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 news for Virginians who grew up going to the Fair and especially for those of us who had enjoyed a long association with its staff.  That association had become even more enjoyable in recent years as we worked together on  the annual Secretariat birthday party, which the Fair hosted at The Meadow,  and the popular  “Secretariat’s Meadow Tours” for public and private groups. We even announced our “Secretariat’s Meadow” book there in 2010.  It was very sad to see our friends lose their jobs.

 Our book team  did not want these circumstances to force the cancellation of the annual Secretariat’s Birthday celebration, planned for Saturday March 31. So we took this on as a volunteer effort  and are happy to say that Randolph-Macon College in nearby Ashland will host the event on March 31 in Andrews Hall from 1 – 5 pm. There are longstanding ties with the college as Christopher Chenery, who founded The Meadow in 1936 as a Thoroughbred farm, attended school there, along with two of his brothers.  Last year, Randolph-Macon awarded Penny Chenery an Honorary Doctor of  Laws degree.

 Yes, the birthday  program is scaled back but we still have fans coming from Texas, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina and Delaware!  That speaks volumes about what this magnificent horse means to people across the country!

Here’s a brief outline of the program:

  •  1:00 pm. – Welcome and Presentation on the history of The Meadow,  Secretariat and Riva Ridge by Kate Chenery Tweedy and Leeanne Meadows Ladin, co-authors of “Secretariat’s Meadow, The Land, The Family, The Legend”
  • Meeting former Meadow grooms and jockeys and seeing Riva’s first training saddle
  • Discussion of possible historical designation options for important sites at The Meadow
  • Continuous showing of Secretariat’s and Riva’s most famous races
  • Book signings and sale of Secretariat items
  • Secretariat and Riva cake
  • 3:00 p.m.  – Repeat presentation by authors 
  • 5:00  p.m. – EVENT CONCLUDES

Tickets are $5 at the door and advance registration is required.  Because seating is limited, we ask that you indicate whether you will attend the 1:00 pm or 3:00 pm presentation. Go to our website www.secretariatsmeadow.com for more info and to register.

As for The Meadow, we will keep our readers posted on future developments here, on our website and our Facebook page. 

In any event, we sincerely hope that next year in 2013, we will be back at The Meadow to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Secretariat’s Triple Crown!

by Leeanne Meadows Ladin

co-author of “Secretariat’s Meadow”

copyright 2012

www.secretariatsmeadow.com

Secretariat’s Descendants – From the Homestretch to the Home Front: Little Red’s “Golden” Opportunity in the Rockies

This new series will look at some of Secretariat’s most famous progeny and how the mighty stallion of Meadow Stable continues to fire the blood of some of the best racehorses on the track today. We will also look at the descendants whose most important contributions have been made, not on the homestretch, but on the home front as pleasure horses, working horses and simply beloved companions. We are very grateful to the owners who send in the stories and photos of their Secretariat descendants. In this way, “the legend lives on!”

LITTLE RED’S “GOLDEN” OPPORTUNITY  IN THE ROCKIES

This great-great grandson of Big Red was born on March 29, 2010 in Ocala, Florida,  one day before Secretariat’s birthday of March 30.  His dam, Beautiful Wonder, has Secretariat on both the top and bottom of her pedigree. However, his illustrious bloodline did not protect him from a difficult start in life.

Born with an umbilical hernia for which his owner could not afford veterinary treatment, Little Red was relinquished to a local rescue group. He also had a badly infected foot. In the heartbreaking turn of events, the foal had to leave his mother before he was weaned. Her pitiful whinnying echoed in his ears as he was transported away to a strange new location.  However, thanks to the good volunteers at Beauty’s Haven Farm and Equine Rescue in Morriston, FLA,  the colt received the medical treatment he desperately needed and began to recover.

