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On this day in New York · June 9, 1973

Secretariat Wins the Belmont by 31 Lengths

At Belmont Park on June 9, 1973, Secretariat stopped racing anyone but the clock and finished the length of a football field ahead of the next horse, sealing the first Triple Crown in a quarter century.

The facts

Date
June 9, 1973, Belmont Park, Elmont, New York
Margin of victory
31 lengths, still the Belmont Stakes record
Time
2:24 flat for 1½ miles, an American dirt record that still stands
Connections
Jockey Ron Turcotte, trainer Lucien Laurin, owner Penny Chenery's Meadow Stable

Only four other horses showed up to run against Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, and by the six-furlong mark even Sham, his one real rival from the Derby and Preakness, had faded and finished last. Ridden by Ron Turcotte for trainer Lucien Laurin and Penny Chenery's Meadow Stable, Secretariat just kept opening ground, running the fastest mile in Belmont history and crossing the line 31 lengths clear of the field in 2:24 flat, still the American dirt record for a mile and a half. It broke the race's 30-year-old margin-of-victory mark by six lengths and made Secretariat the ninth Triple Crown winner and the first since Citation in 1948. A crowd of 69,138 watched in person, and CBS's cameras carried it to more than 15 million households.

In their words

The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.

  1. Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a tremendous machine!

    Chic Anderson, CBS Television announcer, calling the 1973 Belmont Stakes live

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. Two twenty-four flat! I don't believe it. Impossible. But I saw it. I can't breathe. He won by a sixteenth of a mile! I saw it. I have to believe it.

    Kent Hollingsworth, editor of The Blood-Horse, on watching the finish

    Source: Wikipedia

Why it still matters

No horse has come within 20 lengths of matching that Belmont margin since, and the 25-year Triple Crown drought Secretariat ended is still the second-longest in the sport's history, which is part of why his run gets called the greatest performance by a North American racehorse.

Sources

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