Secretariat - a Horse to Remember

The story of Secretariat’s owner, Penny Chenery will be brought to the screen in a film by Walt Disney, to be released on October 8, 2010. Ms. Chenery is now 88 years old and was consulted during the making of the film.

Secretariat was acquired through a complicated series of coin tosses originally set up between Ms. Chenery’s father and their neighbor. The film is more the story of Ms. Chenery’s life, rather than Secretariat’s. However, the story of her life is an inspiring one as well. The horseracing business before she came along was a man’s world and men did not take her seriously. Ms. Chenery was a housewife raising four children – what did she know about horseracing? They soon found out that with her knowledge and love of horseback riding her whole life, a degree in business, combined with a family background in raising good quality thoroughbred racing horses, she, together with Secretariat, would become formidable foes.

The pinnacle of horseracing, the Triple Crown is similar to what the Super Bowl is in football. For a horse and jockey, it is a 5 week trip that starts with the Kentucky Derby, two weeks later, the Preakness in Maryland, finally ending with the Belmont Stakes in New York.

The Triple Crown is grueling for most horses and jockeys, not only because of the 5 week span of racing, but also because each race is more or equal to a mile and a quarter. Most of the races leading up to the Triple Crown involve fewer distances, making these three races much harder to win. In fact, in the history of the Triple Crown, there have only been 11 winners, of which probably the most famous is Secretariat, who won it in 1973.

Today, a Kentucky Derby winner gets $1,240,000, plus all fees over $900,000. The fees are a total of all the entry fees of all the horses, and if you think it’s cheap to enter a horse in the Derby, think again. It can cost as much as $51,000! Winner of the Preakness and Belmont wins 60% of a guaranteed amount of $1,000,000. Keep in mind that winnings for these two races are based on betting (stakes), so winnings can be much higher than the guaranteed amounts.

Secretariat was 3 years and 4 months old when he won the Triple Crown. He was a chestnut thoroughbred that stood 16 ½ hands and weighed almost 1200 pounds. His records at the Kentucky Derby of 1 minute and 59 2/5 seconds and 2 minutes, 24 seconds at the Belmont have never been broken.

Secretariat ran 21 races in his career. Of those, he won 16, came in second in 3, and came in third in 1, for a total of 20 races which won money.

On October 4, 1989, Secretariat was put to sleep after a painful and usually incurable hoof disease (laminitis) could not be treated successfully. In the case of most race horses, only the head and heart, along with the hooves are buried and the rest is cremated. Secretariat’s whole body was buried.

Secretariat won many prestigious awards in his lifetime, but on May 2, 2007, he was the first animal to ever be inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame.

I did quite a bit of research writing this article. I've always loved horses and have had my own at one time. I used to watch some of the races on TV. One year, a long time ago, now, I was watching the Belmont Stakes (I think it was this one). A horse got injured and had to be put down on the field. I never watched racing again after that. I have a poster of Secretariat, though. It's a photo that may have won a prize - all four of his feet are off the ground and this was back before the enhancement capabilities that are available now - it's real. That boy was flying!

A couple of these websites will give you statistics on past races, including jockeys and owners.

http://www.horse-races.net/library/derby-entry.htm

http://www.horse-races.net/library/tcrown-info.htm

http://www.drf.com/news/penny-chenerys-life-unscripted

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretariat_%28horse%29#Preparing_for_the_Kentucky_Derby