The Horse God Built by Lawrence Scanlan

Author:Lawrence Scanlan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-312-36724-4
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

June 30, 1973, Arlington. The Arlington crowd of 41,223 is the largest in three decades. The applause for Secretariat is constant from the moment he appears on the track. In a rare move, the infield has been opened. A band plays.

Secretariat is so fit, so raring to go all the time, that any notions of resting before the race have gone out the window. When Charlie Davis tries to hand-walk him as exercise, the horse drags him around like a pull toy. On the track, Ron Turcotte has the same problem when he tries to give the horse just light exercise. The powerful rider’s arms are sore from holding Secretariat back. Finally, the horse gets his wish—some fast workouts in the morning.

Sacrificial lambs are hard to come by, and Secretariat takes on just three other horses in the Arlington Invitational. He goes wide at the clubhouse turn, then ducks inside. No horse challenges him, and My Gallant, the second horse, is nine lengths back at the finish. College kids have propped a beer keg on a wheelchair, and as Secretariat turns down the homestretch, hundreds of them shoot up their arms in the power salute. There is brisk business for a man selling pennants that read secretariat 1973 triple crown winner and super

horse.

Before the Arlington, trainer William J. Resseguet, Jr.—who had a horse in that race, Our Native (he came in third, as he had in the Derby and the Preakness)—instructed his groom to take a photo of Secretariat’s head.

“Why just the head?” asked the groom.

“Because all I’ve seen all summer,” the trainer replied, “is his rear end.”

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