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Secretariat at 50: Big Red’s Road to the Triple Crown Went Through the Gotham

by Jim Reisler

On the road to the Triple Crown 50 years ago this spring, Secretariat did something unusual in his next-to-last tune-up race, the $50,000 1-mile Gotham on April 7, 1973 at Aqueduct.

Secretariat won, and did so easily, by 3 lengths in a blazing 1:33 2/5 that equaled the track record, and was just a second and one-fifth off Dr. Fager’s 1:32 1/5 world record set in 1968. But that wasn’t the unusual part.

What was new was how Secretariat did it – not by coming from behind as had become his trademark, did, but by going wire-to-wire for the first time in his career.

In front of 41,998 fans at the Big A, Secretariat was the strong horse at every phase of the race. Guided by his regular jockey Ron Turcotte out of the gate in fourth place, he moved up to third at the far turn and into the lead in the stretch turn. Once in front, Secretariat drawing clearly away from his opposition down the stretch.

Turcotte, who had ridden Secretariat in all but the colt's first two starts, said after the race that Secretariat won with ease. “He hit the side of the stall coming out of the gate and he wobbled for a second,” he said. “Then he recovered and went right up.

“For the first time he went to the front as early as the half-mile pole, and I let him run knew he was setting a fast pace, so I let him have a breather. That's when Champagne Charlie came close to us nearing the eighth pole.

“I tapped him once, lefthanded, and he took off again. He finished real strong, and he had a lot left.”

The Gotham gave Secretariat his eighth victory in his 11‐race career and second in a row of his 3-year-old season. He began his 1973 campaign with a victory in the Bay Shore on March 17.

A treat awaited Turcotte and Secretariat owner, Penny Chenery and trainer Lucien Laurin in the Winner’s Circle. Presenting the Gotham trophy was the retired jockey Eddie Arcaro, a Hall of Famer and one of the best riders ever.

Next up for Big Red, according to Laurin: One last Derby turn-up, the Wood Memorial on April 21, 1973.