Congrats, Rags to Riches!

Secretariat, by the incredible artist Leroy Neiman. Secretariat still holds the Belmont speed record.

Now there is another blazing chestnut that made Belmont history: Rags to Riches.

Rags to Riches is a beautiful filly whose pedigree boasts of sire AP Indy (son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew), and of Secretariat himself. She ran with the colts in the 139th running of the Belmont Stakes, and she performed brilliantly.

She's the first filly in over a century to win the Belmont, and the first filly to win the Belmont at a mile and half.

She won the race by a head, narrowly defeating the mighty, big-engined Curlin.

It was a race between these two powerful chestnuts. In the end, the gorgeous filly made history.

Congratulations!

And just for fun, here's a video of Rags to Riches' great grand-daddy, Secretariat, running his history-making, record-smashing Belmont stakes, June 9, 1973:

(art history note: John Skeaping (1901-1980), master equine painter and sculptor, created the statue of Secretariat briefly featured in this video):