Lesson From the Kelce Storm
What Jason Kelce didn't count on was that the one deceased athlete he decided to disparage for the sake of hearing himself talk, who to him was "merely" a horse, had an impassioned following that went far beyond his comprehension. Secretariat, the victim of his verbal assault who couldn't fight back, actually still had a legion of fans, admirers, and idolaters who would defend him with every fabric of their being.
Kelce had infiltrated a world he knew nothing of and wasn't prepared for the massive assault that followed. He no doubt was unaware the extent of the devotion humans have for horses and the bond between the two that has existed for centuries. And when you attack the sovereign leader of that world the response is akin to bees protecting their hive. The retaliation is going to be furious.
The result of that aggressive response is the attacker running for cover, which in Kelce's case came in the form of an apology, whether sincere or not.
As for Secretariat's heart, Kelce, for an educated man, needs to know the difference between large and enlarged. As a refresher course, large means "of considerable or relatively great size, extent, or capacity," while enlarged is "to make larger; increase in extent, bulk, or quantity; add to."
Secretariat was born with an exceptionally large heart and died with that same exceptionally large heart, the largest ever recorded. He also was powerful and muscular as a weanling, a yearling, and as a 2-year-old long before his formal training began. Who would give steroids to a "baby" who was already powerful and muscular? In short, Secretariat was born a freakish specimen of nature and needed no outside stimuli.
It might be said that Secretariat was not a natural stayer. He didn't look like one and he wasn't bred to be one. But his heart and his lung capacity were so big he was the only horse I have ever seen who could sprint a mile and a half, as he did in the Belmont Stakes (G1).
Throughout his racing career, those attributes enabled him to outrun naturally fast horses such as Riva Ridge, Sham, Tentam, and Kennedy Road and out-close powerful late runners such as Cougar II and Big Spruce. If Kelce believes that steroids enabled Secretariat to break track records in all three Triple Crown races and become the first horse ever to run each quarter faster than the one before in the Kentucky Derby (G1) then he is completely clueless on the subject of horses, especially the object of his criticism.
The bottom line is that Kelce did apologize, even if he felt compelled to in order stop the avalanche of criticism that was burying him. On the bright side it showed just how mighty an army Secretariat still commands after half a century, and reminded us how much a part of our vernacular the name Secretariat has become and the power it still wields.
Steve Haskin
Former BH senior correspondent
Secretariat is The GOAT
I am one of only a few people still alive who had a hand in the veterinary care of Secretariat in 1973 and herein offer my own observations.
I've heard these allegations before as well as the discussions about Secretariat's large heart. It is true that at his autopsy Secretariat, as an older horse, had a heart that weighed 22 pounds. It was substantially larger than the average Thoroughbred. However, there are other pertinent factors. Another horse named Sham, Secretariat's nemesis throughout the Triple Crown series, also had a heart larger than average.
So are we to assume that all horses with larger hearts will have superior performance? I say not. Is it true to think all horses with large hearts must have been on steroids? Again, I say no.
There are humans and other animals with enlarged hearts (cardiomyopathy) which impede their performance and normal life. Also, we do not regularly do post-mortem examinations on a significant number of high-performance racehorses, especially during their performance years, to determine what is normal for them. Athletes in most venues of larger stature and greater performance often have larger hearts which are muscles appropriately sized to pump blood throughout their greater body mass.
Secretariat was a heavily muscled athlete with a larger than average frame. Knowledgeable cardiologists recognize that superior athletes, especially of larger stature, often have more muscular hearts.
Secretariat was under the greatest private security of any racehorse that I have ever worked on since 1973, when I was a veterinary assistant to Secretariat's veterinarian at Belmont Park. Mrs. Penny Tweedy privately had three security guards surrounding Secretariat's barn of trainer Lucien Lauren at Belmont to make sure no one interfered in any way with his training or performance.
There were written logs we signed just to touch Secretariat and I can only attest to what I know and saw that he was super-hydrated with routine intravenous fluids with vitamins before the Belmont Stakes, as was common back then for many other horses competing at the time. Secretariat raced out of town without his regular veterinarian being present, and he consistently performed well. There was drug testing in that time period and Secretariat never came up with even a suspicion of illicit medication.
Having gotten to know Penny Tweedy, Secretariat's owner, I can tell you that she was terribly offended that competitors and critics would question her about medications because her horse consistently outperformed almost all the others. Speculators claimed it had to be due to something nefarious. She asked me for my thoughts and I responded to her much like I'm writing today. No, there was no evidence that I saw any extraordinary medication having been used to attribute to Secretariat's superior performance.
Dr. Gregory Beroza
Huntington Station, N.Y.
