Is anyone old enough to remember Secretariat? I'm not a big horse racing fan, but I remember how everyone got so caught up with this horse. He was on the cover of Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated at the same time. That run at the Belmont was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen.

Whoops, I meant to post this under the "Triple Crown" thread.

Secretariat was the best racehorse I've ever seen and I suspect will ever see.

"Big Red" won the Belmont by 31 1/2 lengths, setting a track record that still stands today, in what was probably the greatest single athletic showing of my life.

One of the sport magazines (maybe "Sports Illustrated") listed the greatest 100 athletes of the 20th century, and Secretariat was included (the only non-human to make the list) fairly high on the roster.

The horse had heart, literally. After he died, and an autopsy was performed, they discovered all his organs were of normal size excepting his heart, which was incredibly TWICE the size of a normal horse!

Sure, I remember him. But I never could get into the idea that a horse is an "athlete"

Hunting is considered by some to be a sport. A guy goes duck hunting, shoots at the duck, and misses. The duck flies away. That should make the duck an athlete, right?

How about sport fishing? Fight a 200 pound fish for 3 hours. The fish gets away....

Greyhound racing. The dogs are athletes?

"Sport dogs", like pointers and retrievers. Athletes?

Speaking of great horses, here's a horse that in his own way was absolutely great, and in his time in a class by himself: Dr. Fager.