Fifty years ago today, Secretariat continued his march toward the 1973 Kentucky Derby with a victory in the 1-mile Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct under jockey Ron Turcotte.
With challenger Champagne Charlie gaining ground in the stretch, Turcotte "asked Secretariat to burn the reserves” and the Meadow colt responded. “The big chestnut, recently syndicated for a world-record $6,080,000, dug in suddenly and pulled away, finally winning off by three lengths,” wrote Bill Nack in Newsday.
“The race was an astonishing demonstration of his speed. Secretariat, after taking the lead early—something he had never done in any of his 10 career starts—raced through the first three-quarters of a mile in 1:08 3/5 seconds, which tied the track record for that distance, and finished the mile in 1:33 2/5 seconds, which equalled the track record for one mile.”
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Collected.
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