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.
——Secretariat was by far the greatest horse ever——
Was Secretariat great or was the field just mediocre, poor?