On what was the 40th anniversary of the world record-breaking Belmont Stakes by Secretariat, Palace Malice won in a lackluster time of 2:30.70, more than six seconds off Secretariat’s world record time of 2:24.   It’s a time that may indeed “stand forever.”  This was a huge upset and this horse warranted 13-1 odds, paying $29.60  Palice Malice finished 12th in the Kentucky Derby in what amounted to a terrible performance.  However, in this race, jockey Mike Smith ran the perfect race for his horse and ran away with it, finishing 3 1/4 lengths ahead of Oxbow.  A day after the huge downpours in New York, the track should have been very fast.  One would have expected a 2:28 or better but it wasn’t to be.  Palace Malice is simply not a great horse and should not have been immortalized as the winner of the third and final leg of the triple crown.  Orb should have easily won but was too far back in the pack for the first half of the race and simply had too much ground to cover.  But what this race really demonstrated is just how great Secretariat was.  Discussing this race any further, is simply meaningless. To sum it up, in what is one of the greatest horse races in the world, a slow time was run by an average thoroughbred. This year’s entire triple crown proved disappointing as there really wasn’t that one horse everyone was watching.  Orb or Oxbow were the expected favorites and both under achieved.   It’s been 35 years since Affirmed won the last triple and now all horse racing enthusiasts must wait another year to see if one horse, might show that special gift, ability and heart to take it to triple crown immortality.