Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder once said that he did not like Secretariat’s chances.  That was before the 1973  Kentucky Derby in which Secretariat broke the record by running each quarter-mile split faster than the preceding one!

Secretariat won the triple crown that year, a feat that was previously done in 1948 and has not been repeated to-date since Affirmed in 1978.  In that same year, Secretariat routed all other horses at Belmont by finishing an amazing 31 lengths ahead of the field.

Penny Tweedy probably would not have owned Secretariat if she had won a coin toss in 1969 which would have enabled her to have choice of first foal of Bold Ruler. Instead, she lost that toss and had to wait an entire year to choose her prize, Secretariat.