1973 Preakness Stakes "Now, we're going to try and win the Belmont." Torsion's jockey Ben Feliciano said, in regards to Secretariat, "He's the best." Betting on the races held that day at Pimlico Stakes totaled to $3,792,076, which set the Maryland record for amount of money wagered for the day. Off-track betting on the Preakness Stakes reached $922,989, which was included in the previous record total. Three weeks after the Preakness, the Belmont Stakes featured a five-horse field. Secretariat won by 31 lengths with a time of 2:24 for the mile and a half, both course records in their own right. Through his
Belmont Stakes tradition is similar to the singing of the state song at the post parades of the first two Triple Crown races: "My Old Kentucky Home" at the Kentucky Derby and "Maryland, My Maryland" at the Preakness Stakes. The change of song gave rise to "the myth of Mamie O'Rourke," a reference to a character in the lyrics of "The Sidewalks of New York." Before American Pharoah won the Triple Crown in 2015, some claimed that changing the official Belmont song "cursed" the Triple Crown and was why no horse had won since Affirmed in 1978. Others note that there was