Half a century ago, much was made of Secretariat’s soothing effect upon a wider society badly in need of a hug. In the world outside of horse racing, there was Vietnam, Watergate, and the residue of the 1960s, during which American leaders were shot at an alarming rate. Then Secretariat came along—a big, red movie star of a racehorse—and America had a bona fide sports hero upon which to lavish its embattled attention.
The world could use Secretariat now. Boy, could we use him now. Of course, Secretariat did not make Vietnam or Watergate go away. Images from those grim realities appeared on the covers of major magazines far more often than the blinkered visage of the Meadow Stable star. What Secretariat provided, though, was a balm for the soul, a vessel into which anxieties could be poured and neutralized, as if by some alchemist’s magical touch.
Longing for the Secretariat effect has permeated the 2023 season. Even so, such justifiable nostalgia should not discourage a fulsome appreciation of the galaxy assembling at Santa Anita Park for the Breeders’ Cup races of Nov. 3-4. The Saturday chapter of the show is rife with household names—depending on your address—that will include Arcangelo , Mage , Cody’s Wish , Auguste Rodin , King of Steel , Inspiral , and Mostahdaf . Just having them in town is a treat. I’d settle for a parade.
They are by far the available best of an eventful season. By contrast, Secretariat was hailed as the finest Thoroughbred many racing people had ever seen, back when horse racing was accepted among the company of mainstream sports and okay to talk about in mixed company. Heck, if you ran into someone who had not heard of Secretariat, they were embarrassed and apologetic. But those folks were few and far between.
Secretariat brought out the best in artists, photographers, and essayists far and wide, especially in reaction to his suffocating embrace of the 1973 Triple Crown. This, from his biographer, William Nack:
“Rarely in sport has a game’s most brilliant competitor risen at precisely the right juncture in history—at the perfect coordinates of place, occasion and time—and seized the day by delivering a performance so original, so stunning in its clarity, that it raised to a new level the standard by which all who followed would be measured.”
Secretariat on the cover of Newsweek Magazine
And this by Pete Axthelm, from his Newsweek magazine cover story:
“He has captured the imagination of millions—and he belongs, ultimately, not to 29 wealthy shareholders but to everyone who ever mucked out a stall, nursed a sick mare and her spindly foal to health or lost a bet in a tight photo. To them, Secretariat is the indisputable proof that all the work and hope of racing can be worthwhile.”
Saturday, Oct. 28, marks the 50th anniversary of Secretariat’s final start on a chilly autumn afternoon in Canada. The unlikely setting for the All-American star was the 1973 Canadian International Championship Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine, a grade 2 turf event that had been won by some very good horses during its modern incarnation, including Droll Role, One for All, George Royal, and the rugged mare Drumtop. Secretariat was in Canada because either, a) Penny Tweedy, Secretariat’s owner, owed a debt of gratitude to Canadian industry leader Edward P. Taylor, b) trainer Lucien Laurin and jockey Ron Turcotte were both from Canada, or c) the race came up three weeks from Secretariat’s previous start, and Laurin liked to strike while the iron was hot.
How hot? On Oct. 7, 1973, Secretariat made his grass debut and promptly set a course record for a mile and one-half in winning the Man o’ War Stakes (G1T). The subsequent announcement that Big Red would bow out in the CIC sent wheels spinning north of the border, many of them in the office of Bruce Walker, Woodbine’s publicity chief, who was also in charge of advertising.
“I’d already approved our ad campaign for the International,” said Walker this week. “When we heard Secretariat was coming, I immediately called our ad guy and told him something was missing.”
And what could that possibly be, at that late date?
“I said, ‘Secretariat,’ and there was stunned silence on the other end,” Walker said. “Then we went to work.”
Let the record show that a hardy crowd of 35,117 braved the onslaught of an Arctic front that Sunday morning in Toronto to line up early and stay late to watch Secretariat strut his incomparable stuff. Despite gusts of sleeting rain and snow flurries, the Woodbine course stayed firm and Secretariat responded with a mile and five-eighths in a near record 2:41 4/5. Big Spruce, winner of the San Luis Rey Stakes (G1T) earlier that year at Santa Anita, finished a distant second.
“There was a little give in the ground,” said Eddie Maple, who was 24 when he stepped in for the suspended Turcotte. “But they would let the grass on that course grow long. What moisture there was that day was pretty well absorbed before it got into the ground.”
Maple is handsomely featured in a fine telling of Secretariat’s last race in a video presentation crafted by Tammy Gillanders and Phil McSween of the Woodbine television department (view it here). The feature will be shown during the simulcast presentation of Woodbine’s Saturday program, along with a shorter version focused on Maple and the experience of being aboard for Secretariat’s last hurrah.
“They did a good job,” said Maple, who retired to South Carolina with his wife, Kate, after a Hall of Fame career. “It was kind of nice being back at Woodbine, walking the course, letting the memories flow.
“Fifty years is a long time between drinks being a celebrity,” Maple added with a laugh. “But being associated even that one time with Secretariat is worth it.”
Just as Man o’ War, Count Fleet, Whirlaway, and Citation made their indelible imprints on the game, Secretariat’s legacy has provided background music for the decades that followed his final race. Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Alydar, and Spectacular Bid came along quickly to keep hope alive that another like Big Red was possible. John Henry, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, and Easy Goer could hum a similar tune but never quite hit the Secretariat high notes. Then, more recently, the game had to be content with Cigar, Zenyatta , Rachel Alexandra , and Flightline , resigned to the hard fact that there never would be a next Secretariat.
That is, unless you count the second season of the Netflix hit “BoJack Horseman,” during which an animated “Secretariat” makes a series of increasingly surreal appearances as a touchstone presence in the fantasy life of the main character. In one episode, sporting a stylish tan three-piece suit while gabbing with a cartoon Dick Cavett, “Secretariat” fends off rumors of race-fixing and offers somber advice to a young fan:
“When you get sad, you run, straight ahead, and you keep running forward no matter what. There are people in you life who are going to try to hold you back, slow you down. But you don’t let them. Don’t you stop running. Don’t you ever look behind you. There’s nothing for you behind you. All that exists is what’s ahead.”
Thank you, Secretariat.
