'Secretariat' begins filming in Kentucky

ESPN ^ | October 8, 2009 | AP

[cjshapi]

He was not the “evil” foe, and he was not 18 hands. I think it was around 15.2.

[kalee]

:)

[BluesDuke]

I saw Secretariat run the Preakeness. You could have sailed an aircraft carrier between Secretariat and 2nd place.

I saw him run the Belmont. Aircraft carrier, hell---in that race, you could have flown a 747 on a straight line between him and the place horse (Sham).

That horse had class. So did his owner. I'm looking forward to seeing this film.

[BluesDuke]

There have been two TC winners since Secretariat.

Both of whom---Seattle Slew and Affirmed (now, that would make a terrific film, too: the Affirmed/Alydar rivalry, as in the only time the same horse finished second in all three Triple Crown-winning races)---won Crowns in consecutive years.

There might have been a third consecutive Triple Crown winner at that time---Spectacular Bid---but for jockey Ronnie Franklin making the mistake of gunning the horse early instead of holding him for the big blow on the backstretch. The mistake blew Bid out early.

A piece of Secretariat trivia you may not remember: In his years at stud, he was somewhat renowned for a prankish personality and very well aware of how popular he was with biped visitors---he had the charming habit, among others, of lowering his nose for a visitor to give him a pet and, when the visitor proffered a hand, jerking his head up and dropping a mouthful of hay over the visitor's head.

He was seemingly aware of children, too, and was said to have had a little game he liked to play when children were present: he'd gallop to the rear of the area where he received visitors, then charge to the front fence like a raging bull only to pull up short just before the fence.

Did you know: One of Secretariat's blood cousins was the ill-fated Ruffian. (Her grandsire was Secretariat's sire, Bold Ruler.)