Quote:
Originally posted by TheSaint
Secretariat is by far the fastest that ever lived, and its unlikely to ever have has record beaten.
The reason is that when he died the autopsy revealed that he was bascially a freak of the good kind, his heart was far larger than any horse is supposed to have.
Armed with a supersized ticker, he walked past his opponents. If you haven't seen the film of his greatest win where he won by something like 1/8 mile (you couldn't even see the #2 horse) you missed the greatest race in history.
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Yes, his death was a blow to the entire racing world. He stood at stud for a long time, and his progeny carries a lot of the same heart he had. He was plagued with chronic laminitis, and was put down October 4 1989. His Kentucky Derby time was 1:59 and 2/5 seconds. Secretariat won the 1973 Belmont Stakes in 2:24 flat, a world record for 1.5 miles.
Phar Lap actually shared a nickname with Secretariat, they were both called "Big Red".
It's a shame Phar Lap died when he did, he could have taken the whole world by storm. I'm as sure as most other people that he was poisoned.
We have to remember other great horses in history though.. Kelso, Northern Dancer, Man-O-War, and many others. Secretariat was definitely one of the greats..