 Eventually, Kateri Nelson, who worked with the American Humane Association, heard about a beautiful chestnut colt nicknamed Armani up for adoption. Born in Montreal, she felt a special connection to this descendant of Secretariat, due to the French-Canadians, jockey Ron Turcotte and trainer Lucien Laurin, who were such an integral part of his success. Finally, Little Red’s pedigree was going to bring him some good luck.

He just had one more hurdle.  Kateri lived 1,800 miles from Ocala in Golden, Colorado.  The notion of shipping the colt across country seemed too far-fetched to consider.

However, benevolent forces were at work that would lead to a “Golden” opportunity for the colt and Kateri.  Her husband, Dean,  (in a move that should have awarded him “Husband of the Year” honors!) secretly arranged to adopt Little Red.  The colt was on his way to their ranch when  Dean finally told Kateri the good news.  An ecstatic Kateri described the colt’s arrival in early November 2010:

“At least I thought he was little until the driver unloaded him. At the tender age of seven months, Armani was already 14.2 hands and was walking on stilts. In fact, you could almost hear the bugle call when he walked down the ramp; he had the confidence of a champion!”

Kateri, along with her husband and son,  greeted him with open arms.  A few days later, the Florida colt got his first taste of Colorado snow!

Today, nearly a year later,  Little Red, now renamed Tristan,  continues to thrive in his new home.   Kateri describes how the once-sickly colt has developed in size and personality:

“Over time, his personality has blossomed. He shows more  and more assertiveness, and has developed a mischievous side directly proportionate to his great intelligence. He quickly found his place in our little herd of three horses and rarely needed to be reprimanded by his elders, even today. Fortunately for us he exhibits a similar behavior with humans. In fact, I’m still amazed that despite his painful early life and the long trip to Colorado, Little Red is as confident as he is. The son of a king, he deserved a name reflecting his noble birth and his great courage. So Sir Tristan of the Round Table became the obvious choice, especially for our 9-year old son. Since he arrived, our horse with many names has picked up a few inches —  three weeks or so before his first birthday, we measured him at 15.2 hands. The veterinarian thinks that he will reach 16.2 or 16.3 hands at maturity. Then Tristan will hopefully calmly carry us on his back despite the bugle call that will resonate in his head, and the beating of hooves pounding deep in his heart.”

This author can personally attest to Little Red’s personality.  Kate Tweedy and I stopped at Kateri’s place in Golden to meet Little Red on our way to Aspen this summer to go riding at a friend’s ranch.   The colt was prancing about in his paddock, exuding confidence but not cockiness. He was not skittish as we two strangers approached and, like his great-great grandsire, seemed to relish the attention as we cooed and fussed over him.  

Then he did the most amazing thing.  I was petting his glossy neck when he bent his head down and tucked it up under my neck and just stayed there, breathly softly on my shirt.  Kate and Kateri said it looked as if Little Red  was whispering a secret to me. I told them he was.

He was telling me that he was both proud and humbled to have the blood of a mighty  champion running through his veins.  I told him that this made him very special and that he always must honor the spirit of his legendary ancestor.    

By all indications, that is exactly what Little Red is doing. Thanks to the good work of the equine rescue group, a lifelong Secretariat fan, and a good-hearted husband, the young Thoroughbred now has a future befitting his lineage. The little colt who got off to a rocky start in life now has a forever family in the Rockies of Colorado.

Little Red October 2011 (19 mos.old)

Many thanks to  Kateri Nelson for sharing her photos and story.  And thanks to all the equine rescue groups who help find forever homes for horses like Little Red!

If you own or have owned a Secretariat descendant and would like to share your story, please email me at laladin@verizon.net, with pedigree verification.  

 By Leeanne Meadows Ladin

copyright 2011

www.secretariatsmeadow.com

 

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 use one of Penny Chenery’s favorite adjectives.  Here on March 30, 1970, shortly after midnight, The Meadow’s magnificent old broodmare, Somethingroyal, gave birth to a colt who would become the king of the sport of kings.

