The fastest finish (1:59 2/5) ever in the Kentucky Derby was in 1973. The horse that made history that day was Secretariat. I guess a case could be made that he was the greatest athelete (if you were open-minded enough to include all of the animal kingdom) of the last century. Some names you could also casually toss on the list, in no particular order: Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Peggy Fleming, Muhammad Ali, Ted Williams, Bjorn Borg, Mark Spitz (?), Joe Namath, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson, Martina Naratalova, Ty Cobb, Sandy Koufax, Arnold Palmer, Wilt Chamberlain, Shamu, Flipper, Rin Tin Tin...etc. Maybe add to the list for this century so far: Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Shaq (if only he could make his free throws), and maybe Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds (check with your local pharmacist first on these last two!).
I'll go with Secretariat. They really don't make em like that any more. The racing industry has become a high stakes breeding industry, where breeders try to breed speed with speed, and well, horses are fast, but they are fragile too and there's a unique set of factors that make a horse special and I think there's art and science and then there's mother nature and it's a complicated story. Secretariat had whatever it takes to be great. Not only did he set the record in Kentucky, he also holds the track record at Belmont (the longest of the Triple Crown races - 1 1/2 miles).
As Rod Stewart once said, "Every picture tells a story." The photo shown here is Secretariat winning the Belmont by 30 lengths...it was a blowout! Anyway tomorrow is the Derby (always the first Saturday in May), (Hunter Thompson once described the event as one long debauch) and I intend to get my Racing Form today and try to "figure it out." It's one of those Sisyphean tasks. I did win last year on the ill-fated Barbaro (a great horse too who took a wrong step in the Preakness), but many a Derby has been a lesson in futility for me. But there's nothing like day before, armed with a fresh Racing Form, all is hope and possibility, and I can already feel the adrenaline coursing through my body.
There's something about the optimism, the strange cantankerous thought that somehow looking over past performances weighing all the factors like class, breeding, trainer, jockey - taking in all the variables - track condition, training methods, maturity, geography, whatever...somehow, some way...you can pick a winner...it's kind of like believing in magic...I guess it's safe to say I believe.