Yes, I will go see "Secretariat." Because I remember, and it was magic.

[Faygo Kid]

I know about the cruelties of horse racing. I know about the deaths of those who were famous, and those we never heard about because they were on some podunk track where they didn't merit a paragraph even in the small-town local paper.

But I can't help it. I was 21 then. And I remember one of the most magnificent sports stories of my lifetime, and yes, it mattered then, and it matters now. It may be an emotionally manipulative movie, maybe even a not very good one, but I will probably cry anyway, and I don't do that much anymore at my age. He "moved like a tremendous machine," and I remember exactly where I was for the Belmont, and my jaw still drops at that memory, and at the undeniable greatness that was Secretariat.

He was The People's Horse, and anyone who reviews him as anything else has no idea about the times and how he was received. He belonged to all of us. And maybe I want to see this movie because I can't be 21 again. Well, maybe I can for a couple hours. Anybody old enough to remember this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW3hYUtTuX0

[WolverineDG]

1. I was a bit younger than 21

but young girls are always fascinated with horses & this one really caught my attention. Secretariat was a horse like no other & I actually cried when he died, even though I had long come to the conclusion that horse racing was not a 'sport' & was cruel. He didn't run around a race track. He flew.

dg

[Faygo Kid]

2. He did fly. He hit the Derby with faster times on each fifths.

By the end, he was running much faster than he began. He blew everyone away with that. He was still accelerating at the end of the Kentucky Derby! I don't think any horse has done that before or since.

[WolverineDG]

5. Just watched the video

I knew he was way ahead of the rest, but holy hand grenade of Antioch---THIRTY ONE LENGTHS?????!!!!11 :wow:

dg

[Faygo Kid]

6. He was special. So are all of us.

I will never forget it, at 21. Now I approach 60. I just love it all. Lucky to live in an era with you, my friend.

[WolverineDG]

9. aw shucks, thanks

I think, from time to time, we all need a shared experience like that to remind us that we are all in this together. Too bad it can't be bottled & saved for times when we really need that feeling. :)

dg

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Faygo Kid...

You bet I'm old enough to remember him!

I'm going to see it too...

He was astonishing. I'd never seen anything like him before.....and I probably will never again, either.

Thank you for this.

[Faygo Kid]

4. Thank you, as always, CaliforniaPeggy. I know I will cry for this. and haven't done so for years.

We were so much younger than. We're older than that now.

Muhammad Ali, Magic Johnson, Willie Mays, Barry Sanders, Jack Nicklaus.

And Secretariat. We will be frozen in time for this one. I promise to give you a review, and to undoubtedly weep.

You know, I haven't wept at a movie for 50 years. Really. But I see what's coming. All the best.

[TorchTheWitch]

7. yep, I remember that Belmont

I was just a little kid at the time, but I still remember it. I definitely remember being very confused about where the other horses went... I thought for some reason they all had been taken off the track because toward the end there Secretariat was so far in front the other horses didn't fit into the film frame at all.

[WolverineDG]

8. my best friend & I were jumping up & down screaming "Go Secretariat!"

No one in our families was involved in horse racing & up to that point, we didn't really pay attention to the Kentucky Derby, except that it was the first sign that summer was coming. :) My friend & I were just little girls nuts about horses, like most little girls are for some reason. Our parents, though, were just as emotionally involved as we were, & they weren't the type to do that.

I think Buckley in the video linked to above put his finger on it: at that time, we needed something to feel happy about & Secretariat's race to the Triple Crown gave us that. Something I don't recall happening again until the 1980 Winter Games when the US won the gold in hockey.

dg

[RandomThoughts]

10. Makes sense, the difinition of Hat Trick.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hat+trick

Hat Trick

1. Three goals scored by one player in one game, as in ice hockey.
2. Three wickets taken in cricket by a bowler in three consecutive balls.
3. Three consecutive wins or outstanding accomplishments by the same individual, such as a jockey in horse racing.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. Wasn't his heart three times normal size?

When they did the autopsy? I remember he was a huge horse.

Maybe they should call that a "reverse Grinch" (whose heart was two sizes too small).

There were some great horses in the 70s. I was emotionally scarred over Ruffian, the greatest horse who ever lived.

[Faygo Kid]

14. 2 1/2. And Ruffian was the down side of all this.

I acknowledge that, but still hold Secretariat in a special place.

[Flaxbee]

12. I can't even get through the commercials w/o crying

so I know I'm going to be a mess in the movie, which I WILL see in the theaters, one way or another. (I rarely see movies in theaters anymore -- I think the last one was The Bourne Ultimatum a few years ago).

I was 3 years old and don't remember a thing, but throughout high school I helped train retired thoroughbreds for trail riding .. and I read all about Secretariat. Didn't see the races until Youtube. Am very much looking forward to the movie - knowing that the industry is corrupt - mostly because I want to remember what it feels like to be on a horse that's running really damn fast. And also because I love horse movies.

[OmahaBlueDog]

13. I saw it last week on sneak preview - it was very good

Diane Lane is very good as Penny Chenery, but John Malkovich is great as Lucien Laurin.