However, tragedy struck again when he came up short the next race and placed third because of an abscess in his mouth. Of course, Red proved he was worth his weight in gold during his first race of the 1973 season by winning the race by four and a half lengths. Keep that word “record” in your mind, because Big Red definitely did. But by god, the woman was a smooth talker and was able to syndicate Secretariat, selling 32 shares of the horse for a record $6.08 million. Penny’s father passed away, saddling her with a massive tax bill that she wasn’t able to deal with on her own. Y’all remember how I said that Meadow Farm was struggling? Well in 1973, the situation wasn’t looking good. But I’m getting ahead of myself, if you’re really going to understand the gravity of the legend that was Secretariat, we need to go all the way to the beginning. Racehorses are started young, so Secretariat was entered in races when he was just two years old. There’s going to be a few horse-y terms here, but it’s okay, I’ll explain as we go! Secretariat, more affectionally referred to as “Big Red,” was born in October of 1970, and began winning races during his colt years. His book was also an integral part of the 2010 Disney movie adaptation of Secretariat, starring Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Margo Martindale, and even Penny Chenery (Secretariat’s owner) herself. Now, you’ve probably heard the story of Secretariat, but if you haven’t, don’t worry-I’m a wealth of knowledge on the subject! There’s so much information on Secretariat, including books written by William Nack, a renowned sports journalist and author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion. We’re talking about the latter today, specifically the tremendous racing machine Secretariat, ninth winner of the Triple Crown. In the South, there are only two kind of acceptable races to watch: NASCAR (obvi) and horse racing.

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