Post by buckeyebikerbabe on Jun 11, 2015 10:50:23 GMT -5
He was a very unique combination of sprinter speed and distance endurance. Very rare to find that combination of genes in any race horse. Penny Chenery was laughed at for breeding a speed stud to a distance mare. I think the "Good Old Boys Club" of racing stopped laughing after the Kentucky Derby in 1973.
Post by buckeyebikerbabe on Jun 11, 2015 11:01:43 GMT -5
Here is Secretariat's pedigree. His sire, Bold Ruler, was one of the best speed horses of his era, but he lost some big races, including the Derby because he would go to the lead almost immediately, but then burned out in the stretch. Secretariat's dam, Something Royal, came from a long line of "closers" - horses that come from the back of the pack and outlast the leaders who run out of gas and begin to fade in the stretch run. Those two styles of racing seem to be incompatible breeding in a single horse, but it actually produced a super horse who may never be equaled.
Here is Secretariat's pedigree. His sire, Bold Ruler, was one of the best speed horses of his era, but he lost some big races, including the Derby because he would go to the lead almost immediately, but then burned out in the stretch. Secretariat's dam, Something Royal, came from a long line of "closers" - horses that come from the back of the pack and outlast the leaders who run out of gas and begin to fade in the stretch run. Those two styles of racing seem to be incompatible breeding in a single horse, but it actually produced a super horse who may never be equaled.
