No Horse swept through the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes with the same dramatic fashion, style and power as SECRETARIAT.

And it’s fair to say that we will never witness such dominance again.

He won 16 of 21 races, graced the covers of national magazines and was twice named Horse of the Year. But it was the Belmont Stakes that SECRETARIAT is best remembered.

On June 9, 1973, Big Red entered the starting gate as the 1-10 favorite to become the 9th Triple Crown winner, and the first in 25 years.

Challenging him were SHAM, (2nd in both the Derby and the Preakness), and three other mismatched thoroughbreds.

When the gates opened, SECRETARIAT and SHAM raced together around the first turn through a half mile in a suicidal :46 1/5.

On the backstretch, with jockey Ron Turcotte sitting still as a stone, Red gathered momentum with every stride. He ran three-quarters in 1:09 4/5, the mile in 1:34 1/5, and when he hit the quarter-pole in 1:59, faster even than he had won the Derby, the crowd was on its feet, screaming in anticipation.

Racing fans of a certain age will never forget track announcer Chick Anderson and his famous call: “SECRETARIAT is alone. He is moving like a tremendous machine! He’s 25 lengths in front!”

SECRETARIAT was so completely alone he crossed the finish line an astounding 31 lengths in front of 2nd-place finisher TWICE A PRINCE in a world-record 2:24 for the 1 1/2 miles.

SECRETARIAT was born March 30, 1970, at Meadow Farm in Virginia, a handsome chestnut with three white stockings, a white star, and stripe.

Viewing him as a yearling, trainer Lucien Laurin commented he was probably “too good-looking” to amount to much. He began his career at Aqueduct, finishing 4th, and then embarked on a crusade that would carry him to Horse of the Year honors, a rarity for 2-year-olds.

His 3-year-old campaign started off as more of the same: He swept through the Bay Shore and Gotham Stakes, but then the unthinkable happened: He finished 3rd in the Wood Memorial losing to ANGLE LIGHT.

Immediately, questions were raised about his ability to go a mile and a quarter. But when the first Saturday in May rolled around, he was the 3-2 choice to win the Run for the Roses.

By the time he arrived back in New York for the Belmont with Derby and Preakness victory jewels in tow, the entire country was anticipating the end of the quarter-century Triple Crown drought.

When SECRETARIAT won the Belmont, he did more than become the first horse since CITATION to win the Triple Crown. He turned in the single greatest performance in the history of horse racing.

After the Belmont, SECRETARIAT raced nine more times, winning six, coming in 2nd twice and 3rd once.

Inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 1974, SECRETARIAT was also ranked 35th on ESPN’s 100 Greatest Athletes of the Twentieth Century.

Suffering from laminitis, SECRETARIAT was euthanized in October 1989, and is buried at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky.