Sham (horse)

Before 134,476 fans, the largest crowd to see a horse race in the United States to that date, Sham ripped two teeth out on the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby. Although bleeding from the start, Sham finished second behind Secretariat, who came away with a 21⁄2 length victory running 1:592⁄5 for the 11⁄4 miles, the first horse to break two minutes in the Kentucky Derby. (The previous record was 2:00, set by Northern Dancer in 1964.) When asked about the effect of Sham's start, Laffit Pincay said, "It's difficult to see how he could have run much better than almost 1:594⁄5, and yet, logically, hitting his head on the gate and losing the teeth couldn't have helped him." By running 21⁄2 lengths behind Secretariat, Sham ran the distance in either 1:594⁄5 to 2:001⁄5. As races were not timed to 1/100th of a second at the time, and non-winning times were not taken, no exact time is available.

However, considering the terminal velocity of the horses and the distance in lengths, Phil Dandrea estimates the gap between Secretariat and Sham at 0.348 seconds.[3] This is confirmed by the CBS footage of the race in which Sham crosses the finish line 10 frames behind Secretariat. At a rate of 29.97 frames per second,[4] it translates into a 0.34 seconds gap between the two horses at the wire. As, by definition, Secretariat's official winning time of 1:592⁄5 is the equivalent of a time between 1:59.40 and 1:59.59 with 1/100th precision,[5] Sham's time can be estimated between 1:59.74 and 1:59.93, making him the second fastest horse in Kentucky Derby history.

It wasn't until 2001 that another horse won the Derby with a time under two minutes. Monarchos won it in 2001 in an electronically timed 1:59.97, which is by convention converted to 1:594⁄5. No other horse, through the 2023 running of the Kentucky Derby, has ever been below two minutes.

Sham's individual time of :233⁄5 in the closing quarter-mile of the race puts him into company with an elite group of horses that closed under 24 seconds: Whirlaway, the 1941 Triple Crown Winner, whose closing time of :232⁄5 stood for 32 years; and Secretariat, who closed it in :23.

With a Maryland racing record audience of 61,653 looking on, Secretariat defeated Sham for the second time in two weeks in the 98th running of the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes. In a field of six horses, Sham finished second to Secretariat by 21⁄2 lengths again. Before the race, Sham was given only bottled water to drink. Sham's time of 1:533⁄5 is tied for the fifth fastest in Preakness history.

Sham was uncharacteristically nervous before the Belmont Stakes and was sweating heavily during the post parade on the hot and humid afternoon in New York. Under orders from Martin, Pincay was to keep Sham with Secretariat from the start.

This strategy worked through the first turn and into the backstretch as Secretariat and Sham led the field and then pulled away by a half-dozen lengths with Sham taking brief leads at several points early in the race until Secretariat began to pull ahead.

Pushing a blistering race-record pace, the pair was approximately a dozen lengths ahead of the pack when Secretariat began to pull away, as track announcer Chick Anderson described, "like a tremendous machine."

As Secretariat opened a yawning lead, Pincay eased Sham to the finish line.[6] Sham ultimately fell back to last place as Secretariat pulled away to a win recorded at 31 lengths. The time of 2:24 flat remains a world record for 11⁄2 miles on a dirt track.[7]