Was one of three dominant foundation sires of modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock. The other two founders were the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk. This bay Arabian horse was bought in Aleppo, Syria, by Thomas Darley in 1704 and shipped to Aldby Park in England, as a present for his brother.[1]
One author in 1840 described Darley Arabian’s arrival in England during the reign of Queen Anne as the event which “forms the great epoch from which the history of the Turf [as in “turf racing“] should be dated”.[2]
There he stood at stud, usually private but sometimes open to outside mares. He was the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1722. By all accounts, the Darley Arabian stood about 15 hands high and was of substantial beauty and refinement.[3]
The Darley Arabian sired the undefeated Flying Childers.
He also sired Bartlett’s Childers, an unraced brother of Flying Childers, who was the great-grandsire of the extremely influential Eclipse. The Darley Arabian was to become the most important sire in the history of the English Thoroughbred.[3] His son Bulle Rock was the first Thoroughbred to be exported to America, in 1730.[4]
Most Thoroughbreds can be traced back to Darley Arabian. In 95% of modern Thoroughbred racehorses, the Y chromosome can be traced back to this single stallion.[5][6] This is mainly through his descendant, Eclipse, who is the direct male ancestor of 95% of all thoroughbreds and in the pedigree of many of the rest.[7]
Bob Coglianese, Credit: with taking the famous photograph
from the 1973 Belmont Stakes.
Secretariat Was in A League of His Own at The Belmont.
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.
The length is commonly used in Thoroughbred horse racing, where it describes the distance between horses in a race. Horses may be described as winning by several lengths, as in the notable example of Secretariat, who won the 1973 Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. In 2013, the New York Racing Association placed a blue-and-white checkered pole at Belmont Park to mark that winning margin; using Equibase’s official measurement
of a length—8 feet 2 inches (2.49 m)—the pole was placed 253 feet 2 inches.
[84 yards 14 inches] or (77.17 m) from the finish line.[2]
Secretariat was widely viewed as the favorite to win by most sportswriters and people; however, the added distance and the possibility of running too slow for a distance or running too fast too soon could potentially cause him to lose. Out of the starting gate, Secretariat and Sham traded the lead.
Around the three-quarters mile marker Sham began to fade and Secretariat began to extend an advantage. Twice a Prince and My Gallant overtook Sham to take second and third, respectively. Sham finished last, behind Pvt. Smiles, who was in last before Sham slowed severely.
Remembering … Sham (horseracingnation.com)
Sham spent most of his long stallion career at Spendthrift Farm, where he enjoyed a successful, but not spectacular career as a stallion, before later moving on to Walmac Farm. He sired many stakes winners, but none of his progeny would possess the great talent or the heart of their sire. It would be that great heart that eventually gave way.
On the morning of April 3, 1993, Sham was found dead in his stall, by a heart attack.
Sham was 23. An autopsy would reveal his heart to be about twice the normal size for a thoroughbred. Ironic or telling, only Secretariat‘s heart was found to be bigger. He may have been second to Secretariat in life, and then in death, but there should be no shame in that. Sham was a fantastic horse, who in his greatness brought out the ultimate greatness from our sport’s very best.
The victory in the Belmont, when combined with Secretariat’s previous victories in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, meant he completed the Triple Crown
of Thoroughbred Racing. This was significant, as Secretariat became the ninth horse
to complete the feat and broke a 25-year drought where no horse had completed the achievement.
According to Jockey Club records, Secretariat sired 341 winners (51.4%) and 54 stakes winners (8.1%) from 663 named foals; Thoroughbred Times credited Secretariat with 57 stakes winners. He had a notable influence on breeding through his maternal grandsons A.P. Indy, Chief’s Crown, Choctaw Ridge, Dehere, Gone West, Storm Cat and Summer Squall. Ron Turcotte Jockey FOX – Search (bing.com)
Secretariat sired 663 horses while this woman tracked them down.
Here’s how she finds them.
Maggie Menderski, Louisville Courier Journal
March 17, 2023·
Secretariat sired 663 progenies between 1975 and 1990.
That’s an almost incomprehensible amount of children of which to keep track.
Over the past 50 years, journalist and author Patricia McQueen has become an expert on the topic. She has been tracking Secretariat’s bloodline and its impact on the horseracing world for decades. Secretariat is arguably the greatest racehorse of all time. He set the record for the fastest run of the Kentucky Derby in 1973, which still holds today.
This month, she released a book called “Secretariat’s Legacy,” which deep dives into some of his most successful offspring and highlights some of his last living daughters and sons.
A little less than two months away from the 50th anniversary of his record-setting
Kentucky Derby win, McQueen says of that 660-plus, there are only two known to be living today.
These survivors stayed largely out of the public eye following their unsuccessful racing careers. Trusted Company, a mare, is 34 years old and lives at Bright Futures Farm in Pennsylvania. Maritime Traveler was from Secretariat’s final crop in 1990, and it was
only last year that he emerged from his quiet life on a Florida farm.
The end of his offspring: A day with Secretariat’s last known daughter, Trusted Company
McQueen says the more she wrote articles about “Secretariats,” as she calls his progeny, the more links she found to his daughters and sons that were still alive.
