as racing fans prepare for saturday's belmont, thoughts naturally turn to this magnificent animal...
Secretariat
(foaled 1971), American racehorse (Thoroughbred), a record-breaking money winner, who in 1973 won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, constituting the U.S. Triple Crown; he was the first horse to do so since Citation in 1948. Sired by Bold Ruler and foaled by Somethingroyal, the large Virginia-bred chestnut colt grew to over 16 hands high and was at two years the size of a three-year-old. Trained by Lucien Laurin and ridden by Ron Turcotte, Secretariat entered his first race as a two-year-old and came in fourth, the only time he failed to win a purse. Thereafter, in his short, brilliant two-year career, he came in first 16 times, second 3 times, and third once, winning a total of $1,316,808, the largest amount for any horse for the number of races run. At Belmont he won by an unprecedented 31 lengths and established the dirt-track record of 2:24. In November 1973 Secretariat was retired and put to stud. He died in 1989.
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