I remember that, it was freaking incredible. A friend of mine is into horses and horse breeding, and he explained to me that what was interesting about Secretariat was that he was a bit of a freak. He had a different stride than any other horse which allowed him to run away like that. So, combine that with incredible physical ability, great training, and you had the greatest thoroughbred in history.

There's something about the excitement of the announcer's voice and the horse winning that always makes me get emotional and shed a tear of happiness. That is an amazing video, thanks BoP.

This one does the same thing to me.

Ooh, can this be a thread where we debate the greatest athletic performance of the 20th century?

More nominees: The Bob Beamon Mexico City long jump. The Eddy Merckx hour record. '72 Dolphins.

But not, arguably, the greatest race Secretariat ever ran. Earlier that year in the Kentucky Derby, Secretariat ran each quarter-mile faster than the previous one -- meaning when he hit the finish line, he was STILL ACCELERATING. His time of 1:59 2/5 has never been beaten, and only one horse (Monarchos in 2001) has ever broken the 2-minute mark. That day in 1973, two horses did it: Secretariat, and his rival, Sham.

On preview: Secretariat's heart weighed an estimated 22 pounds (it was never officially weighed, as his owners wished him to be buried intact). Sham's heart weighed 19 pounds. Most racehorses' hearts weigh between 8 and 12 pounds. A bit of a freak, indeed.

the greatest athletic performance of the 20th century?

Gotta be Edwin Moses. Dude won 122 straight 400m hurdles races over a span of almost ten years. Fucking unbelievable.

the greatest athletic performance of the 20th century?

I dunno, y'all. My 2nd grade soccer team won a game once. That's got to be up there.

For best athletic performance of the 20th Century, I like this one, if only because it was so improbable and dramatic Kirk GIbson's homerun in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series.
The backstory is that Gibson was hurt and could badly walk, let alone run. If he got a hit, the only way he could get on base would be with a home run. Gibson had not played the whole game, but told Manager Tommy Lasorda that he was ready to hit in the bottom of the 9th inning. The video is made even more dramatic with the call by the immortal Vin Scully.

Doohickie. . .some more backstory. . .The Dodgers had scouted the A's and found that, on a 3-2 count, Eckersly (who I absolutely love) invariably threw a backdoor slider to left handed hitters. So Gibson knew pretty much what was coming.

Sadly, that is the last highlight that the Dodgers have. Other than wait-till-next-years. (oh a few minor ones, but still. . this is the Dodgers we are talking about)

/bleeding Dodger blue

"what was interesting about Secretariat was that he was a bit of a freak. He had a different stride than any other horse which allowed him to run away like that...

yep, eek's got it. not only was he an aerobic freak, he had an unique hip and shoulder angle that created a freakishly efficient stride and stride length. The scientific analysis I've seen used the analogy 'spokes on a wheel' to describe how even his stride dynamic was. You can actually *see* it in the video BoP linked; watch how long and flowing his stride is compared to the horse next to him, who's 'rabbiting' along with a quick, choppy stride that bunches the footfalls together.

sadly, he was not a very prepotent sire (he did not 'throw true' for his traigs). he did ultimately win a reputation as a decent "dam's sire" (maternal grandsire) but he never did reliably pass along the traits that made him such a dominant racer. Which is sad, because it meant that the demands of the syndicate forced Penny Tweedy to retire him to stud early, despite that he could unarguably have had an astonishing career as a mature runner.

"Figure", the stallion owned by Justin Morgan, is the best example of equine prepotency. Figure's traits and genetic profile were so dominant that he became the foundation sire for an entire discrete breed; the Morgan horse. He was what is known as a 'sport'; an individual with such dominant genetic traits that they were passed down to all of his descendants.

i think remarkable accomplishments you can see at a distance are always odd ends flaring out at the end of a genetic branch of some family tree. The dying spark of a certain strain of evolution. We mutants are the future.

lfr, thanks for writing that. It wasn't remembering the details so well, and I was too lazy to look it up.

God help me, I love the horse races.

Wonderful clip, I could feel my pulse raise as he pulled away from the pack.