The Triple Crown winner’s final crop was born in 1990 the year after he died.
Secretariat’s youngest surviving daughters and sons turned 33 this year —
which is very old for a horse.
Jockey Ron Turcotte guides Secretariat toward the finish line to win the 1973 Kentucky Derby. Could there be any other unknown Secretariats? Maybe.
Here’s what to know about McQueen’s research and her search for the daughters
and sons of Secretariat. How long has McQueen been following Secretariat’s offspring?
Trusted Company is the 34-year-old daughter of Secretariat that stays at Bright Futures Farm in Pennsylvania. March 2, 2023
McQueen started paying attention to Secretariat’s offspring with the first crop of foals in 1975. She kept scrapbooks with clippings from his racing career and his early stud career. Once Secretariat died, she pivoted and began photographing as many of his last crop as possible. McQueen has always had an interest in his descendants, she said, and she started thinking about writing a book in the early 2000s.
Secretariat was an exceptional animal and that meant there were high expectations for
his career as a sire. Many of those fell short. “I always felt he was unfairly called a ‘bad sire’ and wanted to do something about it,” McQueen said. “I really ramped up the research in the past dozen years.” What kind of research did McQueen do to find the 11 survivors she featured in her book?
Trusted Company is the 34-year-old daughter of Secretariat that stays at Bright Futures Farm in Pennsylvania. March 2, 2023
It is extremely difficult to find horses that are in private hands, McQueen said.
Larger farms where horses are used for breeding stock are much easier to follow.
“If a mare never had foals, and a stallion had no progeny, and for geldings [a castrated male horse], it’s almost impossible (to find them) other than through word of mouth,” McQueen said. More often than not, people with ties to the Secretariats found her.
She published an article about Innkeeper in 2016 on thoroughbredracing.com when the youngest Secretariats were already 26 years old. That story brought out a few more links
to the iconic Triple Crown winner, including Fast Market, who was the last known stakes winner among Secretariat’s progeny. Interest and contacts continued to bloom from there.
You may like: Jog, bit, breeze? Horse racing terms to keep you in the know for Kentucky Derby 2023. How did McQueen stumble upon Trusted Company?
Bev Dee, owner of Bright Futures Farm, feeds cookies to
– Trusted Company. March 2, 2023
By mid-2018 McQueen thought she had found all the remaining Secretariats, so she was surprised when a woman, who worked in animal welfare in New Jersey, contacted her about some horses who needed to be rehomed.
One of the horses in the herd, Trusted Company, was believed to be one of Secretariat’s progeny. McQueen didn’t really have any experience in retirement care for horses, but this person had found articles she had written about Secretariat’s other offspring.
Through her work as a journalist, McQueen made a connection at Bright Futures Farms, a nonprofit sanctuary for elderly horses. She met the founder, Bev Dee, while photographing Fast Market, and she liked how Dee cared for elderly horses no one else seemed to want. Together Dee and McQueen researched Trusted Company and verified her identity through foal photos accessed through the Jockey Club Registry. Trusted Company
lived in a foster home until Dee had the space to bring her to Bright Futures in 2018.
How did McQueen learn about Maritime Traveler?
Bev Dee, owner of Bright Futures Farm, looks at a book called Secretariat’s Legacy.
Trusted Company is highlighted as the last daughter of the great Secretariat.
In the fall of 2022, a new, astute administrative assistant at Bridlewood Farm in Florida read a story McQueen had written about what were believed to be the final two living Secretariats at the time: Trusted Company, and Border Run, who died in late 2022.
The clerk knew of an old stallion on the property with a tie to Secretariat, and she reached out to McQueen, who previously photographed Maritime Traveler in 1993.
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Maritime Traveler had a pitiful racing career, and he’d been living at Bridlewood for
years as a “tease,” which is a horse who helps identify when mares are ready to breed.
McQueen published her story about finding a Maritime Traveler on thoroughbredracing.com in February.
Does McQueen think there are any more Secretariat progenies out there?
Trusted Company, right, and Catch This T are best friends at Bright Futures Farm
in Pennsylvania. March 2, 2023.
McQueen says surprises like Trusted Company and Maritime Traveler are just “magical.”
She thought she’d discovered the last of the survivors as early as 2018, but Maritime Traveler didn’t resurface until late last year.
“It’s true that it’s not ‘impossible'” to find another one, McQueen said in March.
“But it is highly unlikely. Age 33 is very, very old for a thoroughbred.”
How do I find McQueen’s book and articles about Secretariat’s offspring?
McQueen’s book “Secretariat’s Legacy” is available online at secretariatslegacy.com.
She also has several articles available online at thoroughbredracing.com.
Features columnist Maggie Menderski writes about what makes Louisville, Southern Indiana and Kentucky unique, wonderful, and occasionally, a little weird. If you’ve got something in your family, your town or even your closet that fits that description —
she wants to hear from you. Say hello at mmenderski@courier-journal.com
or 502-582-4053.
This article originally appeared in Louisville Courier Journal:
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