Chic Anderson - "A Tremendous Machine!"

"A Tremendous Machine!"

For CBS Television, Anderson authored the two most famous calls in horse-racing history—and two of the most famous sportscasts in TV history—the Triple Crown clinchings in the Belmont Stakes of 1973 and 1978.

He was behind the CBS Television mic on June 9, 1973, when Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Secretariat tried to become the first horse in a quarter century to win the Crown. A stunned Anderson punctuated Big Red's powerful move on the final turn of the '73 Belmont this way, focusing on Secretariat while still keeping tabs on the other horses' positions:

They're on the turn, and Secretariat is blazing along! The first three-quarters of a mile in 1:09 and four fifths. Secretariat is widening now! He is moving like a tremendous machine! Secretariat by twelve, Secretariat by fourteen lengths on the turn! Sham is dropping back. It looks like they'll catch him today, as My Gallant and Twice a Prince are both coming up to him now. But Secretariat is all alone! He's out there almost a sixteenth of a mile away from the rest of the horses! Secretariat is in a position that seems impossible to catch. He's into the stretch. Secretariat leads this field by 18 lengths, and now Twice a Prince has taken second and My Gallant has moved back to third. They're in the stretch. Secretariat has opened a 22 length lead! He is going to be the Triple Crown winner! Here comes Secretariat to the wire. An unbelievable, an amazing performance! He hits the finish 25 lengths in front! It's going to be Twice a Prince second, My Gallant third, Private Smiles fourth, and Sham, who had it today, dropped back to fifth.

A few minutes later, reviewing the videotape of Secretariat's stretch romp, Anderson humbly admitted it was hard to count lengths as Big Red raced toward home. "I said twenty-five," Anderson said. "It could conceivably have been more."

In fact, the champion's winning margin was fully 31 lengths—a distance it took careful examination of videotape and trackside photographs to measure. Secretariat was so far ahead when he crossed the finish line that the TV camera operator had to pan to the left to pick up the rest of the field, in lieu of leaving an "empty" track in the viewer's line of sight for a few seconds.