'Even more phenomenal 50 years later': A look back at Secretariat's Triple Crown
LOS ANGELES — There are moments in sports which forever embed themselves in the minds of those who watched it, either live or through an endless video loop.
There was Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant bringing their teams back with furious fourth-quarter rallies. Muhammad Ali standing over a fallen Sonny Liston. Brandi Chastain's celebration after winning the 1999 Women's World Cup. Or Kirk Gibson hobbling around the bases after his pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series.
But the one that you can expect to see over and over for the next six weeks is the sight of jockey Ron Turcotte looking backward, with no one in sight, while riding Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont Stakes to win the Triple Crown.
"I can't very well forget it because every time I go on YouTube it pops up," Turcotte said last week.
This Saturday's Kentucky Derby will be the 50th anniversary of the start of Secretariat's Triple Crown run, a feat many thought at the time could no longer be accomplished.
"Secretariat's Triple Crown sweep was widely celebrated at the time," said racing historian Jon White. "But his feat actually looks even more phenomenal 50 years later, primarily because no horse has ever won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in faster times than he did."
Those records still
