Secretariat | Horse Racing Free Tips

Letter to the Editor: Mike Sekulic

Was Flightline's Pacific Classic the best performance since Secretariat's Belmont (as Bill Finley asked in The Week in Review in Monday's TDN)? Although it was great, the obvious answer is no, because we have witnessed many incredible races over the last nearly 50 years. But comparing and contrasting racehorses (and their best performances), and wondering how they stack up against each other, is part of what makes horse racing exciting and interesting. Secretariat's stupendous effort in the last leg of the Triple Crown was very likely the best performance by a racehorse. Flightline's stunning effort (specifically, the margin of victory) may have looked slightly better due to substandard competition.

Secretariat broke Gallant Man's 16-year-old track record by 2 3/5th seconds while running 2:24 in his historic tour de force in the 1973 Belmont S., at the demanding 12-furlong distance. Flightline missed the track record by less than 1/5th second in his 1:59 2/5 romp at 10-furlongs.

Many other horses over the years have run 1:59 2/5, or better, for 10-furlongs, including Spectacular Bid (world record), Quack, Secretariat, Affirmed, J.O. Tobin, Ghostzapper, Skip Away, Alysheba, In Excess, Candy Ride, Game On Dude, Best Pal, Gentlemen, Crystal Water, Ancient Title, Kennedy Road, Native Diver, and John Henry (via DQ…but he was only a nose behind). The list goes on and on, actually. Oh, and let us not forget Ancient Title's powerhouse victory in the 1977 Del Mar H., when it was contested at “120 feet less than 10-furlongs” and he ran 1:55 2/5, which the Los Angeles Times projected translated to 1:57 3/5 for the distance, which would have been a world record.

Obviously, many excellent horses have equaled or bettered Flightline's 10-furlong time, but Secretariat's 2:24 accomplishment stands alone for the 12-furlong distance, as no one has approached his time record. The closest anyone has come was Prove Out (while defeating Secretariat) in the 1973 Woodward S. in 2:25 4/5. Easy Goer clocked in at 2:26 in his Belmont S. win over Sunday Silence, while Hechizado and Nasty And Bold matched that clocking in respective Brooklyn H. victories.

American horses of the 21st Century do not compete nearly as often as their 20th Century counterparts. Should any of today's hothouse flowers be compared to the greats of the past who raced constantly? The heroes of the 1970's were battle-tested and danced every dance. During a 3-month period in 1972, the great Susan's Girl ran eight times! Also, in 1972 Cougar II won an 11-furlong turf race in 2:11 (New American record) and was wheeled back 3 weeks later to win at 8 1/2 furlongs on dirt in 1:39 1/5 (missing the world record by 1/5th second), which is a phenomenal achievement. At the end of 1973, Secretariat ran Sept. 15, Sept. 29, Oct. 8, and Oct. 28! These horses didn't need three to six months between starts! How would today's best fare with that kind of schedule?

Over the last 10 years or so, California Chrome, Arrogate, American Pharoah, Justify, or Flightline have been crowned “the best of all-time,” or “the best horse since Secretariat.” If you know the history of the sport you understand that many excellent racehorses have come along in the time span between Secretariat, in 1973, and now. However, it seems that all these horses are ignored, and only Secretariat is remembered. Secretariat and whoever the new “greatest horse of all time” is at the moment.

Forego, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Ruffian, and many other all-time greats, stepped into the spotlight in the wake of Secretariat's 1970's reign. However, the most astonishing thing is that when today's flavor-of-the-month bandwagon comes along, it's bad enough that the four champions mentioned above are ignored, but what's worse is that the best horse since Secretariat–Spectacular Bid–is forgotten.

Spectacular Bid was a perfect 24 for 24 in the middle-distance range of 7 to 10 furlongs, and his career total was 30 starts, 26 wins, 2 seconds, 1 third. He set multiple track records and even a world record. How does he get ignored or dismissed as these other horses are crowned heir apparent to Secretariat?

