Of course, Secretariat was arguably the greatest racehorse of the second half of the twentieth century and will always be remembered as the ninth winner of the American Triple Crown – that is, the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes – in 1973. All told, the son of 1957 Horse of the Year Bold Ruler won 16 times and amassed a total of $1.32 million in prize money, or $9.1 million in modern terms, based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. Secretariat was, himself, named Horse of the Year in both 1972 and 1973.
However, to borrow an idiom from the Swabian dialect of southwestern Germany, ‘Even the best cat can’t catch every mouse’; even ‘Big Red’, as Secretariat was popularly known, was beaten on five different occasions during his brief, 16-month career.
Secretariat made his racecourse debut, as a two-year-old, in a maiden stakes race, over 5½ furlongs, at Aqueduct Racetrack, New York in July, 1972, for which he was sent off favourite. He was impeded at the start and, despite making up ground hand over first in the final two furlongs, could only finish fourth.Later in his two-year-old campaign, in October, 1972, Secretariat was first past the post in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park, New York, but was subsequently demoted to second place, having been deemed to have caused interference to the original runner-up, Stop The Music.
A further shock defeat followed in the Wood Memorial Stakes, his preparatory race for the Kentucky Derby, back at Aqueduct Racetrack in April, 1973. Secretariat had worked without his usual zest beforehand and was subsequently found to be suffering from a large, but hitherto undiagnosed, mouth abscess, but could only finish third, beaten 4 lengths, behind stable companion Angle Light. He was subsequently beaten into second place in both the Whitney Handicap and the Woodward Stakes, both in New York, but finished his three-year-old campaign with a 9-12 record, including the coveted Triple Crown, and a record seasonal prize money of $860, 404.