Secretariat by William Nack

Author:William Nack
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hyperion

Dressed in a shiny blue trench coat, puffing a cigarette in a box seat, Lucien Laurin sat down and waited for the coming of the seventh. “I took a tranquilizer last night for the first time in my life,” he said, “and I slept like a baby. I figured, why should I be walking the floors all night?”

It was 3:42 in the afternoon, March 17, and the Bay Shore was less than an hour away. Lucien had the look of a doomed man. He was quiet, reflective, and considerate, as he always was, but the day was bearing down on him. He wore his anxiety visibly. Nearby, Penny was greeting friends, cool as the mint green coat she wore, Elizabeth Ham with her, arrayed in a bright red coat and a brown fur hat.

Heavy rains had fallen earlier in the day, turning Aqueduct into a mire, but by 4:15 the sun was out and the gulls were dipping and sailing overhead. Beyond the long chute that joined the backstretch, Eddie Sweat was walking with Secretariat down a pathway toward the paddock. The sixth race had just ended, and Lucien made his way slowly down the winding staircase to the saddling area. The crowd was moving in front and behind him, the bettors draped across the paddock fences, owners and trainers looking on. Walter Salmon, for whom Seth had waited through his longest day, was there. So was Vanderbilt, and Eddie Arcaro, the master horseman of his time, winner of five Kentucky Derbies, two Triple Crowns with Whirlaway and Citation, the rider of Bold Ruler. They all gathered—some forty owners and trainers and visitors.

Trainer Johnny Campo, the man who had bounced all his finest two-year-olds off Secretariat the year before, was in the doorway leading from the tunnel to the paddock when Secretariat walked by.

“Look how big he got,” said Johnny, shaking his head.

Suddenly, through the large doorway beneath the clubhouse, Sweat and Secretariat appeared, turning into the paddock amid whispering. The horse had grown up and filled out, in height by an inch and a quarter from the ground to the withers since September, from 5 feet 4.75 inches to 5 feet 6 inches, and measuring a massive 78 inches now around the belly. He weighed 1154 pounds, at least 200 pounds heavier than the average thoroughbred.

“Here we is,” muttered Eddie Sweat. “Here we is.” The groom turned the colt into a saddling stall, bringing him around to face the front, while Henny and Lucien moved closer. No one was at ease, not even Secretariat, who was usually the calmest of them all. Standing there, Secretariat defecated, emitting washy feces, and Lucien turned to Henny and said, “He’s a little loose. I hope he’s all right.”

“He’ll be okay,” said Henny. “He’s probably just a little anxious, a little nervous, heh?”

Secretariat, his head up and brown eyes luminously large, shifted the bulk of his body from left to right as he waited there. Once he raised a hindleg and lashed it into the dirt floor, chopping up cinders and spraying them against the wooden boards behind.

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