy Jones was afraid of the weight the handicappers would pile on him. Anyone that thinks Secretariat would beat Citation without breaking a sweat knows absolutely nothing about Citation. First 2 years of racing, he won 27 of 29 races. In all kinds of conditions. Travelling all over the entire country. By train. No one mentions that. Only ever hear about track times that maybe, just maybe, were faster in 1973 than they were in 1948.

And, team Cy weren't out to try and prove Cy was the best ever. And I'd bet they never would have nicknamed him Big Red even if he WAS chestnut.

@@lorrainelloyd7750 His trainer jimmy had a great quote, “time only matters for those who are in jail.” They didn’t care about breaking world records, they cared about winning, which is more important.

Sorry, but Wilt Chamberlain was the greatest basketball player ever. The records he holds, his unmatched strength, and his his size make him comparable to no one in history.

A fair comparison is Secretariat to Wilt Chamberlain.

I WROTE "Then HE was flying along. I DID NOT WRITE "Then THE was flying along." My space bar continuously changes the Letters and so so Entire Words when I hit it. I am sick of dealing with it.