Leapfrogging over a horse like Spectacular Bid is unthinkable.

It's important to remember the great horses and performances of the past to put things in perspective and to consider that what you're witnessing now may or may not be the greatest thing that ever happened. But the discussion about great horses is fun, and Flightline surely is part of that debate.

Although the field that Flightline beat this weekend was not very strong, as evidenced by the fact that it took Country Grammer, who didn't offer his best effort, 2:03 to negotiate 10 furlongs, and the others 2:04 and much worse. Still, that takes nothing away from Flightline, because he certainly is sublime. I share the excitement and enthusiasm about him. From the standpoint of sheer talent and ability, he's as good as a horse can possibly get…maybe better.

Mike Sekulic, Thousand Oaks, CA

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Was Flightline’s Pacific Classic the Best Performance Since Secretariat’s Belmont?

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley

Some more thoughts on Flightline (Tapit) while trying to come up with the right superlative to describe his win in the GI TVG Pacific Classic. Words like spectacular, stunning, sensational just don't seem good enough.

(*) It's tempting to try to compare him to Secretariat. The thing is, that's simply impossible. One has run just five times, the other ran 21 times, won the Triple Crown, was a two-time Horse of the Year and had his picture on the covers of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. They're not going to make a movie about Flightline. They are different horses from different eras, equine apples and oranges. Is Flightline as good as Secretariat, or the best horse since Secretariat? There's no answer to that question.

But there is a way to look at the two under the same microscope by comparing what were the two best performances of their respective careers. Secretariat's 31-length win in the 1973 GI Belmont S. was not just the greatest performance of his career, it was the best race ever run by any horse at any time in the history of horse racing. No one will ever top what he did that afternoon 49 years ago at Belmont Park.

But you can easily make the argument that Flightline's Pacific Classic was the best performance anyone in the U.S. has seen since. This was no easy assignment. Country Grammer (Tonalist), Royal Ship (Brz) (Midshipman), Express Train (Union Rags) are solid older horses, all Grade I-level horses. And Flightline thrashed them, winning by 19 1/4 lengths despite being eased up in the final sixteenth by jockey Flavien Prat. He ran a 126 Beyer, second best ever given out by the Beyer team and two points behind the 128 given to Ghostzapper (Awesome Again) when he won the GIII Philip H. Iselin H. in 2004.

As announcer Trevor Denman said in his call, “Take a good look at this because this is something you're not going to see too often. Maybe never again.”

It's worth noting that the two races unfolded is nearly identical fashion. Secretariat's rivals were still within striking distance midway down the backstretch as Sham stayed close. Then he spurted away from Sham and, from there, kept widening his margin over his competitors. Flightline did much the same thing. With a half-mile to go in the race, Extra Hope (Shanghai Bobby) was just a length behind Flightline while the main rivals were all within five or six lengths. Then Flightline hit another gear, took off and left some good horses looking like they belonged in the seventh at Finger Lakes.

Then there was the look back. Prat looked over his right shoulder in the stretch as if he couldn't believe he was so far in front. Ron Turcotte did the same, only looking over his left shoulder.

“These races were very similar,” said Dave Johnson, who called the 1973 Belmont for NYRA. “His Pacific Classic was breathtaking and that explosion of speed coming into the far turn was very similar to what Secretariat did. Almost 50 years later, I've never been so impressed by a horse or saw something that sent me back to the Secretariat days.”

(*) There's one thing we have yet to see from Flightline, which is what would he do if ever asked. Prat has never allowed this horse to fire on all cylinders in the stretch. There has been no need to do so. Why not save something for another day?
But could Flightline have won the Pacific Classic by even more than 19 1/4 lengths if Prat hadn't wrapped up on him? It stands to reason that he could have, maybe even by five or six more lengths.

Since the GI Breeders' Cup Classic will likely be his last start this year and maybe in his career, why not just let him roll? Wouldn't it be great to see what Flightline could do if his jockey called on everything he had. Maybe he wins by 31 lengths. What do they have to lose?

