Secretariat was the greatest racehorse of all time. He set a record in the Kentucky Derby that was never broken, and he won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. When "Super Red," as he was called, retired from racing in 1973, he was-considered to have begun a period in which his real earning potential would be realized — as a stud. Mrs. Penney Tweedy, Secretariats owner, formed a syndicate to invest in her horse's post-retirement fortune. Twenty-eight syndicate members paid S190,000 each — a total of over S6 million — to share in the profits from Secretariat's breeding. Then they watched anxiously as the great horse met his first mate. It turned out that Secretariat took better to a fast track than to a fast mare. He was a reluctant suitor at first, and when he did manage to breed, there was an indication of some foreign matter in...