RBI Snake

By late afternoon of October 14, the one hundred first running of the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park, bettors gathered in search of the horse that could beat Secretariat going a flat mile. Life in the nearby suburbs may be as predictable as the appearance of the yellow school bus at eight o’clock in the morning, but nothing is odds-on in Long Island City.
The pattern had been set. Lucien gave Ron no instructions in the paddock as Secretariat and eleven other horses circled the walking ring. The tactic of giving Secretariat time to pull himself together had been working flawlessly, and neither man wanted to tinker with it. For the first time in his life, Secretariat would be running as an entry with Ed Whittaker’s Angle Light, also trained by Lucien, who won his first start by three-quarters of a length, his second by six. He finished fourth in the Cowdin Stakes, tiring, but now he was back again. Lucien’s opinion had changed since Saratoga: he no longer regarded Angle Light as Secretariat’s equal, and throughout that fall, Penny would remember, Lucien assured her that Angle Light had “cheap speed”—could not sustain his speed under pressure—while also warning her not to underestimate the horse. Since he trained both, according to the rules, they would have to run as a single betting interest. Together, they went off as 2–3 favorites.
Breaking from the four hole, staying with the field in the first jump, Secretariat thrashed about as usual and immediately dropped to last. He had just one horse beaten as Angle Light swept Chuck Baltazar through an opening quarter mile in 0:22 4/5, then through a blazing half mile in 0:45 1/5. Angle Light was leading by two as he passed the half-mile pole at the turn, and Secretariat was running ninth behind Stop the Music under John (Gentleman John) Rotz. Secretariat raced along in 0:47, then just settled into the drumbeat of his stride. Ron kept him outside the horses once again, about fifteen feet off the rail, and he dashed past Zaca Spirit in several bounds. The c**t was running his third quarter in 0:23 3/5, even losing ground, and it was sweeping him into the hunt midway at the turn. Angle Light chucked it on the bend, looking for a hole in the fence before the straight, and Puntilla made the lead with Linda’s Chief lapped on him in second. They ran as a team, as did Secretariat and Stop the Music turning for home. When Secretariat moved to Stop the Music on the turn, Rotz sent the little bay with him, not letting the red horse loose. Turcotte later said that Stop the Music drifted out on him, bumping him twice.
They moved to the lane as a team, head and head on the outside, turning for home with a quarter mile to go. The drive was on. Together, Secretariat on the outside and Stop the Music on his left, they moved to Linda’s Chief and Puntilla down the straight. Coming to the three-sixteenths pole, with about 350 yards to run, they were four abreast. It was an eyepopper.
Suddenly, Turcotte raised his right hand and lashed Secretariat once. A second later the red horse, who had been running on his right lead, switched to his left lead. He dropped to the left toward Stop the Music, bumping him and sending him into Linda’s Chief. Turcotte loosened his left line and snatched him sharply with his right, pulling him off the bay, who seemed to suck back at the buffeting, as if intimidated by it. Once Turcotte had Secretariat straight, he went to riding him again, and the c**t pulled away as Turcotte rode him strongly to the wire. He won it in a drive by two, lengthening his lead through the final yards and running the mile in 1:35 flat, just two-fifths of a second slower than the stakes’ record set by Vitriolic, one of the Bold Rulers who failed to light up the sky as a three-year-old. Stop the Music, recovering from the contact, came on again and finished second. Moments after the horses crossed the line, the roar went up. On the tote board in the infield, the inquiry sign was flashing. The stewards called it, suspecting a foul, and quickly went down the elevator to their offices, ready to talk to jockeys and to see the film.
Turcotte went to see the stewards to explain his side of the race. Still in his blue and white silks, he stood before the stewards in their carpeted office complex and told them that Stop the Music started the contact sports on the turn for home.
Stop the Music bumped me twice around the turn,” he told them. He further said that the c**t switched leads near the three-sixteenths pole and came in on the Greentree Stable c**t. “I might have bothered him some, but I grabbed my horse real quick. I hurt my horse more than his.”
“We’ll look at it,” said one steward.
The films do not show what, if any, interference the little bay might have caused on the turn. They do show that Secretariat swung into Stop the Music near the three-sixteenths pole, bumping and forcing him into Linda’s Chief, and that Turcotte hauled him off immediately.
The second roar from the crowd of 31,494 persons was louder than the first. Secretariat’s number, 1A, and Stop the Music’s number, 5, had been blinking off and on to show the order of their finish was under inquiry. If the lights stop blinking and the numbers stay lit, it means the order of finish remains as it was in the race; if the lights of the two numbers go dark, it means that the stewards have changed the official finish of the race. The lights went out. Turcotte sat stunned in the jockeys’ room wearing precisely the look of a man who had just lost 10 percent of an $87,900 purse, slowly shaking his head and staring in silence at the new order of finish, then the replay of the race on television. About twenty riders gathered in a circle around the set, looking and watching while Secretariat settled down at the turn and began his move.
The stewards placed Secretariat second, moving Stop the Music into first, and left behind not only hundreds of groaning favorite players—Secretariat would have paid $3.40 to win for a $2.00 bet—but the general belief that the best horse lost by Order of the Stewards. “I was surprised that the stewards were so strict with us for what seemed like a minor impediment,” Penny said. “Our horse had so clearly won.”
Nathaniel J. Hyland, the steward appointed by the Jockey Club, said simply that the stewards, when deliberating over an inquiry, do not speculate whether a horse might have won if a foul had not occurred. That Secretariat would have won (which was the consensus) was beside the point. The point was that Secretariat had committed an infraction, bumping a horse and bothering him, and evidence of that and that alone justified bringing his number down.
Despite the official order of finish, despite his sudden loss of $8700, Ron Turcotte was buoyed by the c**t’s performance and enormously encouraged by it. “He ran his best race to date,” he said that afternoon while dressing to go home. “You never know until you try a mile, but after what I saw today—yes, he’ll go on in longer distances.” He knew he was not riding a stretch-running sprinter. The red horse, coming off his six furlongs in 1:10 3/5, zipped the last quarter mile in 0:24 2/5.

