Fifty years ago today, announcer Chic Anderson famously described Secretariat as “moving like a tremendous machine” as the colt ran to a 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes.

The victory on June 9, 1973, made Secretariat the first thoroughbred to win the Triple Crown since 1948.

But the performance was even more memorable than that. Secretariat finished so far ahead of second-place Twice A Prince because the colt not only broke the Belmont Stakes’ speed record, he ran the fastest 1.5-mile on dirt in U.S. thoroughbred history – and those records still stand.

Before Secretariat completed the Belmont Stakes in 2 minutes, 24 seconds, the 1.5-mile record had been 2:26.2. The second-fastest 1.5-mile Belmont Stakes since Secretariat’s performance has been the 2:26 of Easy Goer in 1989.

On his way to the Triple Crown, Secretariat also set the records for the fastest Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. But the 1:59.4 in the Kentucky Derby and 1:53 in the Preakness Stakes resulted in a pair of 2.5-length victories over Sham.

RELATED: SECRETARIAT GIVES RECORD-SETTING PERFORMANCE AT THE KENTUCKY DERBY

RELATED: SECRETARIAT RUNS TO PREAKNESS STAKES RECORD

Like the Belmont mark, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes records stand one-half century later.

Post time for the 155th Belmont Stakes is 6:05 p.m. CDT Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. FOX will televise the race as a new lineup of 3-year-olds chase Secretariat’s record.

RELATED: BELMONT STAKES 2023: MEET THE CONTENDERS AND WATCH THEM RUN

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.