Considered by many to be the greatest racehorse of all time, Secretariat was a truly remarkable horse that earned his place in horse racing history with his amazing performances. Also known as Big Red, his incredible win in the Belmont Stakes by a record 31 lengths earned him the Triple Crown in 1973. His lead over the next-nearest horse, Twice A Prince, was so great that CBS cameras at the track could barely show both horses in the same shot. Secretariat not only won – he also set speed records in multiple races, including all three Triple Crown races.
This awe-inspiring performance catapulted Secretariat to fame and made him a household name. Secretariat won several awards as well, both during his career and after, including the American Horse of the Year in both 1972 and 1973, and he secured a place in the US Racing Hall of Fame in 1974. His enduring legacy has inspired dozens of books and a movie that was released in 2010, and statues of Secretariat were erected at Belmont Park, Kentucky Horse Park, Grand Falls, and in Lexington.
Secretariat ended his 21-race career with 16 wins, 3 seconds, and 1 third. Aside from his maiden race, every race where Secretariat didn’t take first was due to a disqualification or a health issue, such as a mouth abscess at the Wood Memorial or a viral infection at the Whitney Stakes. Secretariat’s incredible career guarantees that he will be remembered for all time, and his speed records at Churchill Downs for 1 ¼ miles and at the Belmont Stakes for 1 ½ miles still stand to this day.
Horse Profile
- Foaled: March 30, 1970
- Bred: USA
- Sex: Colt/Stallion
- Debuted:1972
- Retired: 1973
- Death: October 4, 1989 (Due to laminitis at the age of 19)
- Color and Markings: Chestnut coat and three white “socks.”
- Sire: Bold Ruler
- Dam: Somethingroyal
- Owners: Meadow Stable
- Breeder: Meadow Stud
- Trainer: Lucien Laurin
- Primary/ Regular Jockeys: Ron Turcotte
Characteristics
Secretariat stood 16.2 hands (66 inches, or 168 cm) when fully grown. He had powerful, well-muscled hindquarters, and his chest was so large that he required a custom-made girth. It was later discovered that he had an exceptionally big heart (estimated to be 21 to 22 lbs.), which was over double the weight of the average heart of a horse (8 to 9 lbs.). He was called “the horse that God built” because he was exceptionally well-balanced, and he has been described as having “nearly perfect” conformation and stride biomechanics. He was called a “heartthrob” by his trainer, Lucien Laurin, because of his appearance as the biggest, strongest, most attractive, and most powerful animal.
Historical Achievements, Honors, Recognitions
- Eclipse Award 1972 Horse of the Year
- Eclipse Award 1972 Champion 2-Year-Old Colt
- Eclipse Award 1973 Horse of the Year
- Eclipse Award 1973 Champion Grass/Turf Horse
- Eclipse Award 1973 Champion 3-Year-Old Colt
- He was inducted to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (1974).
- The U.S. Postal Service honored Secretariat by placing his image on a 33-cent stamp released October 16, 1999.
- Secretariat was featured in ESPN Classic's show Who's No. 1? in the episode "Greatest Sports Performances" in 2005. He was the only non-human on the list, with his run at Belmont ranking second behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game.
- Secretariat became the first equine inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in March 2007.
- He was inducted to the National Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 2013)
- Secretariat was also the focus of a 2013 segment of 60 Minutes Sports
Rankings
- In 1994, Sports Illustrated ranked Secretariat #17 in their list of the 40 greatest sports figures of the past 40 years.
- In the book A Century of Champions (1999, Portway Press Ltd.), British experts John Randall and Tony Morris rated Secretariat as the best North American racehorse of the 20th century.
- In 1999, ESPN ranked Secretariat 35th among the top 100 North American athletes of the 20th century, the highest rating given to non-humans.
- Ranked #2 among the top 100 American racehorses of the 20th century according to expert panels assembled by The Blood-Horse (Thoroughbred Champions, Eclipse Press, 7th printing, 2005), the Associated Press, and Sports Illustrated.
- Secretariat's Belmont Stakes performance was ranked #4 in Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments, a review of racing in the 20th century compiled by The Blood-Horse and released in 2006.
- It was also ranked at #13 on Sports Illustrated's March 8, 2016, list of the 100 greatest moments in sports history.
Stud Career
- Secretariat officially sired 663 named foals, of which 341 are winners (51.4%), and 54 are stakes winners (8.1%). Overall, Secretariat's daughters produced 24 Grade/Group 1 winners.
