For 42 Years I Have Heard the Same Refrain

I would hear about this horse or that horse being crowned the next Secretariat. Lots of pretenders to the crown. There were some who really were good, even great, such as Seattle Slew, Affirmed, and Spectacular Bid. However, the next Secretariat will never, ever happen, no matter how good American Pharoah turns out to be.

Secretariat was a genetic freak. Only because of factors out of his control did he ever lose a race. He never should have been beat.

The fact his heart was enormous, his hind legs were ramrod straight, and his hindquarters were like a quarter horse's prove he was unique. His sensational races, especially during the Triple Crown series of 1973, with stakes records in all three races that still stand today (two still are track records all these years later), proves there would never be another one like him.

There wasn't one like him before, and there will never be another one like him again.

How privileged I was to see him in the flesh some ten weeks before he died, in 1989, and got a lock of his mane for a souvenir.

That was the closest I will ever get to greatness.