everytime i see the video of the 1973 Belmont, tears well in my eyes. Big Red ran the first 3/4 in 1:09.4. suicide for a normal horse running 1.5 miles. 1:09 is a good time for your $100,000 sprinter. i doubt THE BEST 6F horses in the world could run 1:09 then run the next 6 in 1:15. If you notice, Ron Turcotte never sat down on him, never urged him for more (like he needed to), but the point is.. how fast could he have run that last 6F if Ronny asked him for more? Broke the record by 2 seconds and it easily could have been 3 or more. Secretariat was an amazing animal. Secretariat succumbed to laminitis in October of 1989 at the reasonably young age of 19. Ironically the same malady that kept the great Barbaro (the next Secretariat?) from recovering from his horrific accident in the 2006 Preakness. I've been around racing a long time and, in my opinion, there will NEVER be another horse the likes of Secretariat. NOTE: in winning the Kentucky Derby (and i have no way to verify what i am about to say... but the stats are exact) I believe he was the only horse to run EVERY quarter mile FASTER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE. His times for the Derby were 25 1/5, :24, :23 4/5, :23 2/5 and :23. A more than impressive feat to be sure! I hope the original footage of his triple crown races are archived where they can never be destroyed. Definitely one of the great sports achievements of my lifetime. (others being Hank Aaron breaking Ruth's record, the great comeback of the Mets to win the NL and the World Series, the Patriots going 16-0, Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points, Gretzky ('nuff said), the U.S. hockey team beating the Russians then going on to win the gold medal; i'm sure there are a few more ABSOLUTE GREAT MOMENTS in sports but these are the ones i grew up with and saw (except for Wilt's 100.. that was actually played in Hershey, Pa not Philadelphia and was radio only.)