Horse Racing...

[Colonel26]

I went back and watched all three races. What impresses me, other than his speed and size, is how wide his hindquarters were. Almost as wide and blocky as is of those old foundation type quarter horses. Most of the thoroughbreds I've been around weren't built near that well. He had a lot of power in his hind end. Couple that with his heart and incredible reach and he was definitely quite a horse.

I grew up raising, training, and trading horses. Pa still farmed with them some when I was little. We had Belgians and mules for working. At one time Pa had 20 mares, a stud, and a mammoth jack. For riding we had gaited horses, walking and racking. No body here had quarter horses at that time nor wanted them. Lol. Times have changed. There are mostly quarter horses and appendix registered quarter/thoroughbred crosses.

[CheckSix]

I went back and watched all three races. What impresses me, other than his speed and size, is how wide his hindquarters were. Almost as wide and blocky as is of those old foundation type quarter horses. Most of the thoroughbreds I've been around weren't built near that well. He had a lot of power in his hind end. Couple that with his heart and incredible reach and he was definitely quite a horse.

I grew up raising, training, and trading horses. Pa still farmed with them some when I was little. We had Belgians and mules for working. At one time Pa had 20 mares, a stud, and a mammoth jack. For riding we had gaited horses, walking and racking. No body here had quarter horses at that time nor wanted them. Lol. Times have changed. There are mostly quarter horses and appendix registered quarter/thoroughbred crosses.

Wade,
That is some great insight right there! I haven't been around horses since my teens and I was in that border area in Pennsylvania, that was rural but fairly close (35 mi) to a large city. There were farms and our 5 acres was taken out of one of the corners of the 600 ac. farm. My Uncle had 40 ac. about 10 miles away with a barn, stalls and corrals. They had 2 or 3 horses at any given time.

Re: Secretariat
He was a BIG boy... and fast, when he turned it on. He ran two 1/4 mile sections, in 2 different races (Preakness & Belmont) in 0:22 3/5. The amazing part was, it didn't burn him out. I think I mentioned this earlier, but the jockey on Ecole Etage in the Preakness said, that when Secretariat was fast approaching in the blazing Move just past the 1st turn, he said it sounded like a freight train coming.
Ronnie Turcotte got to ride this monster... I've always wondered what it was like to super cruise at 40+ mph on a horse like that. Betcha it gets your attention!

[FRJ]

Those horses could run at 40 MPH?

[CheckSix]

Those horses could run at 40 MPH?

Yessir!

Just using the 1/4 mile time for Secretariat... 0:22 3/5 = 0:22.6 secs

1320/22.6 = 58.4070796 feet/second
Convert to MPH = (3600 x 58.4070796)/5280 = 39.8230088 mph.

There are faster examples somewhere I'm sure! But this illustrates 40 mph.

Addendum:
The highest race speed recorded over two furlongs is 43.97 mph and was achieved by Winning Brew trained by Francis Vitale (United States), at the Penn National Race Course, Grantville, Pennsylvania, United States, on 14 May 2008. Winning Brew covered the quarter-mile (2 furlongs) in 20.57 sec.

[FRJ]

Thanks, Dave.

[CheckSix]

Thanks, Dave.

Your welcome!

Ain't it amazing that something that big and powerful, can run that fast? And if you back it off a bit, they can run for miles, upon miles.

[FRJ]

That is amazing, Dave. Incredible animals. And beautiful. I know next to nothing about horses but have always admired them.
It's sort of the same thing with motorcycles for me.

[CheckSix]

That is amazing, Dave. Incredible animals. And beautiful. I know next to nothing about horses but have always admired them.
It's sort of the same thing with motorcycles for me.

I was just reading, back in the day, the average Pony Express ride on one horse, was 75 miles.

[FRJ]

I had forgotten about the Pony Express. Short lived but a great part of our history. Buffalo Bill Cody was a rider.

http://www.xphomestation.com/wfcody.html

[CheckSix]

OK, here are some Secretariat photos I've harvested...

One photo of him is his conformation photo as a 2 year old (2nd one down). Another is him at pasture running, the rest are racing photos as a 3 year old.