Racing Career
| Record | Earnings |
|---|---|
21: 16-3-1 | $1,316,808 |
| WON RACES | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Distance | Race | Grade | Track | Finish | Winning Time | Winning Margin | Jockey |
1972 – Two-year-old season | ||||||||
July 15, 1972 | 6 furlongs | Maiden Special Weight | Aqueduct | 1 | 1:10 3⁄5 | 6 lengths | Paul Feliciano | |
July 31, 1972 | 6 furlongs | Allowance | Saratoga | 1 | 1:10 4⁄5 | 1 ½ lengths | Ron Turcotte | |
August 16, 1972 | 6 furlongs | Sanford Stakes | III | Saratoga | 1 | 1:10 | 3 lengths | Ron Turcotte |
August 26, 1972 | 6 ½ furlongs | Hopeful Stakes | I | Saratoga | 1 | 1:16 1⁄5 | 5 lengths | Ron Turcotte |
September 16, 1972 | 6 ½ furlongs | Futurity Stakes | Belmont | 1 | 1:16 2⁄5 | 1 ¾ lengths | Ron Turcotte | |
October 28, 1972 | 1 ⅟16 mile | Laurel Futurity | Laurel | 1 | 1:42 4⁄5 | 8 lengths | Ron Turcotte | |
November 18, 1972 | 1 ⅟16 mile | Garden State | Garden State | 1 | 1:44 2⁄5 | 3 ½ lengths | Ron Turcotte | |
1973 – Three-year-old season | ||||||||
March 17, 1973 | 7 furlongs | Bay Shore Stakes | III | Aqueduct | 1 | 1:23 1⁄5 | 4 ½ lengths | Ron Turcotte |
April 7, 1973 | 1 mile | Gotham Stakes | III | Aqueduct | 1 | 1:33 2⁄5 (equaled track record) | 3 lengths | Ron Turcotte |
May 5, 1973 | 1 ¼ miles | Kentucky Derby | I | Churchill Downs | 1 | 1:59 2⁄5 (new track record) | 2 ½ lengths | Ron Turcotte |
May 19, 1973 | 1 3/16 miles | Preakness Stakes | I | Pimlico | 1 | 1:53, not 1:54 2⁄5* | 2 ½ lengths | Ron Turcotte |
June 9, 1973 | 1 ½ miles | Belmont Stakes | I | Belmont | 1 | 2:24 (new track record) | 31 lengths | Ron Turcotte |
June 30, 1973 | 1 ⅛ miles | Arlington Invitational | Arlington | 1 | 1:47 | 9 lengths | Ron Turcotte | |
September 15, 1973 | 1 ⅛ miles | Marlboro Cup | I | Belmont | 1 | 1:45 2⁄5 (world record on dirt) | 3 ½ lengths | Ron Turcotte |
October 8, 1973 | 1 ½ miles (turf) | Man o’ War Stakes | I | Belmont | 1 | 2:24 4⁄5 (course record) | 5 lengths | Ron Turcotte |
October 28, 1973 | 1 5/8 miles (turf) | Canadian International | I | Woodbine | 1 | 2:41 4⁄5 | 6 ½ lengths | Eddie Maple |
Legend: | ||||||||
| LOST RACES | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Distance | Race | Grade | Track | Placement | Time | Losing Margin | Jockey |
1972 – Two-year-old season | ||||||||
July 4, 1972 | 5 ½ furlongs | Maiden Special Weight | Aqueduct | 4 | 1:05 | (1 ½) lengths | Paul Feliciano | |
October 14, 1972 | 1 mile | Champagne Stakes | I | Belmont | 2* | 1:35 | 2 lengths | Ron Turcotte |
1973 – Three-year-old season | ||||||||
April 21, 1973 | 1 ⅛ miles | Wood Memorial | II | Aqueduct | 3 | 1:49 4⁄5 | (4) lengths | Ron Turcotte |
August 4, 1973 | 1 ⅛ miles | Whitney Stakes | I | Saratoga | 2 | 1:49 1⁄5 | (1) lengths | Ron Turcotte |
September 29, 1973 | 1 ½ miles | Woodward Stakes | II | Belmont | 2 | 2:25 4⁄5 | (4 ½) lengths | Ron Turcotte |
Legend: | ||||||||
Sire Rankings
Per the American Racing Manual series (Daily Racing Form):
- 8th on the American general sire list in 1988.
