After an impeccable Horse of the Year campaign as a two-year-old, the soon-to-be legendary colt was nearly taken down on his three-year-old debut 50 years ago, on March 17, 1973. Steve Dennis begins an unmissable series
Secretariat’s two-year-old campaign was not perfect but it was close enough as to make no difference, the shape of things to come.
The big, red, impossibly athletic son of Bold Ruler, owned by the Meadow Stable of Christopher and Penny Chenery, trained by Lucien Laurin and ridden in all bar his first two races by Ron Turcotte – Paul Feliciano was in the saddle on those introductory occasions – ran nine times as a juvenile and was first past the post each time after finishing fourth on his debut.
In the space of four months he won his maiden at Aqueduct; an allowance race, the Sanford and the Hopeful at Saratoga; the Futurity at Belmont Park; the Laurel Futurity at Laurel Park; and the Garden State at now-defunct Garden State Park in New Jersey.
He also came home in front in the Champagne at Belmont, but his number was taken down for ‘bearing in and interfering with’ Stop The Music, who was awarded the race with Secretariat demoted to second place.
The Graded-stakes classification was not in operation in 1972, but in today’s currency Secretariat’s haul amounts to a G1 and two G3s. The Laurel Futurity, though not the race it was in its current guise, was also a G1 at one time; the Garden State is no longer in the calendar but once claimed to be the richest race in the world with a $300,000 purse in the 1950s.
This remarkable roll call of success was enough to earn Secretariat the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year – a very rare occurrence for a two-year-old – as well as the formality of the Eclipse Award for champion two-year-old colt. His reappearance at three, with the Kentucky Derby at the top of the agenda, was eagerly awaited.
Comeback delayed amid syndication
A decision was made to delay Secretariat’s comeback until after the stallion syndication process prompted by the death of Christopher Chenery, and when that was complete Laurin chose the Bay Shore Stakes – newly anointed as a G3 contest – for the colt’s first start of 1973, a return to Aqueduct where he had made his debut and recorded his first victory.
Five horses took on the champ in the seven-furlong Bay Shore, which represented a sharp reduction in distance for Secretariat after his wins over a mile-and-sixteenth in the Laurel Futurity and Garden State.
If there were concerns over the cutback, they were allayed by a bullet work three days before the race, when Secretariat went three furlongs in 32⅗s, a phenomenal, lights-out display of pure speed.
This, and everything else about Secretariat, led to his prohibitive morning-line odds of 1-5. Impecunious was next in line at 6-1, Champagne Charlie, Actuality and Torsion were pegged at 10-1, and Close Image was a longshot 20-1. Despite the odds-maker’s assessment, the main danger to Secretariat appeared to be the grey Champagne Charlie, who two weeks earlier had won the Swift Stakes at the ‘Big A’ over six furlongs, with Actuality runner-up, and was back for more over a track made sloppy by a morning’s worth of rain.
Odds of 1-5 tell their own story, though. This was supposed to be easy. It wasn’t.
Trouble at the gate
The trouble started straight out of the gate, when Secretariat was sideswiped by Torsion on his outside, taking a heavy hit that had Turcotte momentarily concerned that his mount could go down.
Horse and jockey pulled themselves together, however, moved towards the fence and sat just off it, racing in fifth place down the back-side behind the brisk fractions laid down by Close Image. Around the turn, Secretariat began to move up, Turcotte’s arms pushing away as the colt shifted easily, thrillingly into overdrive, but the real problems were only just beginning.
Turcotte was a fine, strong rider but known for making occasional tactical blunders, and this – of all days – was one of those occasions. He rode Secretariat into a blind alley, abetted by Mike Venezia aboard Champagne Charlie, who saw what was happening and tried to keep him locked in the pocket. As they turned for home, Secretariat was trapped behind a wall of three horses with nowhere to go.
Actuality had the rail, Impecunious was on his outside, and Champagne Charlie widest of the three, Venezia desperately holding the trio together in front of the rampant, ready-to-roll Secretariat. And time and distance were running out.
With three-sixteenths to travel, Impecunious asserted and moved slightly to his right. Turcotte saw the gap open and moved to it. But at that moment Bobby Woodhouse, riding Actuality, hit his horse left-handed and they shifted across, slamming the shutters on Secretariat’s brief glimpse of daylight.
“I heard Ronnie yellin’ for racing room, for some help,” said Woodhouse afterwards, quoted in William Nack’s magnificent biography of Secretariat. “He was in trouble. He yelled my name, but I ain’t going to give him no money.”
The money would have to be taken by force, and it was. As they approached the eighth-pole Secretariat exploded through what remained of the gap and surged clear, drawing off impressively through the final furlong to win under a hand-ride by four and a half lengths. But it wasn’t over.
Foul claim
Jim Moseley, rider of Impecunious, went straight to the stewards and claimed a foul against Secretariat for interference in mid-stretch. The numbers on the tote board blinked, time dragging out, a minute, two minutes … and they stayed lit. The result was official. A lively St Patrick’s Day crowd of almost 33,000 had got what they came for – drama, excitement, the right result. Secretariat was back.
“When he straightened up, Actuality hit me pretty good,” Turcotte told reporters. “But my colt kept moving and drew away. He’s just like he was – good. I never needed to hit him.”
Later, he told Nack a different story. “Woodhouse, that son of a bitch. But I made a mistake,” he said, contrition alloyed with relief that it hadn’t been a race-losing error. “I was stupid to take the chance on the rail. I should have gone around.”
It didn’t matter, except to Turcotte’s pride. Secretariat had come through his first test as a three-year-old, showing he still possessed the same vigour and brilliance as before. A relieved Laurin – “He was wonderful; he did everything I expected him to” – drew hard on his cigarette and named the G2 Gotham Stakes, back at the Big A three weeks later over a mile, as Secretariat’s next pit-stop on his golden highway to destiny.
• Visit the dedicated Secretariat website at secretariat.com
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