Excerpt From
Secretariat
William Nack

Horse for the Ages
By JOE NICHOLS
June 9, 1973 NEW YORk

Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes today with a finality that was incredible. The Meadow Stable star flashed to success in the 11/2-mile event by the improbable margin of 31 lengths over Twice a Prince, his runnerup, and, even with the big margin, he set a track record time of 2:24.

The performance was executed under a splendid ride by Ron Turcotte, and was most noteworthy in that it enabled Secretariat to become the ninth winner of the Triple Crown for 3-year-olds. A quarter of a century ago Citation turned the trick, and Secretariat is the first since then to do so. He won the Kentucky Derby at 11/4 miles on May 5, and the Preakness at 13/16 miles on May 19.

A crowd of 69,138, the second-largest turnout to see a Belmont Stakes, attended the 105th running of the race. It had five contestants, and the advance indications were that it would turn out to be a duel between Secretariat, whose payoff at the end was $2.20 for $2 to win, and Sham, who competes in the silks of Sigmund Sommer. Sham was in there for a while, but he found the going too tough as the contest went on, and he wound up in the most unlikely spot-last place.

The race, as regards tight competition, was hardly a tingler, considering the huge margin of victory. But it held continuous excitement because of the superequine achievement of Secretariat. At the start he went to the front with Sham, who was ridden by Laffit Pincay, and for a spell the pair raced together, the others being nowhere. Approaching the three-quarter pole, Turcotte turned around to spot his pursuer, who was two lengths behind. Assured that his margin was a comfortable one, Turcotte just sped away to the score, which had to be the easiest one of Secretariat's career, while Sham cracked completely under the fast pace.

It was obvious through the going that Turcotte was out for the record with Secretariat, just as he was in the Kentucky Derby. He corroborated the speculation when he returned to the winner's circle, saying, When we got to the stretch, and I saw those figures on the tote board, I knew that I was going to a record. Incidentally, the world record for a mile and a half (on turf, and not on the dirt, like the Belmont) is 2:23, set by Fiddle Isle at Santa Anita in 1970. The American record on dirt, which was broken today, was 2:261/5. Set by Going Abroad at Aqueduct in 1964.

Secretariat is trained by Lucien Lauren and owned by Mrs. John (Penny) Tweedy, who directs the activities of the Meadows interests founded by her late father, Christopher T. Chenery. The horse, a Virginia-bred son of Bold Ruler and Somethingroyal, now has a record of 12 victories in his 15 races. His share of today's purse raised his career earnings to $895,242.

He's just the complete horse, Turcotte said. I let him run a bit early to get position in the first turn. Once he got in front of Sham, he wasn't about to give anything away. I kept looking back. The last 70 yards or so I seen on the toteboard teletimer I was breaking the record pretty good, so I let him go on a little. Just a hand ride. I never hit him once.

He's the greatest horse that has yet developed in this century, said Holly Hughes, the senior trainer of America who saw Man o' War run and saddled the 1916 Kentucky Derby winner. Yes, he's the Horse of the Century.

SECRETARIAT
BURNIN’ UP THE TRACK

The syndication of Secretariat in January 1973 meant that he would retire to stallion duty following his three-year-old season. which would be terminated by November 15. It also meant racing would never get the chance to see its brightest star race at four and prove whether he could carry weight and still dominate. But the syndication allowed Penny and Meadow Stable to cover the enormous estate tax following the death of Chris Chenery on January 3, 1973. Secretariat was syndicated for $6,080,000; 32 shares at $190,000 each. Soon afterwards, Riva was also syndicated for $5,120,000. One share of Secretariat was given to Laurin.