- Led the American broodmare sire list in 1992; 5th in 1994; 6th in 1985; 10th in 2000.
- Led the American juvenile sire list in 1978.
Per Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (2006, Churchill, Reichard, and Rogers):
- 8th on the American general sire list in 1988.
- Led the American broodmare sire list in 1992; 3rd in 1996; 5th in 1995 and 1997; 6th in 1993 and 1998; 7th in 1990 and 1994; 8th in 1985 and 1999; 10th in 1991.
- 7th on the combined English/Irish broodmare sire list in 1984.
- 8th on the French broodmare sire list in 1986.
Per Thoroughbred Heritage:
- Led the American broodmare sire list in 1992.
Fun Facts
- During his syndication for $6.08 million, Secretariat was worth more ounce-for-ounce than gold.
- Secretariat appeared on the covers of Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, and TIME during his 3-year-old season.
- The annual Bourbon County Secretariat Festival was first held in 2007. It runs during the third weekend in September in Paris, Kentucky.
- The annual Secretariat Birthday Celebration highlights the Virginia Horse Festival, held at The Meadow Event Park each spring.
- Penny Chenery founded the annual Secretariat Vox Populi Award in 2010.
- The New York Turf Writers Association presents its annual Secretariat Award to the horse judged to have accomplished the most notable feats in New York racing during the year.
- The Meadow Historic District, part of The Meadow Event Park, was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register on March 19, 2015, and to the National Register of Historic Places on May 28, 2015. The landmark includes the barn where Secretariat was foaled and the training barn where he was broken to saddle.
- A horseshoe worn by Secretariat during the running of the 1973 Kentucky Derby was auctioned for $80,736.
- He has its own official webpage (www.secretariat.com), which includes videos and photographs related to Secretariat’s life, and a store for Secretariat merchandise.
- Walt Disney Studios released a live-action film Secretariat on October 8, 2010.
- Secretariat is the ninth of the 13 American Triple Crown winners profiled in Edward Bowen’s The Lucky 13: The Winners of America’s Triple Crown of Horse Racing.
- Secretariat is one of 75 stallions profiled in Tony Morris’ Thoroughbred Stallions.
- Secretariat is profiled in Chapter 10 of Avalyn Hunter’s American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2012.
- Secretariat is one of 205 stallions whose accomplishments at stud are profiled in Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World.
- Secretariat is one of 50 Thoroughbreds profiled in Royal Blood: Fifty Years of Classic Thoroughbreds.
- There were many books and articles that were inspired by Secretariat:
- Big Red of Meadow Stable by William Nack
- Secretariat: The Making of a Champion (Da Capo Press)
- The biography Secretariat originally wrote by Raymond J. Woolfe in 1974
- The Secretariat, by Timothy T. Capps, is the 19th book in the Thoroughbred Legends series (2003, Eclipse Press).
- “Secretariat” is Chapter 9 of The Most Glorious Crown by Marvin Drager (2005, Triumph Books).
- Laurence Scanlan is the author of two books on Secretariat: The Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, the World’s Greatest Racehorse (2007, Thomas Dunne) and The Big Red Horse: The Story of Secretariat and the Loyal Groom Who Loved Him (2010, HarperCollins).
- Secretariat’s Meadow: The Land, the Family, the Legend by Dementi Milestone in 2010.
- “The Legend of Big Red” is the first chapter in The 10 Best Kentucky Derbies.
- The excellent article series “Children of Secretariat” by Patricia McQueen
Statues
- In 1974, a bronze statue known as Secretariat in Full Stride was erected at Belmont Park. It was relocated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1988.
- The Kentucky Horse Park has two life-sized statues of Secretariat. The first statue presented Secretariat as an older sire in 1992. The second was completed in 2004, portraying Big Red being led into the winner’s circle after the Kentucky Derby.
- In 2015, a statue of Secretariat and Ron Turcotte crossing the finish line at the Belmont Stakes was created in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Turcotte’s hometown.
- On October 12, 2019, a bronze statue by Jocelyn Russell was unveiled during the Secretariat Festival at Keeneland in Lexington. It shows Secretariat and Turcotte winning the Kentucky Derby. After the Festival, it was permanently relocated to the center of the traffic circle at Old Frankfort Pike and Alexandria Drive.