Hopeful

For two-year-old horses, the climax of the Saratoga meet is the Hopeful Stakes and "Hopeful" is about as apt a description as a horse race has ever had for its name. Two-year-olds are the stars of the future, and everyone who has a good 2-year-old in the barn is hopeful. That they'd ever have one as good as Secretariat was maybe to hope beyond hope.

Sportswriters already had their typewriters greased in anticipation. Two days before the Hopeful, journalist Murray Robinson, of the Troy (NY) Times-Record, termed Secretariat nothing less than “an equine Adonis,” and predicted an electrifying performance. “For here is a charismatic charger who, in (his previous) smashing triumph, ran true to his magnificent appearance and breeding.”

Anticipation for the race built till the moment the starter raised “Flag’s up.”

Stacked against new opponents in a field of eight “hopefuls,” Secretariat came away from the gate in his usual leisurely fashion, with others making a race of it ahead of him. But with a half mile to go, jockey Ron Turcotte pressed some secret “Go” button, and soon Secretariat was flying past horses – around the turn and into the stretch, opening up daylight with every stride. It was the same style with which the colt had won before, but this time with even more power. Fans rose in the clubhouse as Secretariat flew down the stretch, and the cheering began.

Secretariat dominates the field in the Aug. 26, 1972 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.

As Secretariat flashed under the wire a winner, New York Times writer Joe Nichols filed from the pressbox:

“Secretariat of the Meadow Stable won the $86,550 Hopeful with, in the parlance of the race track cognoscenti, ‘contemptuous ease,’ today. Shooting from last place to first on the stretch turn, Secretariat went on to take the 6 1/2 furlong sprint for 2-year-olds by five lengths.”

Then Nichols supplied the color for his story, which would soon be flashed across the national news wires.

“The achievement of Secretariat was made most remarkable, even in view of his expected triumph, by his lightening forward thrust,” wrote Nichols. “He was shuffled back to last place soon after the start (and) to all intents and purposes, was not in the hunt as the field hit into the stretch turn. Suddenly, as if activated by coiled springs, Secretariat was up front… After that the Meadow Stable colt went his own way extending his lead over his foes with every stride.”

Jockey Ron Turcotte pilots Secretariat to victory five lengths in front of the nearest challenger in the prestigious race.

A forward thrust. Activated by coiled springs. A picture was forming of a horse that would capture the imagination of the press, and the public.

Very pretty words. But jockey Ron Turcotte was just glad Secretariat had those coiled springs he could count on.  The steady professional rider wasn’t listening for the heralding trumpets of the gods. He was just trying to get his horse in gear.

“He took himself back as he usually does right after the break,” said Turcotte. “He was trying to run, trying to get with it and get in his best stride, but he just couldn’t. I wasn’t panicky but I was thinking, ‘My God, pick it up! Will ya?’ I let him settle into stride and he began to pick up on his own as we came to the half-mile pole. By the time we straightened out, he was in front. Through the stretch he just kept reaching out without pressure.”