Contrary to what the Disney movie showed,  Secretariat was not born with a big audience in attendance. Penny and her son were not there.  Lucien Laurin was not there.  Eddie Sweat was not there. The only people present were Bob Southworth, the night watchman and Howard Gentry, the farm manager.  Dr. Olive Britt, the beloved Meadow vet,  arrived soon thereafter. 

When the birth was complete, Mr. Gentry exclaimed:  “There’s a whopper!”

“He was born practically standing up,” said Dr. Britt.  We interviewed her for our book shortly before she passed away in 2006.  She would point out what sportswriters would rhapsodize about two years later when the colt set foot on the track…his perfect conformation and how he “filled the eye.”    

“He was beautiful,” she said. “He was well put together, very correct; his legs were perfect.  He had a beautiful head and was as red as fire!”

When Penny first saw Secretariat, she famously said, “He’s too pretty to be any good.”

Secretariat’s foaling shed is the grand finale of our Secretariat’s Meadow Tour.  It is the original structure, carefully restored and preserved by the SFVA which owns The Meadow.  It was located by the old broodmare barn near the Cove, but was moved to the new equine complex across Rt. 30 after the crumbling broodmare barn could not be restored.  It is a fitting location, as this complex was formerly the grounds for Meadow Stable’s training center. The complex bustles with ongoing horse shows and will also be the site of the Museum of the Virginia Horse.

This modest little shed is where a legend began…and for the devoted fans who make their pilgrimage to see it…it’s where the legend lives on! 

The “Secretariat’s Meadow Tours” are sponsored by the SFVA. Private group tours are available for groups of 30 or more at $10 per person.  Tours are also offered to the general public on certain dates.  The next public tour is on September 10, 2011. For more information about the tours, see www.secretariatsmeadow.com  Tours are narrated by Leeanne Meadows Ladin, co-author of “Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend.”  Proceeds from the tours benefit the future Museum of the Virginia Horse to be built at The Meadow.

Leeanne Meadows Ladin

copyright 2011

Next Stop on the “Secretariat’s Meadow Tour”…the Yearling Barn

                                                               

On our virtual tram tour of The Meadow, you’ve seen The Cove where the broodmares and foals grazed, and the Stallion Barns.    Now we’ll take a look at the Yearling Barn, where both Secretariat and Riva Ridge stayed as colts.

The Yearling Barn originally built by Chris Chenery still stands, and like the Stallion Barns, has been carefully restored by the SFVA, which owns The Meadow.  It is believed that Mr. Chenery built the barns to closely resemble those at nearby Bullfield Farm in Hanover County, the celebrated racing farm of the Doswells.  He had spent a lot of time there as a young, horse-crazy boy, exercising the few remaining racehorses owned by his cousin Bernard Doswell.

The biggest attraction at the Yearling Barn today is the stall where Riva stayed in 1970 and Secretariat in 1971.  Their stall was the one assigned to the most promising colt.  It was close to the storage and break room so there was a lot of traffic going back and forth.  Its location allowed the Meadow grooms to keep a close eye on each special colt.   The colt also became more acclimated  to the bustle of a working barn, something that would be useful when he was later moved to Lucien Laurin’s stables.

As a yearling, Secretariat already stood out from the crowd.  He was both striking in appearance and spirited in his behavior. 

 “He was frisky and already the boss of the herd,” according to Penny. Dr. Olive Britt, the Meadow veterinarian, said that Secretariat was “sharp to be around.  Only the best grooms could handle him.”

 The grooms surely knew that.   One of them commented that to most effectively handle the sometimes mischievous red colt, “You had to cross your mind with his mind.”  

When you visit The Meadow, you will get to hear some untold stories of Secretariat as a young horse, including one that involved him making an unplanned trip beyond the Yearling Barn.

The next tour for the general public will be Saturday September 10.

Visitors look inside Secretariat’s stall at the Yearling Barn. 

