Secretariat, also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who was the ninth winner of the American Triple Crown, setting and still holding the fastest time record in all three of its constituent races. He is widely considered to be the greatest racehorse of all time. He became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and his record-breaking victory in the Belmont Stakes, which he won by 31 lengths, is often considered the greatest race ever run by a thoroughbred racehorse. During his racing career, he won five Eclipse Awards, including Horse of the Year honors at ages two and three. He was nominated to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974. In the Blood-Horse magazine List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Secretariat was second to Man o' War.
Ronald Joseph Morel "Ronnie" Turcotte, is a retired Canadian thoroughbred race horse jockey best known as the rider of Secretariat, winner of the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973.
Lucien Laurin was a French-Canadian jockey and Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse trainer. He was best known for training Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973.
Helen Bates "Penny" Chenery was an American sportswoman who bred and owned Secretariat, the 1973 winner of the Triple Crown. The youngest of three children, she graduated from The Madeira School in 1939 and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College, then studied at the Columbia Business School, where she met her future husband, John Tweedy, Sr., a Columbia Law School graduate. In March 2011, Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, awarded Chenery an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Christopher Chenery was an American engineer, businessman, and the owner/breeder of record for Thoroughbred horse racing's U.S. Triple Crown champion Secretariat.
Riva Ridge was a Thoroughbred racehorse, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes in 1972.
Angle Light was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who defeated the champion Secretariat in the 1973 Wood Memorial Stakes.
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three races were inaugurated in different years, the last being the Kentucky Derby in 1875. The Triple Crown Trophy, commissioned in 1950 but awarded to all previous winners as well as those after 1950, is awarded to a horse who wins all three races and is thereafter designated as a Triple Crown winner. The races are traditionally run in May and early June of each year, although global events have resulted in schedule adjustments, such as in 1945 and 2020.
Onion was a U.S. thoroughbred whose victory over Secretariat in the 1973 Whitney Handicap is considered to be among the most dramatic upsets in the history of horse racing.
Edward Sweat was an American groom in Thoroughbred horse racing who was the subject of the 2006 book by Lawrence Scanlan titled The Horse God Built: Secretariat, His Groom, Their Legacy.
Weekend Surprise was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and dam of 1992 American Horse of the Year A.P. Indy and 1990 Preakness Stakes winner Summer Squall. She was sired by the famous Triple Crown winner Secretariat.
Sigmund Sommer was a Brooklyn, New York building contractor, philanthropist, and racehorse owner of Sham, the horse that placed second to Secretariat in two legs of the 1973 U.S. Triple Crown series. At the time of Sommer's death at 62 in 1979, his estate was valued at almost $1 billion.
Frank "Pancho" Martin was a United States' Hall of Fame trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses. He is often remembered as the trainer of Sham, the horse that placed second to Secretariat in two legs of the 1973 U. S. Triple Crown series. Martin was the racing industry's leading purse winner in 1974 and the leading trainer in New York state from 1973 to 1982.
Arthur B. "Bull" Hancock Jr. was a breeder and owner of thoroughbred racehorses at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, United States. He acquired European horses to breed in the United States, in particular Nasrullah and Princequillo, and gained great standing in the racing world as a result.
Roger Laurin is a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses in the United States and Canada. He has trained Champions Numbered Account, the 1971 American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly, and Chief's Crown, the 1984 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner.
The 1973 Kentucky Derby was the 99th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Secretariat won the Derby in a record time of 1:59+2⁄5, 2+1⁄2 lengths ahead of Sham, while Our Native finished in third position. Of the thirteen horses that entered and started the race, all horses completed the event. The event was viewed in person by a then-record crowd of 134,476, while also being broadcast both on television and over the radio.
The 1973 Preakness Stakes was the 98th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland held on May 19, 1973. Six horses entered, and Secretariat won by 2+1⁄2 lengths ahead of Sham in front of a record crowd of 61,657 spectators. The race was viewed on television and broadcast over the radio.
The 1973 Belmont Stakes was the 105th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, held on June 9, 1973. Facing a field of five horses, Secretariat won by 31 lengths, the largest margin of victory in Belmont history, in front of a crowd of 69,138 spectators. His winning time of 2 minutes and 24 seconds still stands as the American record for a mile and a half on dirt. The event was televised and broadcast over the radio.
Thoroughbred Racing on CBS is the de facto title for a series of horse races events whose broadcasts are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States.
The 1972 Kentucky Derby was the 98th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 6, 1972, with 130,564 people in attendance.
