BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
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Fastest Derbies
Secretariat and jockey Ron Turcotte.
(AP photo)
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1. Secretariat 1:59 2/5 (1973)*
2. Northern Dancer 2:00 (1964)
3. Spend a Buck 2:00 1/5 (1985)
4. Decidedly 2:00 2/5 (1962)
5. Proud Clarion 2:00 3/5 (1967)
6. Grindstone 2:01 (1996)
7. Lucky Debonair 2:01 1/5 (1965)
Affirmed 2:01 1/5 (1978)
Thunder Gulch 2:01 1/5 (1995)
10. Whirlaway 2:01 2/5 (1941)
*Sham, who placed second to Secretariat, is the only other horse to break the 2-minute mark in the Derby. Sham finished in 1:59 4 - 5ths.
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PARIS, Ky. -- The marker over this square patch of bluegrass is simple and stately: Secretariat. 1970-1989.
Nine years since the stallion's death, hundreds of people still make pilgrimages to Claiborne Farm to pay their respects. Twenty-five years after the horse raced.
But this is Secretariat, possibly the greatest thoroughbred ever.
This week's silver anniversary of his Kentucky Derby victory in which he went from last to first provides another reminder of Secretariat's hold on people.
"The public loved this horse, and he was good for racing," said Gus Koch, the farm's assistant manager. "You need heroes."
The 1973 Derby is replayed the most of any available at the Kentucky Derby Museum. More requests are made to dub that tape than any other. Visitors today at Claiborne can see two Derby winners, Unbridled and Go for Gin, but their mission is absorbing Secretariat's stomping grounds.
"Nobody gets as much attention as he got from the public," Koch said. "It doesn't even come close."
The colt nicknamed Big Red for his chestnut coat won the Triple Crown, the sport's three biggest races run in a six-week span. Two, the Derby and Belmont, were track records that still stand. The third would have been a track record if a timer hadn't malfunctioned. Secretariat looked like a champion, ran like a champion and acted like a champion.
A small list of other champions are mentioned in the same breath, usually Man O' War, the horse of the '20s who never raced in Kentucky, and Citation, the winner of the '48 Triple Crown. Their accomplishments aren't as easy to recall, because they predated the impact of television. The first televised Derby was 1952.
Secretariat's performances on the track, rivaling anything any horse has ever done, are only part of the mystique.
His spell came when teen-agers were dying in Vietnam and a president was sinking in Watergate. He was sweet news in a sour time.
And he was the peaceful diversion for 7-year-old Robin, whose parents were getting divorced.
"He was my hero," said the now 31-year-old Robin Poehlein, who visited Claiborne Farm this week.
"He was a very flashy chestnut, you know, powerfully built," said Koch, a Price Hill native who grew up in Oxford. "People say there are no perfect horses, but a lot of people felt he came closer to perfection than any horse."
The look translated into power.
"His Derby was very impressive," Koch said, "but his Belmont was just unbelievable."
Racetracks have certain "givens." One of those is that horses running long distances as if they were sprinting tire and slow down as they go. Secretariat's Belmont was an exception.
"Secretariat is widening now," track announcer Chick Anderson said in his call of the race. "He is moving like a tremendous machine." The crowd roared in amazement watching Secretariat pull away from the other horses. The machine won by 31 lengths, more than the length of a football field.
"It's like hallowed ground," Robin said Monday as she approached Secretariat's stall. "This is sacred."
Claiborne Farm is 3,000 hallowed acres, 60 barns and 17 stallions. Koch approaches breeding as the business that it is. Matter of factly. Ask about Secretariat, though, and a smile rushes across his face. He walks outside his office to see another set of tourists having their pictures taken at the grave of the champion.
Flowers -- usually roses like those that drape Derby winners -- are still sent to the grave during Derby week and on the anniversaries of his foaling, March 30, and death, Sept. 4.
"What amazes me is that the next generation knows about him," Koch said. "We have young kids who come in here who were born when Secretariat wasn't alive and they know about him. I think that's pretty impressive."
Karen Smith wasn't born when Secretariat raced into history. Yet the 23-year-old veterinarian's technician from Thousand Oaks, Calif., recites his past performances as if she were reading the Daily Racing Form.
"There's nobody else like him," she said. "He's an amazing horse. The world has yet to see another horse like him."
Farmhands say Secretariat knew he was the man. He had the first stall in the barn, where his father Bold Ruler stood. He had the most prominent paddock. And he got all the attention.
"He knew he was the best," Koch said, recalling how Secretariat would perk his ears and pose. "There's no doubt."
Secretariat arrived at Claiborne on Nov. 11, 1973, where he held court to fans until he developed laminitis, an inflammation of his foot. The decision was made to euthanize him on Sept. 4, 1989. "A legend had died," Koch said. "That was tough, but that's life on a horse farm. That happens and we go on."
When an autopsy was performed, the veterinarian found the largest heart he had ever seen in a horse. Koch believes that helped make Secretariat achieve heights no other horse had.
"More blood," he said. "That's what it takes."
He was buried the next day in a simple ceremony without fanfare. By nightfall, the public made its presence known, with flowers covering the grave site. Extras were sent to a local nursing home. "I stayed here that night and got calls from all over the country," Koch said. "If you didn't know it before, you knew it then how special he was."
Secretariat's lure is lost a little bit around the grooms, like Melvin Mynear. Seeing the pilgrimages daily, he wonders about his place in history.
"I just hope that I'm remembered 25 years after my death as well as he is."
