Secretariat won he Belmont with successively faster quarters is my understanding.

Easy Goer commonly put in faster quarter splits than the first two splits in his races. And his come come split was always very good though not the fastest.

I have always referred to it as "split run". Easy Goer was capable of greater split run than any horse I have ever handicapped. And there was a little known Florida sprinter trained by the same trainer that trains Trust N Luck named "Hooting Star" which made mincemeat of Alm's "slowing down" theory. He looked like a greyhound in the stretch. His body undulated with his stride and his final quarter was always fastest and many times in 22 and change. He holds the 7 furlong mark at Hialeah with Seattle Slew. Slew set it first so Hooting Stars name is not on the credits. I was there on Hooters day. He would have embarrassed Slew.

If I recall Easy Goer's Belmont correctly Sunday Silence and Le Voyager were both in front of him with a quarter mile to run. Its my feeling that a so called "scraped track" tends to favor the front running animals. Easy Goer merely had the chance to unwind and show his superior gas tank. He gained over eight lengths on Sunday Silence in that stretch run and did it in hand. Distance is what separates horses of quality. It's a shame the races that Kelso and Forego won to demonstrate their superiority don't exist any more. I would settle for a Jockey Club Gold Cup and Breeders Cup Classic of 1 1/2 miles.

Tabi