Sham    Great Was Second Best

Written by, Phil Dandrea

Review by, Troy Andrew Smith

Author of Radersburg Gold and From Across the Campfire

Over the years there have been millions of sporting events.  Some have been spectacular.  In some cases there have been great rivalries between teams or individuals.  What would Ali have been without Frazer; the Steelers without the Browns and the Ravens; the Yankees without the Phillies?  The world of Thoroughbred racing has spawned as many of these rivalries as any sport going. 

Try, if you will, to imagine owning a horse that broke the track record in the Kentucky Derby.  A horse that was one of only two horses to ever run the Derby in under two minutes, and to leave the rest of the field far behind.  To have the same horse run away from the rest of the field in the Preakness, except for one horse.  The horse that was in front of him; Secretariat.  Sham was the second place horse who’s time in the Derby was faster than any horse had ever ran before.  He just had the bad timing to be born in the same year as Secretariat; the horse in front of him.

I have just finished reading a very fine book written by Phil Dandrea, entitled, “Sham   Great was Second Best.”  Phil does an outstanding job of going back through the record books, the Stud books and the races, to put together the whole story of how a horse named Sham ran some of the greatest Triple Crown races in history, only to wind up in second place and nearly forgotten by the world.

In, “Sham   Great was Second Best,” Phil Dandrea gives the reader a history of these two horses that goes back to the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland, France and Ireland in the 1500’s and the events that led up to the greatest horse races ever ran.

In the Kentucky Derby, in the Preakness and finally the Belmont Stakes, you can feel the pain and the glory of Sham and Secretariat’s head to head competition as Sham pushes Secretariat to a Triple Crown Victory. 

Personally, I am a major fan of Secretariat’s.  I love to watch the old films of his Triple Crown victories.  To see the Big Red Machine coming to the finish is always enough to make my heart pound.  But, would it have been the same if it wasn’t for Sham running in second place, running the Derby faster than it had ever been run before, pushing and driving Secretariat?  Should Sham be forgotten because he was only second place?  I for one don’t think so and thankfully, neither did Phil Dandrea.

If you like horse races or not, if you are old enough to remember watching these two great horses race or not, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of, “Sham   Great was Second Best,” and, relive possibly, the greatest rivalry to ever happen in, not only horse racing, but in all of Sports History… At least that’s what I think.