Tag: Secretariat’s Meadow
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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…
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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…
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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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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…
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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,…
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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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The Secretariat Birthday Party Goes On!
Some of you may have heard the sad news that The Meadow, which was owned by the State Fair of Virginia, has been closed to the public. The Fair (a private, not for profit organization) was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy on March 8 when the bank did not accept its plan to reorganize. This was heart-breaking…
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October 4, 1989…Remembering Big Red
It’s hard to believe that 22 years have passed since Secretariat died on October 4, 1989. It’s hard to believe because, in many respects, his presence seems stronger than ever. Kate Chenery Tweedy and I see the unquenchable passion for this horse firsthand as we travel around the country doing book talks and signings for “Secretariat’s…
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The Holy Grail on the Secretariat’s Meadow Tour…the Foaling Shed
Visitors are often moved to tears when they see it. They touch the wooden door reverently. They walk inside the stall, looking around in quiet awe. They snap photo after photo, not wanting to leave what many consider hallowed ground. It’s a modest little structure of whitewashed barnboard. Its appearance could be called “unprepossessing,” to…