This is a book review for Secretariat by William Nack.
The poles flash by, one after another, and Secretariat continues widening his lead-to fourteen and then fifteen lengths midway of the turn. Then sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. He does not back off. He never slows a moment as he sweeps the turn and races to an ever-widening lead.
William Nack, “Secretariat”
Great athletes transcend their sports. They become part of the fabric of society. Their careers become stories we tell our children. And when their careers end, emotions engulf us as if our best friend is moving away.
Such is the case of the most famous horse in history. The story of Secretariat is not unlike the stories of Babe Ruth or Walter Payton or Gordie Howe or Wilt Chamberlain. But as a racehorse, Secretariat sparks more wonder, in part because what he did was so short lived. His career lasted only two years, and for most casual observers, it lasted only a marvelous five weeks.
Secretariat
William Nack, author of Secretariat (originally titled Big Red of Meadow Stable), recalls Secretariat’s journey from unknown horse to the pinnacle of horseracing—to the pinnacle of sport itself. Nack does it with grace, prose, and suspense. The book centers, rightfully, on Secretariat, with humans playing a supporting role. He tells how Secretariat amazed audiences, wowed the press, and angered his competition, all as the favorite to win. And Secretariat did it with a demeanor people never saw in a horse before. Seth Hancock of Claiborne Farm, where Secretariat would go upon retirement, once said:
You want to know who Secretariat is in human terms? Just imagine the greatest athlete in the world. The greatest. Now make him six-foot-three, the perfect height. Make him real intelligent and kind. And on top of that, make him the best-lookin’ guy ever to come down the pike. He was all those things as a horse.
I picked up this book in the middle of Triple Crown season, starting it after the Kentucky Derby and finishing it a few days after the Preakness Stakes. I came to the book with a basic understanding of the facts, having watched the movie Secretariat numerous times because my son watched it on repeat for a few months last year. The Belmont Stakes scene still resonates. Despite knowing some facts, the book captured my attention. Secretariat’s history sparked amazement and admiration as the fullness of his life came into view through Nack’s storytelling.
It’s a terrific book, worthy of your time. There are three themes that stood out to me as I read the book: partnership, luck, and legacy.
Partnership
The first time Sham and Secretariat were in the same race was at the 1973 Wood Memorial Stakes two weeks before the Kentucky Derby. Sham was widely considered to be Secretariat’s best competition. And it proved true. In this race, Sham came in second to Angle Light, a horse nobody expected to win. Secretariat was third For the next three races Sham and Secretariat raced neck and neck when it mattered most. They challenged each other. They motivated each other. We think about partnership mostly in a collaborative sense, but it’s at least as prevalent in competition. Ali and Frazier. Brady and Manning. Magic and Bird. One makes the other better. They were partners in competition. Sometimes we need the fire of another to keep our fire shining brighter. We need a worthy opponent to become our best. World records aren’t broken on practice fields. They are broken only in competition. It is my belief that Sham made Secretariat a better racehorse.
Luck
Let’s start with the coin flip. In short, Meadow Stable, the breeding and racing operation owned by the Chenerys, made a deal with Ogden Phipps that Phipps’s Bold Ruler would mate four times with three mares (Somethingroyal went twice) from the Meadow over two breading seasons. A coin flip allows the winner to choose first from the first pair of foals. The loser gets the second foal from the first pair and chooses the first foal from the second pair. However, one mare in the second pair didn’t become pregnant, so the loser of the flip got two horses, while the winner only got one. The “loser” of the flip actually is the winner. Chenery lost the coin flip. Secretariat was born to Somethingroyal in the second pair. That coin flip altered the course of horseracing history.
That history impacts Sham significantly. When the horses entered the gate for the 1973 Kentucky Derby, the race record by Northern Dancer was a flat two minutes. When the race finished, Secretariat’s official time was 1:59.40, giving him the record. Analysis shows that Sham’s Derby time is between 1:59.74 and 1:59.93, making his race the second fastest time in Derby history. (But since only the winners’ time was recorded, this is speculation.) The same thing plays out in the Preakness Stakes two weeks later. The race record is 1:54. Secretariat wins in a record time of 1:53, with Sham following with a time of 1:53.60.
Two record times in two races, by perhaps the two fastest horses in the history of the Triple Crown. But only one lives with us forever. In any other year, Sham likely wins the Triple Crown, and we’d be writing stories about him. But as bad luck would have it, Sham raced against Secretariat, missed out on the roar, then faded into history.
Legacy
When 1973 ended, Secretariat went to stud at Claiborne Farm. Once in his stall, someone said Secretariat looks like “just another horse” at the farm. Of course, Secretariat isn’t just another horse, but the idea lingers because no matter what we do in life, we all end with the ultimate fall. If I mention John Tyler, Franklin Pierce, or William Harrison to the average American, I likely get blank stares. Yet at the peak of their lifetimes, they held the office of President of the United States. Now, they are “just another man.” Men are born, men live, and men die. Such is life for humans and horses.
For a tremendous overview of Secretariat’s life, without the detail the book offers, check out William Nack’s obituary to Secretariat, published in Sports Illustrated in 1990.