(*) The only negative to the Flightline story is that he has only run five times. Part of the reason why is that he had some bad luck (like crashing into a fence and suffering a nasty gash while he was being broken as a yearling) and other minor setbacks along the way. But his light schedule is more about the way top horses are campaigned in the modern era and how what really matters is not what they do on the racetrack but how much they are worth as stallions. You can't blame trainer John Sadler, who mapped out the schedule. His job was to create a very valuable stallion and in that regard he did everything right.

We also don't know how much of a challenge it may be to get Flightline prepared for races. He could be one of those too-fast-for-his-own-good horses, ones that need a lot of time off between races.

But, as racing fans, we should all feel cheated that we have seen so little of this horse. The good news is maybe this story isn't over. Yes, he is worth more as a stallion than as a racehorse, but after the Pacific Classic, Sadler told reporters that the connections have an open mind when it comes to racing him next year as a 5-year-old.

Go for it. Sometimes there's more to the story than the bottom line and owners should feel they have at least some obligation to do what's best for the sport.

(*) Will the Pacific Classic affect the Breeders' Cup plans among some of the other top horses in the older male dirt division? The question is: no matter how good your horse might be, do you really want to take on Flightline in the Classic in what may be an exercise in futility, especially when there is the option of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile? If I were the connections of Life Is Good (Into Mischief), I'd already have the pre-entry slip filled out for the Dirt Mile.

(*) Remember when there was some concern that Flightline might not get a mile and a quarter? In hindsight, he's obviously better at 10 furlongs than he is in shorter races. No surprise since he is by Tapit.

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Seven Days: Perfect News For Haggas

Few, if any, trainers have been in more consistent form this season than William Haggas, who now finds himself atop the table in Britain, with a strike-rate of 27% for the season. His earnings of £4,611,340 at the time of writing place him narrowly ahead of reigning champion Charlie Appleby.

Top of the Somerville Lodge list of horses, and the earner of roughly a third of the yard's prize-money this year, is of course arguably the best horse in the world, Baaeed (GB), around whom continues to swirl uncertainty as to where we will see him next. What we now know with some certainty is that he will appear only once more on the racecourse, but whether that will be at Ascot or ParisLongchamp seems largely dependent on how soft the ground becomes in October following a drought-ridden summer.

The Haggas stable is no one-trick pony, however. Star of the show Baaeed is backed by a supporting cast which includes G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Alenquer (Fr), the Group 2 and 3 winners Sea La Rosa (Ire), Maljoom (Ire), Purlepay (Fr), Lilac Road (Ire), My Prospero (Ire), Ilarab (Ire), Bashkirova (GB), and the Haggas family homebred, Hamish (GB). A particularly pleasing result for the team would have been the victory nine days ago of Perfect News (GB) in the G3 Ballyogan S., a first at group level for the daughter of Frankel (GB) and the former Haggas-trained G2 Lowther S. winner Besharah (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who died earlier this year at the age of just nine.

The championship is far from over, with some of the most valuable races of the season still to be run during an action-packed autumn. Haggas will doubtless be guided not just by weather forecasts but by Baaeed's owner Sheikha Hissa when it comes to deciding on the colt's swansong. While the Arc is the more valuable race overall, the near £750,000 on offer for the winner of the QIPCO British Champion S. could potentially make the difference for Haggas to gain his own championship for the first time.

The relentless winner-producing machine that is Mark Johnston reached a new milestone in the last week when passing the 5,000 mark. Technically speaking, the Johnston counter was reset to zero on New Year's Day 2022 when the trainer brought son Charlie on board as co-trainer, but only a pedant could insist that Johnston senior, one of racing's most successful participants and clearest thinkers, could be denied a continuing tally.

Donny Dances to the Tune

I was strolling on a quiet Scottish beach last week while my colleague Brian Sheerin did the hard yards at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale. The Highland idyll was interrupted every now and then to check on proceedings at Doncaster, where the words 'frenetic' and 'hunger' appeared to be being bandied around with frequency. Indeed, the final results testified to the strength in demand across the board that is extremely welcome at a yearling sale pitched at a more everyday level than the elite boutiques of Arqana August, Goffs Orby or Tattersalls October Book 1.