 

The “Secretariat’s Meadow Tours” are sponsored by the SFVA. Private group tours are available for groups of 30 or more at $10 per person.  Tours are also offered to the general public on certain dates.   For more information about the tours, see www.secretariatsmeadow.com  Tours are narrated by Leeanne Meadows Ladin, co-author of “Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend.”  Proceeds from the tours benefit the future Museum of the Virginia Horse to be built at The Meadow.

Leeanne Meadows Ladin

copyright 2011

Secretariat’s Meadow Tour…Next Stop, The Stallion Barns

                                       

As we continue our “virtual tram tour” of the historic  grounds of The Meadow, Secretariat’s birthplace, we’re moving from the Cove to the Stallion Barns.  These are the original barns built by Chris Chenery, founder of Meadow Stable.

There is the L-shaped Stallion Barn, where Chenery’s office was located,  and the West Stallion Barn. Perhaps symbolically, the  Stallion Barns overlook the tranquil Cove, where the mares and their foals grazed.  Chenery could gaze out  at his “empire built on broodmares” and the stallions could also see the fruit of their labors.

Painted white with blue trim, the barns stand as sturdy examples of 1930s agricultural architecture.  The SFVA, which owns The Meadow, has carefully restored and preserved these structures.

If those walls could talk!  Fortunately, the former grooms of Meadow Stable have talked with us a great deal and shared their experiences in taking care of some of the most famous Thoroughbreds of all time.  One of those grooms is Howard Gregory. He was “the stud man” in charge of the stallions.

He had been working at the Meadow training  track across Rt. 30 for several years when farm manager Howard Gentry offered him the stallion job.  “He told me I had a good hand on a horse and no fear, ” Howard Gregory said.

He would need to rely heavily on those qualities. Gregory  assumed the responsibility for six stallions, each of which had his own paddock.  Breeding time  was around 2:00 pm each day in the breeding shed. Often there were four or  five mares waiting for the attention of a stallion.  

We won’t go into detail about the breeding shed, except to say that little romance is involved when two expensive and valuable horses are mated.  No artifical insemination is allowed for Thoroughbreds. Breeding can be a dangerous process for horses and handlers, as Gregory discovered.

“I had three horses die in there,” he said. One was  Third Brother,  a full brother to Hill Prince, Chenery’s first  major champion and Horse of the Year in 1950. “He just dropped dead after breeding the mare,” Gregory said of Third Brother.

Another stallion fell over dead in the breeding shed, nearly crushing Howard Gregory and Howard Gentry against the wall. A rank stallion named Tillman was so ill-tempered that he would charge at any groom who dared enter his paddock.  Only the stud man, Howard Gregory, could handle him.

“I did not know what I was getting into!” he said in reflecting on his job.  However, not all of his charges were difficult. He was especially fond of First Landing, The Meadow’s second big champion.  First Landing was a favorite for the Kentucky Derby in 1959 and had a distinguished career as a four-year-old handicap horse. in 1961, he became the first homebred stallion to stand at The Meadow.

Virginians had roundly criticized Chenery for not standing  his Horse of the Year Hill Prince at The Meadow.  Rather the stallion had been sent to Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, just as Secretariat would be two decades later. Chenery explained that since many Kentucky mares would be visiting Hill Prince, he as a Virginia Gentleman must see that their convenience came first. 

By the time First Landing was ready to take up his new duties in the breeding shed, Chenery had more confidence in his farm’s reputation to stand him at The Meadow. To accommodate the bevy of mares seeking his affection, a new barn was built.  The grooms instantly dubbed it “First Landing’s Motel.”

Howard Gregory praised his favorite stallion’s disposition.  “He was very, very mannerable, ” he said.  “When I would take him around to breed, you’d never hear him squeal  or make a whimper or nothing.”

Though he did not win the Kentucky Derby in 1959, First Landing more than redeemed himself. He sired The Meadow’s first Derby winner.  Not Secretariat.  A bay colt named Riva Ridge, whose victories  in 1972 would save The Meadow from the auction block.

