Received an awesome gift, memory lane *very long sorry*

[wingnut1]

Thank you for sharing your experiences - you're such a gifted writer!!! How wonderful that you have these memories.. and that you share them with your BYC buddies!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

What a wonderful story!!

To actually be there to see the great Secretariat race!!! To TOUCH him!! Oh WOW!!! That's like Elvis tossing you one of his sweaty scarves!, lol. There has never been another like him. I remember those races from TV. Jim McKay on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Yelling, screaming, watching him leave everyone far behind. I thought about him when Mind that Bird won the Derby opening up the lead at the end. Secretariat opened that lead in the 1st 1/2 mile. I remember the name of an article in Sports Illustrated after he went out to stud. "They call Him Sexy" If there ever was a sexy horse, he was it!

Ruffin. I cried that day as well. I have a model of a horse that I built that I painted to look just like her. She is buried in the infield at Belmont is she not?

There was a story on Power Privelege and Justice about Alidar and what happen to him.


Thank you for sharing your memories and tears with us!

 

[English Chick]

oh boy, you got me crying (again!)........... you are indeed gifted in many areas, now writing as well, I could feel the excitment and the sadness and here I am boo hooing over the keyboard.................

Memories of days past can be so vivid, as you transport yourself back........ we are a family of horselovers also..........the thoroughbred we have at the moment (ex-racehorse) Trofana Falcon, his daddy is a racer is the USA and his grandadfather was Mill Reef, again one of the greatest horses that ever lived.........sadly my Falcon does not have the heart to race, except round the fields. but he is one of the great joys we have..........

to you Cetawin for sharing your wonderful story..................

Edited for typos ...

 

[Cetawin]

CoyoteMagic, she is buried in the infield. And you know I had to smile when I was watching the reel and I saw myself, this tiny little thing, duck under the fence and walk right up to him and I put my hand out as he walked by and I brushed him across the top of his leg because I could not reach any higher. No one yelled at me except my grandfather who you can hear on the reel. LOL The trainer, owner, groom and the entire crew just looked at me, nodded with a smile and walked towards the saddling area. My father swears I would not wash my hand for a week. hahahahaha

But his story is what always touched me. The owner was trying against everyone's recommendation to save her father's Stables. They were selling off horses and so forth and she actually won the right to keep Secretariat and race him...on a heads or tailos, he stays or goes type thing. She promised to only race him that year for the TC because of the insurance premium...it still costs a 1m dollars to insure him for that year. And her father died just a couple months before the Belmont but she and secretariat saved his stables. when he retired he went to Claiborne Farm as a stud until his euthanization for recurring lamenitis at age 19.

Coyote do you remember seeing old clips of Sir Barton who actually won the three races before they were officially the Triple Crown (they were just the Derby, the Preakness and the Stakes) but he is noted as being the first TC winner? He hated humans except for his groom I believe it was, he was cantankerous, surly, unpredictable until you put him on the start line and just a grumpy colt. Then Whirlaway...he was the 5th or 6th triple crown winner (depends on whether or not you officially count Sir Barton)? he was the horse everyone said was crazy, stupid and unpredictable because leading up to the derby all of his races he shot off the start line and ran to the right rail and won from the far right of the track. At the derby they walked him around and around the track on the left rail and the trainer cut his left blinker off so he could only see that rail.

My grandfather filmed that one in I believe 1941.

I am stretching my memory banks from all I learned but they did not have gates when Sir Barton, Man O War, Gallant Fox, Omaha and I believe War Admirel ran...they just walked the horses up to the start line and tried to hold them steady and when no one moved the gun sounded. hahahaha
Then they went to the posts in the track that they stood between.

Funny thing about the 11 Triple Crown winners...as time went on through the years they sired less and less champions. Secretariat himself was not a great stud but he had some champion colts and fillies and Affirmed was sterile so he went back on the track after retiring twice. But Man O War and gallant Fox produced triple crown colts in War Admirel and Omaha.

Okay I will shut up now...I do love my equine racing history, it is much more enjoyable than law school was. hahahaha


Thanks all for sharing my tears and my elation today. I so appreciate it.

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
Thanks EC Mill Reef was an awesome horse. I am glad to know you have a great horse like that to love. Even the best racers throw the best companion horses and it is all good. I recently had a fit when the last semen of Secretariat went up for sale. I was looking for fast cash I tell you....until the bidding hit the way out of my wallet range. I believe it eventually sold for 18 million. One vial can you imagine? But I almost bought one of his granddaugthers but the Dam's line were not that hot...actually they were kinda stupid so I did not buy her. But I am always looking.

 

[redhen]

Thanks for sharing this with us. Made me want to cry!

 

[quiltnchik]

Quote:
I live in Caroline County, Virginia and was deeply saddened when the county decided to allow the State Fair of Virginia to take over the farm on Route 30 where Secretariat was born and raised.

What a wonderful gift - thank you so much for sharing it with us...

 

[Cetawin]

PunkërTeçhñöRøø§ter :

That is amazing. Im just a young man to horse racing, so much that I only know a race is coming up when they advertise on tv. But whenever ESPN or HBO have a special on about horse racing I have to watch, because the people talk about racing with such feeling that it really pulls me in.
Ive seen the footage of Ruffian and it has to be one of the saddest moments in sports history.

It is something that pulls you in...it was so different years ago...it was a passion, a love and a joy. The air of it was pride, strength, athleticism and family. Not these days...it is all about the almighty dollar.

I will always watch the racers be it dirt, grass, hack or trotters...I just love the equine events and watching the horses do whatever job they have been trained to do.​

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
I live in Caroline County, Virginia and was deeply saddened when the county decided to allow the State Fair of Virginia to take over the farm on Route 30 where Secretariat was born and raised.

What a wonderful gift - thank you so much for sharing it with us...

That was so sad. Thank goodness she was gone by then. She worked so hard to save her father's stables. Thank goodness Secretariat is resting peacefully on the Claiborne Farm grounds right next to his Sire. I think there would be a huge riot if his remains had been buried there and they took it over. I know I would have been in the front of the protestor's line on that one.