{"id":81,"date":"2010-10-12T15:53:31","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T19:53:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/2010\/10\/12\/secretariat-the-hero-who-obliterated-triple-crown-records\/"},"modified":"2011-02-15T14:15:49","modified_gmt":"2011-02-15T18:15:49","slug":"secretariat-the-hero-who-obliterated-triple-crown-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/2010\/10\/12\/secretariat-the-hero-who-obliterated-triple-crown-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretariat: The hero who obliterated Triple Crown records"},"content":{"rendered":"

With all the interest in the new Disney film Secretriat<\/em>, consider these thoughts from\u00a0<\/strong>Legendary Heroes<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals, authors of <\/strong>Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Secretariat’s\u00a0performance is noteworthy in the context of the nation’s state of mind. Sporstwriter George Plimpton says he was the “only honest thing in the country” in 1973. With\u00a0Vietnam and Watergate,\u00a0our\u00a0national confidence was at a low point. And, along came a horse. Much like the 2003\u00a0film Seabiscuit, which spun the yarn of a scrappy, underdog of a horse that\u00a0gave people pride and hope during the Great Depression,\u00a0Secretariat the movie may have good timing as well<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Secretariat\"<\/a>The current cinema often reveals either the creation or the reworking of hero narratives.\u00a0 Drama in the movies emerges from the struggles that make heroes so engaging, especially underdog heroes.\u00a0 But it's not always the underdog that becomes the hero.\u00a0 No better example is that of a non-human hero about to be celebrated in film this coming October.\u00a0 That individual is the racehorse Secretariat.<\/p>\n

Secretariat burst onto the national consciousness in 1973.\u00a0 It had been twenty-five years since the great horse Citation had won racing's triple crown: the Kentucky Derby<\/em>, the Preakness<\/em>, and the Belmont Stakes<\/em>. After Secretariat won the first two races, millions of people rooted for him to win the Belmont, the final trial.\u00a0 As race day approached, he was the favorite, not the underdog.\u00a0 But in some ways the challenge of the Triple Crown itself made him an underdog and the sentimental as well as the betting favorite.<\/p>\n

Secretariat was born in Caroline County, Virginia in 1970.\u00a0 As a two-year old he enjoyed spectacular success and was voted horse of the year, a rarity for so young a colt.\u00a0 A very large chestnut horse with distinctive white markings, he was nicknamed "Big Red."\u00a0 His fame slowly spread outside of the racing world.\u00a0 His great strength and grace inspired many.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Going into his third year of racing Secretariat was highly touted.\u00a0 Even though he finished a disappointing third in the race just before the Kentucky Derby, he was the betting favorite.\u00a0 Secretariat didn't disappoint.\u00a0 He not only won the Derby, but also set a record that still stands.\u00a0 In the second Triple Crown race, the Preakness, Secretariat won handily, but didn't break the record.\u00a0 Or did he?\u00a0 There is controversy about the exact time, as there were problems with the official clock.\u00a0 The Daily Racing Form claimed that Secretariat actually did break the record.\u00a0 Since then three other Preakness winners have tied the Racing Form's alleged time for Secretariat.\u00a0 But none has beaten it.<\/p>\n

There's absolutely no controversy about the Belmont record.\u00a0 Secretariat won that race by 31 lengths, and it is estimated that he would have beaten the previous record holder by 11 lengths.\u00a0 The Belmont is one and a half miles, the longest of the Triple Crown.\u00a0 During the race his trainer thought that jockey Ron Turcotte would cause Secretariat to have a heart attack.\u00a0 He was going too fast in the early going.\u00a0<\/a> But the horse wanted to run that day, and he turned in one of the legendary performances in all of racing's history.<\/p>\n

There are numerous stories about Secretariat's greatness.\u00a0 One notes that Secretariat was a large horse with a big rear end.\u00a0 It often took him awhile to get up to full speed.\u00a0 Amazingly, during his Kentucky Derby win, he ran each of the five quarter miles faster than the previous one.\u00a0 He kept accelerating for the entire race.<\/p>\n

There were two other Triple Crown winners in the 1970s, Seattle Slew<\/em> in 1977 and Affirmed<\/em> the next year.\u00a0 But none was regarded as quite the hero that Secretariat was.\u00a0 His performances weren't equaled then, and they haven't been since.\u00a0 He raced for a short time after his triple crown victories in 1973, but was limited to stud duties once his racing career was over.\u00a0 He died in 1989.<\/p>\n

We'll see in the Fall whether Disney tells the true story of Secretariat, as promised.\u00a0 It will be tempting to embellish the legend.\u00a0 But the actual facts are heroic enough.<\/p>\n

\"Secretariat\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With all the interest in the new Disney film Secretriat, consider these thoughts from\u00a0Legendary Heroes\u00a0By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals, authors of Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them. Secretariat’s\u00a0performance is noteworthy in the context of the nation’s state of mind. Sporstwriter George Plimpton says he was the “only honest thing … Continue reading Secretariat: The hero who obliterated Triple Crown records<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[751,765],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-reflections"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/jepson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}