MARILYN CORNWELL: winning

Secretariat is the greatest horse in recorded history. The website secretariat.com has the byline: "out of the gate... and into history".

The winning of the Triple Crown in 1973 was an astonishing story. The horse that ran second -Sham - for the most part of the race, ended last. It was worn out by Secretariat's speed.

Secretariat didn't start out outstanding. His long-time groom Eddie Sweat told Canadian Horseman in 1973, “I didn’t think much of him when we first got him. I thought he was just a big clown. He was real clumsy and a bit on the wild side, you know. And I remember saying to myself I didn’t think he was going to be an outstanding horse.”

Secretariat started racing in 1973. This was during the Watergate and Vietnam War protest era. He was a relief from the daily news. In fact, here's a quote from George Plimpton:

“the only honest thing in the country at the time…Where the public so often looks for the metaphor of simple, uncomplicated excellence, the big red horse has come along and provided it.”

While his records still stand in the first two Triple Crown races, it is the final race that is likely to never be beaten. He won by 31 lengths. The worry in a horse race is that a horse may outrun its heart and have a "heart attack". So the crowd was cheering yet worrying whether he would finish the race. I heard the calling of the race on CBC a few weeks ago, and the crowd's cheering was electric. We should listen to crowd cheering on a regular basis to get a sense of our communal social nature, and the oneness that is present. (You can listen to cheering crows on youtube.)

Secretariat died in 1989 - he had an incurable hoof disease. The autopsy found that his heart was double the normal size of a horse's heart. This, along with his large size, and that bit of wildness, made for the greatest horse in modern history.

This pretty flower picture as taken in 2008 and this little bush is still in my greenhouse and garden today. It is an amazing bloomer. I guess powepuff bush is a good name for it - it is a Calliandra.