Sham
From AlexBrownRacing
Wikpedia Stakes results Sham would have been THE HORSE in any other year than 1973.
If you've seen some of Secretariat's races then I think a better question would be...
Was Sham the second best horse of all time?
YouTube videoes of Triple Crown 1973:
An odd breakdown at the Belmont for Sham. In July after the Belmont a hairline fracture was found in his leg so he was retired.
Sham may have very well been a Triple Crown winner had he not had the pleasure of racing against the best horse of all time. Another tid bit from Wikipedia:Before his burial, he was necropsied at the University of Kentucky; Dr. Thomas Swerczek, the veterinarian who performed the necropsy, found that Secretariat's heart was the largest he had ever seen in a horse — approximately twice the size of a normal horse's heart. Dr. Swerczek states in correspondence:
- "Certainly, after performing autopsies on several thousand thoroughbred horses, including mares and stallions, no other horse came close to Secretariat’s heart size. The second largest heart I found was the heart of Sham, who actually broke the Kentucky derby record, but still lost to Secretariat. Sham’s heart weighed 19 pounds.
In 1973, SHAM, out of PRETENSE (sire) and SEQUOIA (mare) and a direct male line descendant of the great ECLIPSE, ran second to winner Secretariat in the Kentucky Derby in spite of knocking out two front teeth on the starting gate and bleeding profusely the entire length of the 1 3/16th mile race. Although he didn’t win, he set the record for the second fastest Derby run ever (behind Secretariat, of course). The horse’s finishing record was 13 Starts, 5 Wins, 5 Places, 1 Show and Career Earnings of $204,808. He was retired to stud at Spendthrift Farm alongside his own sire, Pretense and died in 1993 at the age of 23. Sham was buried on Walmac International Farm in Lexington, KY.Owner: Sigmund Sommer Breeder: A.B. Hancock, Jr.'s Claiborne Farm Trainer: Pancho Martin
