2023 Preakness: Secretariat ran the fastest Preakness ever 50 years ago. What other records stand out?

When Secretariat won the Preakness on the way to his Triple Crown, the news appeared alongside stories about Watergate on The Baltimore Sun’s May 20, 1973, front page. In the half-century since, no horse has finished the 1 3/16-mile track at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore faster than his 1 minute, 53 seconds. Decades of debate over a timer malfunction, however, meant the record wasn’t officially recognized until midway through the Obama administration.

What other surprises lurk in the record books of a 150-year-old race? On the occasion of the golden anniversary of Secretariat’s 1973 run, we simulated a race among the five fastest Preakness winners, ran the historically long odds of the filly in that bunch, measured Preakness’ most lopsided wins with distances from other sports, and considered the longevity of jockeys in an event in which the athletes they’re riding can compete only once.

Four horses have finished the Preakness within half a second of Secretariat’s record.

Many expected Secretariat’s run around Old Hilltop 50 years ago could be a record one — the horse ran what’s still the fastest Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier and ran what’s still the fastest Belmont Stakes three weeks later. And independent hand clockers said it was, reporting a time more than a second and a half faster than the official time of 1:55. Officials at Pimlico quickly admitted that their electronic clock had malfunctioned, but rules stipulated they defer to the official timekeeper, who clocked the run at just three-fifths of a second faster than the clock. Greater precision and acceptance of video replay technology helped persuade the Maryland Racing Commission to accept an appeal from Secretariat’s then-90-year-old owner in 2012 and change the official time to 1:53, securing the record.

Four Preakness horses have come within a half second of Secretariat’s time. The closest raced just three years ago. With the coronavirus pandemic forcing 2020’s race to be run in October in weather cooler than a typical Preakness, Swiss Skydiver finished in 1:53.28 seconds.

Represented by the red circle in the animation above (the symbols approximate the dominant color in the silks of each horse’s jockey), Swiss Skydiver was just the sixth filly, or female, to win the Preakness.