There had been pre-sale angst in some quarters that the relatively new Tattersalls Somerville Sale had been taking some of the Premier Sale's ground but that appears to have been unfounded, and Donny did as Donny does, only better again than last year. A rise in the number of six-figure lots and strong clearance rate pulled the rest of the sale up by its bootstraps to deliver what appears to be a satisfying set of figures.

The results from next Tuesday's Somerville Sale will be indicative as to whether this level of demand is set to continue as the season wears on. Considering racing's myriad problems, particularly in Britain, it is heartening, and perhaps somewhat mystifying, that this bullish market for horses continues not just at the very top level but on lower tiers as well. Yes, to a degree, there will be people buying with a close eye on the overseas resale market, and that includes the bold breeze-up pinhookers. But a scroll through the results shows that there remains a huge range of trainers waving their catalogues to start the annual restocking of their yards, which is an encouraging sign.

John and Jess Dance's Manor House Farm was the second-leading buyer at the sale which must remain a favourite to them, having purchased the mighty Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) at Doncaster six years ago. The Dances can also take encouragement from the excellent start made at Manor House by their resident trainer James Horton, who now has 12 wins to his name and sent out his first stakes winner at the weekend when Sam Maximus (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) won the Listed Hopeful S. at Newmarket. The 3-year-old was bred by Whitsbury Manor Stud, which continues to enjoy an excellent year courtesy of its graduates.

The sales caravan rolls on next to the somewhat depleted Osarus Yearling Sale at La Teste de Buch on Tuesday, with much livelier fare likely to emanate from Germany's main event, the BBAG Yearling Sale, on Friday. I've been lured back from the beach for a return to the glorious spa town of Baden-Baden later this week. Go figure.

Buick Forges On

There are few nicer people to bump into for a quick chat at the sales than Walter Buick and his son Martin, who now works with agent Hubie de Burgh having completed a stint with the Niarchos family. Walter, a former multiple champion jockey in Scandinavia, is a regular buyer for a number of his contacts in that part of the world and can count this year's Swedish Derby and Norwegian Derby winner Hard One To Please (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) among his recent purchases.

The greatest result of the season for the Buick family, however, will be if William, the eldest of Walter's three sons, is crowned champion jockey at Ascot in October, and it is a scenario that becomes more likely by the day.

After an extraordinary week, particularly at Goodwood, where he won all three group races on Saturday and eight of his 12 rides there across the weekend, William added another 13 wins to his name and is now 43 clear in the championship (though only nine wins ahead of Hollie Doyle for the year as a whole).

Tempus Fugit

While William Buick was hogging the Goodwood group action, his nearest pursuer for the title of champion jockey, Hollie Doyle, added yet another black-type victory to her increasingly impressive record at Deauville on Tempus (GB) (Kingman {GB}), who has now won back-to-back Group 3 races for Archie Watson and the Hambleton Racing syndicate.

Tempus was already a four-time winner with a rating of 97 for Roger Charlton and Juddmonte when he came up for sale exactly a year ago, and it now seems scarcely believable that the half-brother to Time Test (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) was bought for just 25,000gns. But by the time he popped up in the Tattersalls August Sale he had missed all of the 2021 season with what Juddmonte's useful and typically fulsome sales notes described as “sub condyle bone bruising in his left fore and left hind cannon bones” and which noted that Tempus had “exhibited a high level of form but is delicate”.

So, caveat emptor and all that, but in this case the outlay of 25,000gns was a risk worth taking because Tempus really is now flying. Making his first start for more than a year, and since being gelded, the 6-year-old won at Newcastle on January 2 and, with another five starts and a ratings rise to 103, he struck again at Ascot on July 23. Following that latest handicap success his two subsequent runs–and wins–have been in the G3 Sovereign S. at Salisbury, followed by Sunday's G3 Prix de Quincey. What next for the son of Group 1 winner Passage Of Time (GB)?

