How good was Secretariat? Here's our Kentucky Derby expert prediction from 1973 (SN Archive)
"Secretariat has rippling muscles, a coppery chestnut coat, three white stockings, a prophetic white star on his forehead and the bold look of a living legend."
How good was Secretariat? Here's our Kentucky Derby expert prediction from 1973 (SN Archive) originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
This article, 'Secretariat One in Hundred for 99th Derby' by Gordon Jones originally appeared in the May 5, 1973 issue of The Sporting News. LOUISVILLE—The 99th running of the historic Kentucky Derby will have something the track of the twin spires hasn't seen in a full quarter century if a hunk of horse called Secretariat makes it to Blue Grass Country without incident. First of his species to be voted Horse of the Year over his elders at the tender age of 2, Secretariat has come back to the races at age 3 a horse of a different color yet.
Horsemen and turf writers alike are saluting him most likely to succeed on looks alone, even though his battle record would do credit to Billy Martin or Audie Murphy. Charley Hatton, a sophisticated old school columnist who has seen them all come and go for three generations, confesses he never has laid eyes on such a beast. SN ARCHIVES: Access every SN issue since 1886, for free Bobby Frankel, a 31-year-old from the streets of New York who broke all Hollywood Park training records on the other coast last summer, waxes even more enthusiastic.
“I was in New York when Secretariat was beating everything in sight last fall,” he said. “It was like watching a 3-year-old running against 2-year-olds. And they tell me the boy has become a man this year.
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