The king of the sport of kings.

December 10, 2004 11:25 PM

The king of the sport of kings. Official teletimer finish line photo - 8th race, Belmont Park, June 9th 1973. And here's the race itself [Windows Media file].
posted by e-man (8 comments total)

I thought falconry was the sport of kings. What the hell is this horse nonsense? How can a horse do falconry? How's he gonna hold the bird?
posted by TheGoldenOne at 11:41 PM on December 10, 2004

That won't quite work as a desktop wallpaper will it? It reminds me of those big to-scale solar system posters which are meant to line an auditorium or something.
posted by vacapinta at 11:47 PM on December 10, 2004

Why would I pay $250 dollars for this? My brother-in-law seems to feel this is the sport; but I am not sure how when you compare either to Lance or perhaps the athletic ability of ballet.

And in case you were left wondering - falconry.
posted by fluffycreature at 7:17 AM on December 11, 2004

Ah, Secretariat. His era coincided with my mild teenage interest in horseracing. The beauty of those animals fascinated me, and I liked to test my "psychic powers" predicting outcomes. (Yeah, whatever.)

That was some horse.
posted by NorthernLite at 1:00 PM on December 11, 2004

Secretariat was a mutant with a unique stride which made him faster than any other horse. I've seen slow motion and frame-by-frame analysis to prove this. No other horse has had this stride that I know of, and he certainly is deserving of any accolades he gets. When I was in college I worked in the lab that did blood typing for horse registries, and I looked up Secretariat's blood type for fun. Not that that told me anything, but hey, I held the serum of Secretariat in my hand. My one brush with fame.
posted by Eekacat at 5:39 PM on December 11, 2004 [2 favorites]

Secretariat was a mutant with a unique stride which made him faster than any other horse.

Eekacat, I don't know about a "unique stride" - although I do know it was measured at 25 feet (several feet longer than average), and his excellent conformation would have produced a very efficient stride.

Also, Secretariat is the most extreme example of an "x-factor" horse on record. The veterinarian who performed the autopsy when he died in 1989 estimated that his heart weighed about 22 pounds, compared to the average Thoroughbred heart of 8.5 pounds. This is caused by a genetic mutation on the X chromasome (hence the term "x-factor"), which is passed on through the female line in a horse's pedigree.
posted by e-man at 9:02 PM on December 11, 2004

Most pointless use of a thumbnail ever?
posted by rafter at 11:15 PM on December 11, 2004

But I thought that Frungy is the sport of kings!
posted by chuma at 7:38 AM on December 12, 2004