“That’s interesting to learn. I had thought for sure that Secretariat won big, but I may be thinking about that year’s Preakness.”
It was the Belmont that Secretariat blew the field away by something like 19 1/2 lengths. Incredible race, that one.
Yes, you're right. Secretariat was the first horse I remember watching - I was 10(ish) at the time. I did some quick research. Secretariat still holds the track records at both Churchill Downs and at Belmont. And, his Belmont win is the fastest time recorded on a dirt track of that length ever.
Sports Illustrated did a feature on Secretariat several years after his death. It was the most moving sports biography I'd ever read to that time and since.