miff -

I second your admiration of Secretariat, but I think your description of him "doling out 24 second quarters" in the Belmont does him injustice. The day of the race, there was an article (I think it was in the Daily Racing Form, or was it the Morning Telegraph back then?) describing two scenarios that could lead to Big Red's defeat. One was Sham loose on the lead and setting a dawdling pace. The other was a speed duel that would exhaust Secretariat. The article gave sample fractions for each scenario. Secretariat surpassed the "unsustainable" fractions at every pole.

I just looked up the fractions. The half went in 46-1/5. 6f in 1:09-4/5.