In the middle of March, before his first start as a three year-old in the seven-furlong Bay Shore, Turcotte worked Secretariat three furlongs in 32 3/5-faster than 11 seconds per furlong. Any three furlong work faster than :36, a rate of 12 seconds, is considered good. Going :35 is really fast; :34, extremely fast; and :33 or under, extremely rare.

“We wanted to put some speed into him because we'd been training him long [for long distance], Turcotte explains. Mr. Laurin said let him zip, and I let him zip. Lucien didn't believe his time. He called up to the grandstand, and some clockers had him faster than that.

Alfred Vanderbilt, one of Secretariat's new shareholders, yelled, I heard you burned up the track.

No, Turcotte replied, “I just dried it up a bit.

Secretariat won the Bay Shore by four and a half, and the one-mile Gotham by three: The Bay Shore was his first start of the year. I didn't want to take any chances. When I turned for home was on the inside. We split horses in the stretch and he went on from there. In the Gotham, there were a couple of speed horses inside me that hung back. Everybody thought Secretariat had to race from behind. I said to myself, now's the time to try him on the lead. You don't want to test him trying to go wire-to-wire in the Triple Crown. You don't want to try new tactics.”

Secretariat won by three, equaling the track record of 1:33.2.

From~
The WILL to WIN
RON TURCOTTE'S RIDE TO GLORY
by:
BILL HELLER with RON TURCOTTE

SECRETARIAT 1A
THE OLD SECRETARIAT
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Secretariat rose on his hind legs from the gate, his forelegs rising and falling once, grappling like pistons on a piece of heavy machinery, while Turcotte clutched the mane and then released it, bouncing to a crouch. Sham had rapped his mouth sharply on the iron bars of the gate, tearing loose two teeth, and within a dozen strides of the barrier he drifted suddenly to the right, as if careening to the taste of blood, and ricocheted off Navajo. Around him seven tons of horses veered through the straight toward the first turn. Hooves walloped at the ground amid stentorian snorts, clods of dirt flying, and at once the crowd came roaring to its feet.

Turcotte sat quietly at the break. Beneath him he could feel the red horse struggling to set his mass in motion, and he gave him all the time he needed for it, not rushing him a step. Glancing right he saw Shecky Greene take off with Larry Adams for the lead. To the left Pete Anderson settled down on Forego. Secretariat worked to stay with them at the start, digging in as always, but they all outran him from the slip. In a moment he was running last. On the inside, then, a whole wall of horses pulled away, leaving him more than a length behind but giving Turcotte room to maneuver more freely for position. Looking for a spot to settle him in the run for the first turn, Turcotte eased back on the left line, swinging the c**t toward the rail, and drifted left to join Warbucks there. In front of them the field of horses raced through the tunnel for the first time, scrambling and sorting themselves out for position. Around him Turcotte could hear the sounds begin to vibrate in the light of the late afternoon, growing rich in intensity, while in the upper stretch he began to sense that all was well with Secretariat again. He was striding fluidly, not climbing but leveling out as he gained speed, and something else, too, that gave him a sudden rush of relief.

“He was running against the bit. I took a snug hold of him and he took ahold of me, but he was relaxed and not fighting me. I let him go on his own and I was very happy with the way he felt. He was comfortable and so relaxed, so I was very confident in the straight. I knew he was the old Secretariat.”

Excerpt From: Secretariat
~by William Nack

Secretariat was a legendary thoroughbred racehorse whose name reigns supreme in the history of racing. The stallion with a chestnut coat, three white “socks” and cocky demeanor not only became the first horse in 25 years to win the Triple Crown in 1973, he did it in a way that left spectators breathless.

Called the “Clark Gable of horses” by Vogue, Secretariat consistently blew away the competition: His times in all three Triple Crown races remain the fastest in history.
“Big Red,” as he was known, was a horse that seemed aware of his greatness and reveled in it. Secretariat’s owner, Penny Chenery, told author Lawrence Scanlon that Secretariat, “next to having my children, was the most remarkable event in my life.”

The film strip is grainier now, the morning lights lower around Stall 7, Barn 5, but I can still see him walking on his hind legs round that cinder path, pawing at the sky, and feel the elation and the wonder I felt 40 years ago, and still savor now, at the sight of him that morning and late that afternoon -on the day he flat ran out of Belmont Park and into history. Bill Nack

Ron Turcotte and Secretariat are catching the rest of the field at the Preakness knowing they are slowing the pace Secretariat goes to the outside and the rest is history. Secretariat with Ron Turcotte on board go on to win the Preakness in record time!!!! In route to the greatest triple crown campaign in the history of the sport.

The Great Secretariat's Hall of Fame Jockey, the Legendary Ron Turcotte.

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Secretariat Movie
“This is not about going back. This is about life being ahead of you and you run at it! Because you never know how far you can run unless you run.”