Justify toyed with the field and won going away. He ran it in 2:28, Secretariat’s record is 2:24, which I think comes out to about 25 lengths Secretariat would have beat him by. With that said, horse racing needs Triple Crown winners and Justify was without a doubt the best this year. Congratulations to Justify for running a great race. After the Preakness I didn’t think he could do it.
Secretariat holds the record, but you never know how a winning horse responds to a challenger running next to them or in front of them. Some horses perform better with a horse to chase and they run faster. Justify led the whole way, pulled away at the end, and still appeared to have a lot left.
They are all magnificent animals!
Secretariat would have beaten American Pharaoh, too.
Bringing up Secretariat in comparison to other horses is like bringing up Ruth comparisons to other baseball players.