Secretariat: His Two-year-old Season

This is a painting I made of young Secretariat.

When Secretariat first appeared on the racetrack in 1972, he became a champion almost instantly. He was everyones favorite, and had a unique style of racing never before seen.

 Unlike most of the other famous two-year-old race horses, such as Man o' War,  Secretariat did not take the lead right at the beginning of the race and hold it all the way until the end. Instead, he was normally in last place until he was about four furlongs(one furlong is 220 yards) from the finish. Only then would he have one final burst of energy and come in first place.

 Of the nine races he ran in that season, Secretariat only lost two-- his first race, which was at the Aqueduct Racetrack(he had had a slow start) and another race called Champagne. In between those two races, however he had won five races, including three important two-year-old ones: the Sanford Stakes, the Hopeful Stakes, and the Futurity Stakes.

Next he lost the Champagne Stakes. He was doing good until he bumped into a horse known as Stop the Music near the end of the race. Though this did not slow him down too much, and he had ended up beating the horse he had hit by two lengths, he was later disqualified for interfering with it. Afterwards, Stop the Music was given the position of first place.

 Despite these two loses, Secretariat was a favorite among fans, and even won the horse of the year award, one of three two-year-olds to do so.