The Secretariat book

The movie was out recently about the great race horse called Secretariat. He was certainly one of the great thoroughbred race horses of all time - a Triple crown winner - a winner of 16 out of 21 races, and the famous jockey who rode him said he should never have lost even one race. He was the type of horse that got better the harder you worked him (very unusual indeed). He won the Belmont (the last of the 3 races making up the Triple crown) by 31 lengths - the largest gap of victory EVER for that race, And on that dirt track Big Red still holds the record as the fastest ever run over 1 and 1/2 miles, and this was way back in 1973.

Now the world record for that distance is NOT held by Secretariat. The great Sec. or "big red" as many called him does not hold ANY world records for any distance anymore. But he was still one of the great race horses, in the overall of horse racing, and let's face it records are made to be broken sooner or later. Some horse may have just the right conditions and just have a super day that day, and set a world record, and may have done nothing before or after that day as anything worth noting, such it can be in the horse racing world.

I bought also the book called "Secretariat" - a book that would have been much better if it had been about have as many pages, unless you like boring pages of pedigrees and family history of this and that person. Yes, leaving out all that lack-luster and boring stuff would have made the book much more exciting and interest holding. The book for reading does not compare with the book written about Seabiscuit - which is gripping from page one to the end.

And the movie......well the book gives some of the true facts that are not portrayed in the movie, not so much about the horse, which they had right in the movie but about the lady owner, she was not in reality quite like the lady given in the movie, so some "hollywood" fudging went on. And surprisingly she was not as in love and sure about Secretariat as the movie gives you. And sad to say she was caught up in the world of horse racing to the point that her marriage did end in divorce. Her husband I guess was just not that interested in horses and horse racing as the lady Tweedy became.

So for the real life of everything the Seabiscuit movie and book is far more real and gripping than the Secretariat movie and book. But certainly both horses were unique in their day. Both had trainers and jockeys that were also unique, and both jockeys were by the way Canadians. And in the case of Big Red - Secretariat - the trainer was Canadian also.

Oh yes, Secretariat was chosen as one among 50 of the greatest athletes ever, the only horse or animal of the 50. I think the chooses made a large error here. They should have also put TRIGGER - the horse of Roy Rogers in among that 50 greatest athletes of all time. As Roy himself said, the first and original Trigger was in every movie he made. He ran like the wind, jumped, ran up and down hills, you could rope from him, stunt ride from him (which only certain horses will allow), and did all this as Roy said without EVER pulling a muscle - he was as tough as old leather - NOW THAT in my book (and I'm a horseman) is SOME GREAT ATHLETE!! Yes indeed TRIGGER was for me one of the greatest athletes who has ever lived, and a beautiful looking horse to boot.
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