Storm Bird, an offspring of Northern Dancer, can be found in both Summer Bird's sire and dam's lines.
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We can expect to hear more from this year's three-year-old crop.
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Much has been made of the Blood-Horse's ranking of the greatest thoroughbreds of the 20th century, and I believe I pointed out on this blog few real racing fans take the poll's ranking Man O' War over Secretariat seriously, especially in light of the fact one of the seven "experts" ranked Secretariat 14th. This is the only reason Secretariat didn't make number one on the list. Bill Nack, biographer of Secretariat and one of those seven polled, thought it was outrageous:
There is some new information from author Bill Nack regarding the outcome of why Man'OWar was selected #1 in the The Blood-Horse poll. Mr. Nack was asked recently why Man'OWar was voted ahead of Secretariat for Horse of the Century, and Mr. Nack replied "I spent two days on the project. The final results were skewered when, I am told, one of the judges put Secretariat fourteenth on his top-100 list. I don't know who this particular voter was---individual voting has remained a secret on that panel---but it was an idiotic judgment that should have been dismissed out of hand. Had I known any voter would do such a thing, I'd have put Man o' War in fourteenth place just to counterbalance the loony. That would have leveled the playing field. Here was a horse who had broken three track records in all three Triple Crown races, including the controversial Preakness clocking, two of which records (Derby and Belmont) still stand today; whose 31-length Belmont Stakes victory, in which he earned a Beyer of 137, is by consensus regarded as the greatest performance by a racehorse in history; and yet here was a voter who concocted a list suggesting that Secretariat would have finished last, behind 13 horses, in a field made up of that voter's first 14 horses on the list. It warped the voting and thereby tainted the list."
Man O' War was a great horse, and I am not dismissing him, but the fact remains he didn't have any real competition when he raced, and the only older horse he ran against was Sir Barton, who had soundness problems throughout his career. It's not much of a record even though he had set track records which stood for long periods of time. It's too bad the first Big Red never went up against Exterminator, one of the all-time great racehorses; that would have been interesting. Scaring off the competition means something, but the original Red's record isn't that stellar when it is compared with the second Big Red. Even so, he still ranks among the top three or five greatest racehorses of all time, at least in this country.
Secretariat raced on the dirt, on the grass, in the mud, on several different tracks and several different distances, set several track and world records, and two of these, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont records, have never been broken, and the Belmont record of 2:24 will probably stand for all time. Television coverage of the Triple Crown races don't even list the track and stakes records for those two (and the Preakness) anymore; they are that well known. Secretariat took on all comers, which included top racehorses Sham and Forego, the latter himself a top ten all-time great. He went up against a stellar group of older horses as well. In the Man O'War Stakes, his first time on grass, he toyed with North America's top grass horse, Tentam, to win an easy victory. In the initial Marlboro Invitational, Secretariat was the top horse in a field which may have been the greatest ever assembled for a single race. There were five champions in this race: Secretariat, stablemate Riva Ridge, Key to the Mint, Kennedy Road, and Cougar II. The Breeders' Cup races have never had this many assembled for a single race. Secretariat easily beat the field to set a world record which stood for something like 16 years, but one tends to forget just how great a field he beat.
As time goes on, Secretariat's accomplishments become more impressive. While a few mention his five losses, the defeats are easily dismissed. In his first start, July 4, 1972, he was nearly knocked down at the beginning, but rallied to finish a fast-closing fourth. In the 1972 Champagne Stakes, he bore in on Stop the Music and was disqualified to second. In the famous 1973 Wood Memorial, which he lost to stablemate Angle Light and rival Sham, he had an abscess or boil on his lip which irritated him and he couldn't grab the bit as usual. In the 1973 Whitney, he had a fever and should have been scratched from the race; he was beaten by longshot Onion, an Allen Jerkins trainee. In the 1973 Woodward, he was a last-minute replacement for Riva Ridge to run in the mud; since he had half-assed preparation for the race, he ended up getting beat by another Allen Jerkins horse, Prove Out. But after each defeat Secretariat came back with terrific, overwhelming victories.
Secretariat's performances during the Triple Crown series of 1973 continue to impress. The Kentucky Derby was an example of just how much of a genetic freak Secretariat was. Instead of starting fast and slowing down, he ran every quarter-mile faster than the previous one. According to this link, Secretariat was going 49 mph down the homestretch despite going wide at the far turn. In the Preakness, Secretariat went from last to first in the most sensational single move in the history of the race when jockey Ron Turcotte discovered the pace was being slowed down. Secretariat blew past Ecole Etage and took the lead on the backstretch, never relinquishing it. Sham tried to gain on him, but it was impossible given the fact Turcotte was hand riding him. And of course the Belmont is unequaled in the history of sports. Thanks to his having a heart far larger than any other horse, Secretariat won the race with the greatest of ease and going frighteningly fast while doing it.
As the above link notes, Sham had the second-largest heart on record; unlike Secretariat's heart weight, which was estimated at around 22 pounds, Sham's was actually weighed at autopsy. His weighed in at 18 pounds, and despite this, he still couldn't catch up with the genetic freak from the Meadow Stable during the Belmont and never raced again.
For fun, here are Secretariat's wins in the Marlboro Cup and Man O'War Stakes.
Marlboro Cup:
Man O' War Stakes:
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