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

Tag: Meadow Stable

  • 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 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…

  • 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…

  • 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. …