BALTIMORE — When Secretariat won the Preakness on the way to his Triple Crown, the news appeared alongside stories about Watergate on The Baltimore Sun’s May 20, 1973, front page. In the half-century since, no horse has finished the 1 3/16-mile track at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore faster than his 1 minute, 53 seconds. Decades of debate over a timer malfunction, however, meant the record wasn’t officially recognized until midway through the Obama administration.
What other surprises lurk in the record books of a 150-year-old race?
Four horses have finished the Preakness within half a second of Secretariat’s record.
