Faster than Secretariat

A little more than one hour ago in a Grade 1 Stakes race at Belmont a horse named Big Blue Kitten set the track record for 1.5 miles at Belmont finishing it in a spectacular 2:23.39. Secretariat did 1.5 miles at the Belmont Stakes in 2:24 which is a standing world record on dirt. The race just won at Belmont was on Turf but while not a world record is quite remarkable. Secretariat's record on dirt has now stood for 42 years.

Wow. Considering it was a course record, there were 3 horses tight at the end. I was expecting to see a runaway, but there were 6 still in it at the last furlong. Not that I know what I'm looking at, but that was a very competitive race compared to most, no? Thanks for the link.

You make a good point that you would expect a runaway when there is a course record. I think the lack of rain and the very firm turf contributed to the very fast time but cannot totally explain it. The horses may have liked the coolish weather. It's also possible that the clocking done by the electric timer was not 100% accurate. Anybody who follows racing and carefully watches the timing of races and fractions is going to suspect that from time to time. Or, more likely you can chalk it up to the mystery of horses.

Not only was it a close race, but Big Blue Kitten had to go four wide on the second turn, very impressive.

Sorry to have to do this, but.... there's a fundamental misunderstanding here, and a little cold water is called for. Actually, a lot, buckets of it. It was not in any sensible way "faster than Secretariat" or comparable in any way to any performances by the likes of Secretariat ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TRACK.

The nominal time of this race run ON THE TURF COURSE (specifically on the Widener course - Belmont Park has two entirely different turf courses) has no relationship whatsoever to any races run on the main (dirt) track. None. At all. It may as well have been a race at Sha Tin in Hong Kong being compared to a greyhound race, or a shot put event getting compared to a pole vault competition, or a basketball score compared to a baseball game; they are not run and won in ways that are similar and are not on track surfaces that are connected to each other in any meaningful way; they are completely, totally, entirely different.

Congratulation to the excellent trainer Chad Brown and Big Blue Kitten for getting a nice performance for the win, but the reason for the time was the very dry hard condition of the grass due to lack of rain combined with the rail being set at zero feet on the Widener yesterday, and to someone who knows grass racing it was probably not even the best grass race performance of the past week or maybe even of those seen yesterday afternoon:



Kitten ran well and got a nice win, it is a very fine training job by Brown to keep him going and get this, but he will not likely be among the top favorites for the Breeders' Cup off this if Chad can hold him together to get there, and shouldn't be, IMO. It wasn't one of the better fields in the Hirsch, and though there was one (Twilight Eclipse) who has run a decent third before in the B.C. Turf, both T.E. and B.B.K. are now quite old for racehorses (at 7 & 8 yrs. old) with nearly sixty races between them, and both would certainly be long ago retired and would not be running anywhere at all if T'Eclipse was not a gelding (castrated) and BB'Kitten a ridgeling (undescended testicle). Decent second or third string European turfers would easily inhale and spit out anything coming out of this event.

But we now return you to our regularly scheduled wild cheering and bubbly happy shouting over the accomplishment of the fine old guy's arthritic knees and ankles being able to handle running rather well on green-ish concrete.

Your analysis was excellent and I would only point out that in my OP I did point out that Secretariat's record time was on dirt and still stands. I wasn't in any way saying that this effort was comparable to what Secretariat did but I used a sensational subject line hoping to see interest gained in racing on this site as we approach the Breeders Cup since there seems to be very little interest in it here. I also pointed out the hard condition of the grass. The only point you made that I might challenge is that point because races at this distance on this course must have been run many, many times on a very hard turf. It was a course record at Belmont so while it's not an earthshaking moment I think it is something worth noting since Belmont is a major league track. But thanks for your excellent analysis and I think that you are mostly correct.

Thanks for the expert analysis, DD. I do appreciate it!