Quote:
Originally Posted by Calzone Lord
John Edwards liked to talk about "two America's" ... you really did have two Secretariat's.
He was a GREAT, GREAT horse overall ... but also a hot and cold type horse as a 3yo.
The defeats in the Wood, Whitney, and Woodward at age 3 (a sweep Easy Goer accomplished at age 3)
Secretariat also performed moderately in his early season wins.
He came into the Kentucky Derby with Ragozin Sheet figures of 11.00, 6.25, and 12.00 in his 3 Derby preps. Spectacular Bid was running his Derby preps in the 2.50 to 4.50 range and finished his 2yo season supersonic fast. Affirmed was in the 6.50 to 9.25 range for his preps. Slew in the 7.25 to 10.00 range for his preps.
Secretariat, despite being 2yo champion, was not highweight on the mythical Derby Handicap. Also, he almost certainly would not have been the favorite in the Kentucky Derby if he was uncoupled.
A tooth abscess was bothering him -- and almost certainly the reason he was performing below par in his Derby preps. It got treated after the Wood Memorial and his Ragozin figure improved to a 0.75 in the Kentucky Derby.
In the rest of the century -- no one approached Secretariat's Derby Ragozin figure:
Secretariat: 0.75
Spectacular Bid: 1.75
Unbridled: 2.00
Spend A Buck: 2.25
Silver Charm: 3.00
He had a killer Triple Crown series -- and ran some killer races afterwards.
However, he ran five races at age three that weren't up to par with his standard.
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Speaking of The Bid's 2yr old season, did he not win 3 grade 1 races at 3 different tracks in a 3 week time, while setting a track record that still stands today at 1 1/6?