TOP 1: SECRETARIAT (BIG RED, THE SUPERSTAR)

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
  1.  
  • 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 

Rankings

Stud Career

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 16 mile
Laurel Futurity
Laurel
1
1:42 4⁄5
8 lengths
Ron Turcotte
November 18, 1972
1 16 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 miles
Arlington Invitational
Arlington
1
1:47
9 lengths
Ron Turcotte
September 15, 1973
1 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:

* the official time until revisited in 2012 when it was adjusted to 1:53, a stakes record

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 miles
Wood Memorial
II
Aqueduct
3
1:49 4⁄5
(4) lengths
Ron Turcotte
August 4, 1973
1 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:

*won by two lengths but was disqualified due to bumping incidents during the race and was placed second (2nd) instead. 

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.