Secretariats Legend Rolls on Like, Well, a Tremendous Machine
The New York Times Fifty years after Secretariat clinched the Triple Crown with a runaway win in the Belmont Stakes, fans still long to connect with his story.
It was a performance for the ages, growing more mythic as time goes on. Having won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in record fashion, Secretariat rocketed out of the starting gate on June 9, 1973 his best start yet and never let up. He moved liked a tremendous machine, as the announcer Chic Anderson put it, and crushed his competition by a whopping 31 lengths to win the Belmont Stakes on an uncomfortably warm but utterly joyous afternoon at Belmont Park.
Like his lead in the Belmont, his legend has swelled even though his youngest current fans had not even been born when he was crowned the ninth Triple Crown champion and the first in 25 years. Nine of the best 3-year-olds in the country will face off Saturday during the 50th anniversary celebration of Secretariats Triple Crown feat, but none will even come close to achieving the superstar status of the big red horse.
