Twenty-five years before Secretariat moved "like a tremendous machine" in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, Citation did that for 10 months, powering through perhaps the greatest 3-year-old campaign in history. His trainer, Jimmy Jones, considered him the century's best horse, and although he was a bit biased, Citation's resume is otherworldly.
"At 3, Citation could fall down at the eighth pole and get up and beat any horse in the world," Jones said. "He could just do everything better than any other horse."
Fellow Hall of Fame trainers Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons and Max Hirsch also said Citation was the best they ever saw. They died before Secretariat was born, but as young men they had watched Man o' War.
Citation, Calumet Farm's iron horse, was 18-for-19 before sweeping the 1948 Triple Crown. Three days before the Kentucky Derby, he tuned up by taking the Derby Trial. After dominating the Belmont by 11 lengths, he went 9-for-9 during the rest of a year that began Feb. 2 in Florida and ended Dec. 11 in California.
Citation was 10-for-11 in 1948, winning from 6 furlongs to 1 | miles. He took a side trip to the 1 \-mile Jersey Stakes at Garden State Park between the Preakness and the Belmont. Jones didn't want him to get rusty and lazy.
"People thought I was crazy," he said.
Nowadays, when top horses may run only six times a year, Citation's sustained excellence sounds impossible. But that was long ago, when thoroughbreds were bred for stamina, not precocious speed.
The field for Saturday's 151st Belmont Stakes provides the latest reminder of how the breed has changed, and not for the better. Sometimes it feels as if we're watching a different species.
Only Preakness winner War of Will, the likely favorite, will compete in all three classics, and only he and Preakness runner-up Everfast have at least 10 career starts. Intrepid Heart has made three; Citation went 3-for-3 in February of his 2-year-old year.
Present-day thoroughbreds are faster than their ancestors, but the payback for brilliant speed is high. Most have distance limitations, are much more fragile and need plenty of rest between starts. Trainers fret about running in Baltimore two weeks after the Derby. Of the past 13 Belmont winners, only Triple Crown champions American Pharoah and Justify raced in the Preakness.
A five-week break before going a grueling 1 { miles has become the template for "The Test of the Champion." That's the situation for Derby also-rans Tacitus (third), Master Fencer (sixth), Tax (14th) and Spinoff (18th). Newcomers Joevia, Intrepid Heart and Sir Winston will have had four weeks off, one more than Bourbon War (eighth, Preakness).
Japan-based Master Fencer encouraged his connections by surging from 19th on the backstretch to seventh, beaten only by four lengths, in the Derby. (He was placed sixth after first-place finisher Maximum Security was disqualified to 17th for interference.)
The Derby served as a Belmont prep, and Master Fencer's exercise rider, Yosuke Kono, thinks the extra quarter-mile will be an advantage. Hardly anyone says that anymore.
"He has a big heart and big lungs and is better suited to the longer distance," Kono said through a translator. "His body is growing and changing, and I feel his running stride has been getting longer than before, which is a good sign for us.
"He is not the type to make crazy speed. He has a long, strong late kick. For him, the mile and a half will be a lot better."
Sounds like a throwback thoroughbred from the days of Citation, not one from the 21st century. The last Japanese runner in the Belmont, Lani, finished third three years ago, so maybe exotics players should give Master Fencer a second look.
Tacitus is another colt whose pedigree says he'll handle 12 furlongs better than most. He's by Tapit, sire of three of the last five Belmont winners, and is thriving for trainer Bill Mott. On Sunday morning Tacitus had a second strong workout at Belmont, breezing 5 furlongs in 1:01.50.
"He was moving very good, very level and very even," said Mott, who was awarded his first Derby win when Country House was elevated from second on the DQ. "He went along in 12s every furlong and went out strong enough. It was very similar to last week. Once he gets in his rhythm, he moves very nicely."
Not like a tremendous machine, but they don't make horses like that anymore.
