“He showed a lot of guts. I’m proud of him. I think the horse in second is a nice horse, and it was a peculiar race
Shug McGaughey quote on the 2013 Remsen summed up the bizarre splits. The 2013 fractions were not just slow, but extraordinary slow. Track conditions change year to year but for a quick comparison the raw times show a pretty clear picture.
Pace made the race. Horse that run slow early will come home fast. So running the final 3 furlongs in under 36 seconds was a formality after the 6 Furlong and 1 mile split were posted. The race was run as a “turf” race with the final 1/8th in under 12 seconds.