Sham - 1973 Santa Anita Derby

The excellent Sham wins the biggest race of his career, equalling the stakes record of 1:47 flat set by Lucky Debonair in 1965.

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• Thoroughbred
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• 1973
• Santa
• Anita
• Derby
• Sham
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[joefederico]

cf1970 you post amazing racing videos. Thank you for doing so!

[cf1970]

Why, thank you for the kind words. I appreciate the support very much, and I'm glad you're enjoying the videos.

Have a good week.

[funshipM174]

@cf1970 Question. I was watching your video and was wondering about the triner of Sham. I am a huge Secretariat fan and just watched the movie ( a must see!) and going into the Belmont, was the instructions of Shams trainer actually to run with Big Red acurate? Translation to me says that the trainer gave the o.k. to go on a suicide mission to run Secretarita into the ground. Am I mistaken or was that something he would have actually did as the movie potrays?

[cf1970]

@funshipM174 Yes, trainer Frank Martin instructed jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. to stay with Secretariat and run with him from the get-go. Ron Turcotte, aboard Secretariat, noticed that Sham looked "washed out" with sweat before the race, so he thought it best to take the lead and run with it. From what I've heard and seen, the movie wrongly portrayed their duel as much closer and longer than it was. Up to 5/8ths pole it was pretty close, but then Big Red pulled away like a "tremendous machine."

[nova4ess]

Re-listening to the race, the caller also mentions Ancient Title. Did not know he ran in this race, too. Always fun for me to see where the great ones like Ancient Title started. That's why I love to watch the videos that you post. I can't tell you how much fun I have with them. I know I keep thanking you, but thanks again. ;-)

[cf1970]

I agree; Ancient Title was a superb horse. I'm happy you draw such joy from these videos; I certainly enjoy sharing and interacting with people such as yourself whenever time allows me to.

Thanks for the kind words, and have a great week! :-D

[darren2514fv]

the same Bobby Frankel that trained Juddmonte Farm horses in the USA

[qhsperson]

@sataraid Exactly. Sham was the second-best horse in the world in 1973. It was just the worst luck that Secretariat was the best horse that year.

[sataraid]

@Letswinjeff Sham was a great horse. You are correct he was born the same year as greatest horse that the world has ever seen. Sham would of been a triple winner if it werent for this reason.

[WMJCPA]

@funshipM174 Yes, and his strategy would have made sense. Secretariat's sire, (father), was Bold Ruler, a great sire to many great horses. However, the offspring of Bold Ruler seemed to have a problem with endurance, so Pancho Martin's strategy was to force Secretariat to run flat out from the start, which had not been his style in the hope he would tire. He failed to consider the other side the genes came from endurance horses.

[Letswinjeff]

Sham was a tremendous machine to an even bigger machine. I think sham got a raw deal in his career. however sticking close to secretariat brought sham into history.

[caz11533]

Sham is probably the most underrated horse of all time its a shame, Sham was a beast!!

[MelC54]

If Sham had been born a year later, we'd have 12 Triple Crown winners...he WAS that good. His career will always be overshadowed by his "larger than life" rival, Secretariat, but then, what horses career isn't? It will be 38 years the next time the Triple Crown races roll around and they are still chasing Secretariat's record times. Sham likely would have beaten ALL of those horses, he just couldn't beat the greatest.

[shse73]

Great video. Thanks for posting this video. Learn more about Sham's duel with Secretariat online at ShamRacehorse.