1973 Preakness (UPDATE: Maryland accepts 1:53.0)

[outofthebox]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

DRF has a story up about how MD is looking into retiming the Preakness the year Secretariat won it.

What I found interesting was the video. In the beginning of the video, as they approach the gate, they talk about how Sham was kicked/hammered in the head before the race and lost a couple of teeth. Anyone ever heard that before?

http://www.drf.com/news/secretariats...and-commission

I believe he lost some teeth in the starting gate for the Derby.

[tector]

The Zapruder film of horse racing....

[Riot]

Independent timers, at the race, caught Secretariat in record time. Penny Chenery is asking Maryland Jockey Club to review it, and give Secretariat the real, record time, in the record books and history.

I hope they do. The horse earned it.

Yes, I recall at the time after the Preakness, hearing that Sham had knocked out a couple baby teeth in the gate at the Derby. Don't recall it being a kick, but hey, it was decades ago.

Secretariat broke Sham's racing heart on the far turn in the Belmont. Sham ran the Derby in record time, too.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by outofthebox

I believe he lost some teeth in the starting gate for the Derby.

that was the one. knocked out two in the derby gate.
they need to officially re-do the preakness tho. everyone know secretariat has that record. why they choose to be so damned obstinate about it i don't know.

[slotdirt]

Louis Quatorze protest.

[Indian Charlie]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

Louis Quatorze protest.

Tank's Prospect too. A pretty good but forgotten horse.

[Calzone Lord]

My take on the timing error from a past post I made here:

Preakness - you have a dispute between the timer (1:55) and the Daily Racing Form time (1:53 2/5) .. the DRF time is obviously correct because the 1:55 time comes with a 25 flat opening quarter in the charts. The timer was no doubt tripped early .. as three cheap claiming races in the day all featured 23 4/5 opening quarters at 8.5fs. Anyone believe the early pace in those cheap claimers was really 8 lengths faster than the Preakness?

One race prior to the Preakness - Port Conway Lane won an alw race at 8.5fs in 1:43.80 (33 Beyer points slower than DRF Preakness winning time) - one race after the Preakness Buffalo Run won a 4K starter alw for older males at 9f in 1:51.00 (38 Beyer points slower than Preakness)

Buffalo Run was a rock solid 10K claimer with a 2nd and 3rd in recent alw tries. Port Conway Lane had been 1st or 2nd in each of his last 4 recent tries at the alw level. While not stakes caliber horses - these are useful older males.

Based on the DRF Time the figures look like this:

Preakness: Secretariat 123

ALW for older males: Port Conway Lane 90

4k Starter for older males: Buffalo Run 85

9.5K claimer for older males at 8.5f: 1.5 length winner gets 80

5K claimer for older males: 4.5 length winner gets 78

3K claimer for older females: 0.75 length winner gets 63

[DaTruth]

I'm reserving judgment on whether Secretariat was better than Zenyatta until this matter is resolved.

[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.