The American Spectator

p>War Emblem’s jockey was lucky not to have been thrown. But at the end of the backstretch this very nice horse was on the rail and in good position — and had nothing left! The subject is an excellent segue to the greatest Belmont ever. In June of 1973, Secretariat’s groom, Eddie Sweat, led the big horse out of his Belmont shed for an early walk. Oh, about, thirty feet away a water bucket was inadvertently knocked over by a pony girl. Secretariat, at once, was up on his hind legs, pawing at the sky and walking in circles. He was raring to go off, the rest is histoire ! Never was a horse so fit, he burst out of the gate at Belmont and sprinted the one and one-half mile in 2:24 flat. One can still hear the announcer as Secretariat roared down the backstretch, “And secretariat is moving like a tremendous machine.” He came home all alone, hand ridden, with any competition more than a sixteenth of a mile away. The best description of “Big Red” is by his biographer, William Nack. In speaking of the horse in human terms, he described, think of the greatest athlete in the world, oh, about six foot three, intelligent, kind and the best looking guy to ever come down the turnpike. br> — Edward Del Colle /p>