And talking of time flying, Deauville's August meeting has passed in what seems like the blink of an eye, and it has been a fruitful one for the Andre Fabre-trained Botanik (GB), who won the G3 Prix de Reux followed by Sunday's G2 Grand Prix de Deauville. With seven wins under his belt he thus becomes the top performer for his sire Golden Horn (GB). The Derby and Arc winner of 2015 recently moved from Dalham Hall Stud to Overbury Stud and has been represented in the past fortnight by the Ebor winner Trawlerman (GB) and Juddmonte's Listed Galtres S. winner Haskoy (GB), who appears to be heading next to the G2 Park Hill S. at Doncaster.

Classic Potential?

If you saddle a horse with the name Classic, you'd have to be pretty sure he was worthy of such a portentous moniker. In the case of the 2-year-old Classic (GB), a winner at Newmarket for Richard Hannon on Friday, he had justifiable claims to a proper name just on paper, for the colt is a son of Dubawi (Ire) out of the stakes-placed Date With Destiny (Ire), the only offspring of the subfertile and ill-fated superstar George Washington (Ire).

Date With Destiny raced in the colours of Julie Wood, who now owns her son Classic. She has already produced the Group 3 winner Beautiful Morning (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), and Classic could yet surpass his elder sister as he has some pretty fancy entries in the coming months.

“He still has signs of immaturity there but he is a very talented horse,” said Hannon of the colt, who was making his third start on Friday. “It wouldn't surprise me if we see him turn up at the top level, especially on soft ground. We will speak to Julie but she is never afraid of taking on these big races. I'd say there is a fair chance we go to the Champagne at Doncaster next.”

The Group 2 on September 10 is certainly a race in which the trainer has enjoyed plenty of success, having won three of the last eight runnings of the Champagne S.

Date With Destiny, who is now 14, remains in the Newsells Park Stud broodmare band and will be represented at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale by her colt from the first crop of another Newsells Park graduate, the Arc winner Waldgeist (GB).

Secretariat's Silks For Sale

With the yearling sales in full flow, there is of course no guarantee that any of us will ever find a horse as good as Secretariat, but next Tuesday there is (bizarrely) a chance to bid for the right to register the famous colours carried by Penny Chenery's Triple Crown winner.

Officially described as 'royal blue and white check, striped sleeves, royal blue cap', the set of colours formerly worn by the champion lovingly known as 'Big Red' is one of six to be offered for auction by the BHA during Sotheby's sporting memorabilia sale on September 6. The sextet of cherished colours also includes the distinctive set of aquamarine jacket and black cap and, according to the BHA's notes, the auction “presents the opportunity to purchase a unique set of silks that are not available to own through any alternative avenue”.

The guide price for Secretariat's silks is £5,000-£10,000. Then all you have to do is find a horse to wear them who moves like a tremendous machine.

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Why Have Standardbreds Gotten Faster and Thoroughbreds Have Not?

It's been almost 55 years since Dr. Fager set a world record for the mile distance when winning the 1968 Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park in 1:32 1/5, a record that has yet to be broken. In 1973, Secretariat won the GI Kentucky Derby, covering the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59 2/5, a record that still stands 49 years later. There are other examples, all leading to the same conclusion–the Thoroughbred racehorse is not getting any faster.

Some believe that horses have gotten as fast as they can get, have reached their physical limits and that there's no room for improvement. That was the conclusion reached by Stanford University biologist Dr. Mark Denny, whose 2008 study looked at the evolution of racehorses, greyhounds and human runners.

“While all such extrapolations must be used cautiously, these data suggest that there are limits to the ability of either natural or artificial selection to produce ever faster dogs, horses and humans,” Denny wrote.

But Denny failed to take into account that the Standardbred is doing exactly what he concluded could no longer be done. When Dr. Fager set his record, the fastest time ever by a Standardbred in a one-mile race was the 1:55 clocking turned in by pacer Bret Hanover in 1966. (Trotters are a few seconds slower than pacers).

