"A tremendous machine..." · 25.10.07

If somebody was to ask me why I follow racing, I will show them this, and tell them that I hope someday to watch a similar performance.

I was 11 years old when I watched Secretariat win his Triple Crown. I came into the Derby cheering for Angle Light, the Canadian-owned colt who had upset Secretariat in the Wood Memorial. But during that race, as it became obvious that Angle Light would not be a factor, my allegiance shifted to the big chestnut making his inexorable move. As he came down the stretch, wearing down Sham and taking the lead on his way to a new Derby record (a record that still stands 34 years later), I was hooked.

The Derby is still solid in my memory after all these years, but for some reason I’ve had to go back to video and print to “remember” the Preakness. This despite Secretariat’s big move around the first turn, “like a hoop around a barrel”, catching all the other horses and jockeys by surprise and rolling to an easy win.

Poor Sham – in any other year he might have won it all himself. But he was no match for Secretariat, who would go on to destroy him in the Belmont, in a performance still rated as the greatest beatdown in sports history.

We may never see his like again – but I’ll keep watching, just in case….

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