American Pharoah made history on Saturday by becoming just the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown and the first to do it since 1978. But as impressive as the feat was, American Pharoah wouldn’t have stood a chance if the horse went up against Secretariat.
Secretariat’s run at the 1973 Belmont Stakes was arguably the most impressive in horse racing history. Thanks to an awesome side-by-side video from the Wall Street Journal, we can see that Secretariat would have beaten American Pharoah with ease.
As FiveThirtyEight.com notes, American Pharoah was actually the closest Triple Crown winner to matching Secretariat’s incredible ’73 victory — and the horse still finished 13 lengths behind Secretariat’s time. That was one length faster than the last Triple Crown winner, which was Affirmed in 1978.
To be clear, none of this is a knock on American Pharoah. Jockey Victor Espinoza had every right to drop that S-bomb after he and his horse completed the third leg of the Triple Crown. Rather, it just goes to show you what an incredible horse Secretariat was.
H/T Deadspin