Today, a 1:55 time would barely get it done in a mid-level race at a mid-level track as there doesn't seem to be any slowing down of this breed. Earlier this month, the record for the fastest mile ever by a Standardbred was set again as Bulldog Hanover won the William Haughton Memorial at the Meadowlands in 1:45 4/5. Since 1968, Dr. Fager's one-mile record has not been surpassed. (In 2003, Najran essentially equaled Dr. Fager's record, going a mile in 1:32.24 while winning the GIII Westchester H.). During that same time frame, starting in 1968, the record mile for a Standardbred has come down by 9 1/5 seconds.

“By far, our horses are just better horses than they were before,” said prominent harness trainer Mark Ford.

Harness racing breeders, owners and trainers say that the Standardbred is still evolving. Bill Solomon owns the Pennsylvania Farm Pin Oak Lane, which breeds both Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds. He says that the trotter or pacer of 2022 looks nothing like their predecessors from 50 or 60 years ago.

“Thoroughbreds have been bred for speed and for racing for a long time, for centuries,” Solomon said. “Don't forget the Standardbred was still used for transportation and commerce into the 1900s. So they evolved a lot later. We're breeding a totally different kind of horse. We used to breed a horse that had more of a Coldblood appearance and now we breed a horse that looks more like a Thoroughbred. Go back and look at a picture of [1951 Little Brown Jug winner] Tar Heel and compare that with sons of Meadow Skipper on to Speedy Crown and today to Somebeachsomewhere and that will answer your question. You will see a horse in Tar Heel that looked like a draft horse and when you get to Speedy Crown you'll start to see horses that look like fashionable Thoroughbreds.”

“I remember when I first got involved, our horses were the proverbial jugheads,” said Murray Brown, the retired general manager and vice president of Standardbred Horse Sales Company. “They were big, they were coarse, they were built more for endurance than they were for speed. It wasn't unusual back then for a horse to go three prep miles before the race. They were bigger and perhaps tougher, but they weren't this fast. They're now being bred predominantly for speed. Look at conformation pictures of the horses by Tar Heel. You got big, coarse, kind of plain horses. Today's horse is so much more streamlined.”

Another factor has been the advances the industry has made when it comes to equipment, primarily the sulky. They have become lighter and more aerodynamic.

“You hear all the time that the bikes are built so much more for speed now,” Brown said. “There's almost no friction and there's more loft and they just go faster because of that.”

The drivers are another part of the equation. Bret Hanover was driven by his trainer, Frank Ervin, typical of the time when the concept of the “catch driver” had yet to take hold. The trainers who drove their own horses might have weighed 200 pounds and weren't particularly skilled as drivers. Today, the vast majority of the horses are driven by individuals who do nothing but drive. The best invariably weigh in the neighborhood of 140 pounds.

“The main factor is probably the evolution of the breed, but there are other extraneous things like the dominance of the catch driver,” Brown said.

It's not that Thoroughbreds have always been this fast. Based on times for the Kentucky Derby, the Thoroughbred breed did evolve and get faster in the early 1900s. Between 1896, the first year the race was run at a 1 1/4 miles, and 1910, the average Derby time was 2:09.8. Over the next 14 years, from 1910 through 1923, the average winning time fell to 2:06.1. By 1962, the record for the Derby had fallen to 2:00.4, the time turned in by Decidedly. Every Derby since 2002 has been run in a slower time. Northern Dancer's time of 2:00 in 1964 has been eclipsed just twice, by Secretariat and by Monarchos in 2001. If there is a way to produce faster species, no one has figured that out.

The Standardbred will never be as fast as the Thoroughbred, but how close can they get? The consensus is that the Standardbred will eventually hit its peak as a breed but that may still be years away.

“When will we see a mile in 1:44?” Ford said. “I don't think we'll have to wait 10 years. The way things are going, it might be 10 weeks.”

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