Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend

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  • Secretariat Birthday Celebration at The Meadow

    SECRETARIAT BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT THE MEADOW MARCH 29-30 KICKS OFF 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF SECRETARIAT’S 1973 TRIPLE CROWN  Come Join Us Where the Legend Began!     Forty years ago in 1973,  the big red horse pounded the turf in the Belmont Stakes like a “tremendous machine” and clinched the first Triple Crown in a quarter-century.  Forty years…

  • Happy Birthday, Penny Chenery

    We want to be the first to send the “First Lady of Racing,” Penny Chenery, our warmest wishes for a Happy Birthday on January 27!   Last year was a milestone birthday at age 90, but this year will also be very special for Penny.  It marks the 40th anniversary of Secretariat’s historic Triple Crown of 1973.  His…

  • REMEMBERING CHRISTOPHER T. CHENERY, FOUNDER OF MEADOW STABLE

     We’re interrupting our “Ancestors of Secretariat” series to take a moment to remember the visionary founder of Meadow Stable, Christopher T. Chenery.  He died 40 years ago on January 3, 1973 at the age of 86.  The man who created “an empire built on broodmares” in Caroline County, Virginia, never lived to see his greatest…

  • Secretariat’s Ancestors…Nasrullah, The Irish Rogue

    (second in a series)    The potent influence of Nearco became personified in America by his talented but tempestuous son, Nasrullah.  Foaled at the Aga Khan’s Sheshoon Stud in Ireland in 1940, Nasrullah earned an impressive reputation as a champion racehorse in Europe. Though he would not duplicate Nearco’s unbeaten record, he won five of…

  • Ancestors of Secretariat…New Series

    ANCESTORS OF SECRETARIAT: NEARCO, the ITALIAN STALLION While we have featured many of Secretariat’s descendants on our website and Secretariat’s Meadow Facebook page, we were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response to our recent Facebook posts about Secretariat’s ancestors. Therefore, we’re going to devote our blog to this topic for awhile.  We’ll start with Nearco, Secretariat’s paternal great grandsire,…

  • Riva Ridge in Spotlight at Secretariat Festival

     For once, Riva Ridge shared the spotlight with his stablemate, Big Red, and in Paris, of all places.  Paris, Kentucky, that is, where the annual Secretariat Festival took place and where our new book “Riva Ridge – Penny’s First Champion” made its “world debut” on September 29. What better kick-off than to have Penny Chenery, the…

  • Before there was Big Red…there was “the Great Red Fox”

                                                              A century before Meadow Stable, home of Hall of Famers Secretariat, Riva Ridge, Hill Prince and Cicada, put Doswell, Virginia on the racing map, Bullfield Stable in nearby Hanover County dominated the American racing scene.  Its most famous son was a long-striding chestnut stallion named Planet, also called “the great red fox.” He was…

  • Secretariat Makes Racing History Again!

    Forget all those contradictory times of 1:55, 1:54 2/5, even 1:53 2/5.  Secretariat’s record time in the 1973 Preakness was an astonishing 1:53 flat! This is what Penny Chenery and her team proved to the Maryland Racing Commission yesterday, June 19.  Their demonstration with new video technology convinced the commission  to change Secretariat’s Preakness time to 1:53 by…

  • Setting Secretariat’s Preakness Record Straight…It’s About Time!

                                                One second.  That’s all that stands between Secretariat and a complete record-breaking sweep of the Triple Crown. If Penny Chenery and the president of the Maryland Jockey Club, Thomas Chuckas,  can prevail, this situation will finally be rectified after 40 years. As his fans know, Secretariat shattered the Derby and Belmont records, but his winning time in…

  • Secretariat Descendants Dominating the 2012 Derby!

    Secretariat is running in the Derby this Saturday!  Of the 20 contenders in the field, 16 of them can boast Big Red in their bloodlines.  (verified through www.pedigreequery.com)   The daughters of  America’s Super Horse  whose sons (Secretariat’s grandsons) established these dominant bloodlines are: Weekend Surprise – A.P. Indy; Terlingua – Storm Cat; and Secrettame – Gone West Of course…