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Edited on Fri Sep-24-10 02:17 AM by Awsi Dooger
I liked him at the time but as I followed the sport closer I realized he was overrated, particularly by the casual fan.
Great, great horse but I have to laugh when conventional wisdom types propose he would have managed big margins against other dominant horses, or that Sham was a world beater. Sham won 5 races in 13 starts and only one Grade 1 race, the Santa Anita Derby. He lost the Wood without excuse to a hardly overwhelming front runner named Angle Light. You never give too much credit for losing but the legend of Secretariat has absurdly propped Sham far beyond his true ability.
The track was lightning fast throughout the 1973 Classics. That accounts for Sham's fast time in the Derby. At the time it wasn't even a secret that tracks were freakishly fast that year, but as the decades pass everyone conveniently forgets it or ignores it. When I started handicapping based on speed figures in spring 1980, 7 of Belmont's 11 main track records were from a small window in 1973 surrounding Secretariat's Belmont. It was like running downhill. Five of the Belmont records were set from Preakness weekend to Belmont day. They were obviously setting up the track for potential record setting efforts. In the fall, on the same day Secretariat won the Marlboro Cup and set the world record at a mile and an eighth, a 3 year old filly named Desert Vixen tied the previous track record at the distance in the prior race. Am I supposed to believe Desert Vixen was equal to the best horse who ever ran the extremely common distance of 1 1/8 miles in the history of Belmont Park? I'd be a fool. The tracks were conditioned, no different than US Open green keepers who want 13 on the Stimpmeter and not 11.
Secretariat's official Preakness time was obviously botched. He earned the record, his rightful time later tied by two other horses. But I have very little sympathy for that dispute since the famous Belmont margin of 31 lengths is a crock. If you're so concerned about getting it right in Pimlico, do the same in Elmont. The place horse arrived 4.73 seconds later. LOL. A staggering 3 year old doesn't run 31 lengths in 4.73 seconds at the end of a mile and a half race. It's preposterous, bloated by several lengths. The track was caught dumbfounded by an extremely rare situation and slapped together an official chart that makes no sense. Eventually unbiased numbers guys will take a look and the 31 lengths will be exposed as fraudulent. Right now the guys in charge are the ones who hugged Secretariat pillows at the time. They're making movies like this one, not interested in common sense.
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