Tag: Caroline County
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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…
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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…
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Viva Riva! Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Riva Ridge’s Derby Victory
In 1969, a muddy-bay colt with floppy ears would be saved from the floodwaters of Hurricane Camille at his Virginia farm. Later, he would rescue the same farm as it was sinking into debt and preserve it as the launching pad of its greatest champion. Though he would be swept aside in the…
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Happy Birthday Big Red!
March 30, 1970….a legend was born on a storied piece of land called The Meadow in Caroline County, Virginia. His fame would extend far beyond its pastures and paddocks. Decades later, his legacy and the loyalty of his legions of fans remains undiminished by the passage of time. Writers and commentators exhausted their adjectives in trying to describe Secretariat’s astounding career. …
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Rainaway, The Mascot of The Meadow
March may come in like a lion but it’s going to go out like a Thoroughbred! In honor of Big Red’s birthday (March 30) and the celebration at The Meadow (March 27) we will be posting stories about his birthplace and his descendants all month. We’ll start with a descendant who actually lives at The Meadow…a…
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A Good Hand on a Horse…the Grooms of Meadow Stable
In honor of February as Black History Month, we’d like to share some stories about the African-American grooms of The Meadow in Doswell, Virginia, birthplace of Secretariat. Though they were never well known like Secretariat’s racetrack groom Eddie Sweat and exercise rider Charlie Davis, the grooms in Doswell were the first to take care of Big Red and the other…