He Goes to Great Lengths to Impress

Awesome? Overwhelming? Dominating?

Adjectives seemed inadequate at the Belmont Stakes 26 years ago, when 69,138 spectators tried to comprehend what they had just witnessed.

They had seen Secretariat, thought to be a great horse, become a legendary horse.

He hadn’t merely won the Belmont--and the Triple Crown--he had destroyed the field.

He won by 31 lengths in a world-record 2 minutes 24 seconds, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. The old Belmont track record was 2:26 3/5, set in 1957 by Gallant Man.

The blistering fractions: 23 3/5 for the quarter, 46 1/5 for the half-mile, 1:00 4/5 for the three-quarters, 1:34 1/5 for the mile, and 1:59 for the mile and a quarter.

Secretariat, with Ron Turcotte up, trailed Sham early but had the lead by a head at the first turn. After that, Secretariat steadily increased his lead, and was ahead by seven lengths at the mile.

Angel Cordero, riding third-place My Gallant, could only shake his head afterward.

“When Sham and Secretariat hooked up early, I thought to myself, ‘Hey, maybe I got a shot here--maybe they’ll run each other into the ground.’

“That feeling lasted until Secretariat said goodbye to Sham and went off by himself. He’s the best horse I’ve ever seen.”

Also on this date: In 1985, the Lakers ended decades of frustration by beating the Boston Celtics, 111-100, at Boston Garden to win the NBA championship in six games. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was named most valuable player as the Lakers defeated the Celtics for the first time in nine tries in the finals. . . . In 1978, in one of the most exciting heavyweight fights in years, Larry Holmes won the championship with a split decision over Ken Norton. . . . In 1966, the Minnesota Twins became the fourth and last team to hit five home runs in an inning. In the seventh inning of a 9-4 win over Kansas City, Rich Rollins, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don Mincher and Harmon Killebrew homered in a six-run inning.