![]() Nearly a half-century later, Anderson’s call is as much a part of the memory as Secretariat’s race. It is the rare athletic feat that cannot become exaggerated over time, because it was impossibly large in its present, a giant chestnut colt thundering around the Belmont oval, never slowing, piercing a hole in the late spring air.Īlongside the big red horse, Anderson delivered a breathtaking race call, ad-libbing history on the fly, describing an ethereal performance that he could not have anticipated. It will come up this week, as Justify pursues a Triple Crown of his own, because it always comes up. It remains the most significant moment in modern racing history, an event that reached beyond the racetrack and sank roots in the broader cultural landscape, even in a time of Vietnam and Watergate. Older fans weep in recollection younger ones eschew the customary disdain for things old and distant. The performance endures, both in the living memories of those who witnessed it, and in a second life on grainy video, receding through time but growing more mythic. It was on that day at Belmont Park that Secretariat won the Belmont-and racing’s first Triple Crown in 25 years-by 31 lengths in a time of two minutes and 24 seconds, more than two seconds faster than any horse had run the race. Yet he couldn’t have known in that instant-because who does?-that words he spoke in the ensuing two-and-a-half minutes would outlive him by decades and help frame one of the seminal moments in sports history. He had been calling races since the late 1950s in 1961 he became the regular caller at Churchill Downs and eight years later was hired by CBS to call the Triple Crown races on its telecasts. He was 41 years old, married with five children, living an itinerant life that took him away from the family home in Evansville, Ind., for weeks at a time, but one which he clearly loved. At a few minutes past 5:30 on the afternoon of June 9, 1973, Charles (Chic) Anderson raised binoculars to his eyes and prepared to call the 105th running of the Belmont Stakes.
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