His career was documented and discussed in such a way that it was competed with that of the other “massive red”, one O '. Telling the history of the immortal secretariat is a challenge because his life on the route and off was interrupted by a huge number of random circumstances that gave us this enormous machine. In order to select a turning point to determine a single decision or a coincidence that changed the fate of this triple crown winner, it is to leave out the extraordinary series of coincidences that, if they had gone differently, that he might not have become a secretariat that stated that our ideas stated.
For the Triple Crown focus of this month, the life and career of the secretariat did not have one, but three critical moments that made the difference five decades ago.
Everything in the family
Christopher Chenery had a deep family connection to the meadow when he bought the farm in 1936. On the Nordanna River near Doswell, Virginia, the meadow lowland was located with many streams and rivers that fed the country and its residents. Chenery invested time and money into his passion for horses and converted his main land into a stud that promoted immortal. When Chenery got ill at the end of the 1960s, his three children had to decide what to do with the farm and her horses: Do you keep the meadow in the family or sell them?
Daughter Penny took on the task of leading the family breeding and racing processes. Advised them from Claiborne Farms Bull Hancock and coach Roger Laurin and rationalized the bloodstock and horses of the Meadow in training and kept several breeding stands of her father, including something, the somewhat royal and hasty Matelda. Chenery wanted to breed these mares to the leading Sire Bold Ruler, which the Phipps family had. The PHIPPS opted for a tunnel fee in favor of a foal sharing contract, in which a coin flip would determine which party would choose a foal from the mares grown to their stallion.
In 1969 there was something that several winners had already produced in the foal of the bold ruler with a horror foal by the father, who was already on site. In addition, Hasty Matelda had a weaning feed of the bold ruler, which means that the minting hem would determine the fate of three horses this year, not two. Ogden Phipps called Tails and won the litter and decided to take something that called some Royal weaning futile, later the bride, while Penny had the Absaug Colt and the 1970 foal from 1970.
This weaning Colt, later called Rising River, turned out to be inappropriate, while the bride later became a much better brood mark than a racehorse for the pairs. The 1970 foal from 1970 turned out to be something special.
This coin flip was the first turning point in the history of the secretariat. Had Penny won, would she have made the same choice? Had the PHIPPS opted for this foal, would secretariat have become the icon we know and love?
A protected bet?
Something Royal's foals by Kühner ruler arrived on March 30, 1970 and stabbed the moment from the moment when he slipped on the hay in the early morning. As a striking reddish chestnut, it was spotted generously with white, including three socks and a flake with a line on the forehead. With the name secretariat, its appearance strikes, but could he run? When Riva Ridge registered a championship season at the age of 2, an annual secretariat showed up in his preparations for the racetrack, but nobody could have anticipated what he would be the following year.
While Riva Ridge tried his own triple crown in 1972 – he won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and was fourth in the BRAKENSIRIAT – a show organized a show in the youthful Juvenile Stakes, won the hopeful missions in Saratoga and the Futurity -Stakes in Belmont in his seven season this season. His record was enough to get Eclipse Awards for the 2-year champion and the horse of the year. With this smashed season behind him and the valuable 3-year missions in 1973, secretariat was a valuable horse that Penny left with a dilemma.
The death of Christopher Chenery in January 1973 left the family with a significant estate tax account and to pay them, they would require complex decisions. Penny wanted to keep the farm and its racing and breeding businesses, including secretariat and Riva Ridge. In addition, she was a partnership with Claiborne Farm to offer secretariat for syndication before he had even driven by 3 years elderly and asked 190,000 US dollars for each share. If your efforts were successful, she would collect enough money, among other things, to keep both secretariat and Riva Ridge.
After many phone calls and negotiations, the syndication of the secretariat was completed. Another turning point had come and gone, and the talented Colt was now able to start his 3-year season after staying on the side, while Chenery was waiting for the result of her and Claibornes Dealmaking. He easily won the Bay Shore and the Gotham Stakes in the aqueduct, but turned into a rattling in the Wood monument, most likely due to a dialect scope that caused him discomfort.
No, brought out the brave ruling factor: Up to this point, secretarial bird had not produced a classic winner. The Wood Memorial was 1 ° miles and the stable star of the meadow was third. The Kentucky Derby was another eight mile longer.
Would the brave ruler of the brave ruler operate something that operate of all the promise, demonstrate the talent over a championship season and show everyone a different level? It was time to find out.
Potentially realized
The coin flip could have changed its trajectory before it was even on the floor, but Penny's luck had kept the secretariat stable blue and white in the meadow. The syndication could have been unsuccessful and the best horse that Chenerys ever bred could have slipped away from them. The turning points had passed twice and the secretariat had remained on the way to immortality. In Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May everything was running.
The secretariat had to show them everything that the belief that Penny Chenery, the members of the lucrative syndicate and the thousands of racing fans were justified under the twin sticks and at home in the Huge Red Colt.
And show them it.
He broke well and left Speed Horses forward, while Jockey Ron Turcotte and the massive red stallion foal stayed in the first curve on the back of the pack. Instead of making themselves in the 1 ¼ miles of striking movements, Turcotte let secretariat take horses one after the other and moved through the field until they turned into the route. His sights in a front glow, the Huge Red Colt ran briefly together with this talented colleague, but the swing of his step had built up the robust performance at a constant speed.
On the finish line, it was a secretariat with 2½ lengths in record time of 1:59 2/5, almost 50 years later the fastest Kentucky derby ever. In the first race of his triple crown, the performance was a last critical turning point in his immortal career when he stayed past the competition and never looked back.
The rest, as you say, is history. Triple Crown History.
