Secretariat won the KY Derby and Preakness in record times and went on to win the Belmont by 21 lengths. When you talk about great horses you think of War Admiral, Seabisquit, Citation and then the greatest of them all...Secretariat.
As a couple of Freepers pointed out moments ago, it appears that the horse may have sustained an injury during the race. Whether or not California Chrome would’ve won the race is a mystery we’ll never know the answer to. Although, any future races will tell us more about this horse.
31 Lengths, but who's counting.
Secretariat was by far the greatest horse ever, IMO. And there was a reason he won the Belmont by an unbelievable distance. He had a heart that was literally twice the size of normal. This was found out at the autopsy when he died.
Even with this huge physical advantage, Secretariat lost a very important race due to injury just before the Derby. The injury??? A mouth blister.
The reason I point this out is that Chrome had a foot/hoof injury at the start of the Belmont race. The owner and trainer knew it. They ran him anyway. At the end of the race his foot was bleeding. In spite of this he was in the race till the final furlong.
I would put more emphasis on this, along with the questionable strategy of his jockey, as a cause for his failure to win.
One thing I think everyone agrees on, the owner did not compliment himself with his behavior after the race. Even if he thought it, he shouldn't have said it.