These are just a few of the stories about the  Stallions Barns.  If you come to one of our public tours, you may be lucky enough to find Howard Gregory and some of the other Meadow grooms at the barns, talking with visitors. 

And you can talk with these men “who had a good hand on a horse” and a hand in the success of some of racing’s greatest champions.

  First Landing with Howard Gregory

The “Secretariat’s Meadow Tours” are sponsored by the SFVA. Private group tours are available for groups of 30 or more at $10 per person.  Tours are also offered to the general public on certain dates.  The next public tours are on July 23 and September 10, 2011. For more information about the tours, see www.secretariatsmeadow.com  Tours are narrated by Leeanne Meadows Ladin, co-author of “Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend.”  Proceeds from the tours benefit the future Museum of the Virginia Horse to be built at The Meadow.

Leeanne Meadows Ladin

copyright 2011

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 champions of Chris Chenery’s Meadow Stable.  

Though some of the men had passed away before Kate Tweedy and I started working on “Secretariat’s Meadow” in 2007, we were able to interview several of the grooms over time and even do a videotaped oral history.  They shared stories that had never been told and we are greatly indebted to them for so vividly enriching our book.

Here is the excerpt of their chapter from”Secretariat’s Meadow:”

” A Good Hand on a Horse…the Grooms of Meadow Stable.”  

They grew up working with their hands in the rural Caroline County of the post-Depression years.  Local jobs were scarce and mostly limited to cutting pulpwood for the local sawmill, working on the railroad, in a mechanic shop or as a farm laborer. But the calloused black hands of the men who became the grooms of Meadow Stable would touch some of the greatest Thoroughbreds in racing …and leave their own indelible imprint on the history of The Meadow.

Their names did not appear in the headlines or record books, but Lewis Tillman, Sr. and Lewis Tillman, Jr., Bannie Mines, Alvin Mines, Charlie Ross, Wesley Tillman, Garfield Tillman, Raymond “Peter Blue” Goodall, Howard Gregory and others from the closeknit web of local families most assuredly contributed to the success of Meadow Stable. Personally selected for their jobs, these men would be entrusted with the daily care of the valuable broodmares and their foals, helping with the early training of skittish colts and fillies, the transportation of finely-tuned racehorses and the handling of powerful stallions in the breeding shed.

Wesley Tillman came to work at The Meadow as a youngster.  In 1946, at the age of twelve, he began helping in the hay fields with his grandfather Samuel Tillman during the summer.

“My grandfather said, ‘If you’re big enough to walk all the way down here to the farm, you’re big enough to work.’  So he gave me a pitchfork and I started throwing hay on the wagon. That was my first job,” Tillman said. He made two dollars a day.

 By age eighteen, he was helping his uncle Lewis Tillman,Sr., who was in charge of the broodmare barn. They would turn the horses out in the morning after feeding and get them back up in the evening.  In the meantime, they would clean out the stalls and put in fresh bedding. When the mares and foals came back up from the Cove in the evening, they would feed them and put them in their stalls for the night. Wesley also pulled night watch duty when mares were getting ready to foal.

 His next job was “up the hill” to the yearling barn. “That’s when I started breaking horses,” Tillman said.  “You had to be real gentle with any horse and take your time with them. If you groomed them right, they would even get to like you so you could get them to cooperate with you.”  

 The next stop for young horses was the training center located across Route 30 where they would begin to learn the fundamentals of racing. The grooms would saddle the horses up for the exercise riders for the day’s work on the Meadow track. Afterwards, the grooms would wash the horses, brush them down and put them on the hot walker (a mechanical walking machine) for awhile. Lastly, they would lead them back to the barn and turn them out into the fields until feeding time. In between their grooming duties, the men would cut grass, fix fences, paint barns or do other chores around the farm.

Tillman, along with other grooms, sometimes traveled with the horses when they were shipped out as two-year-olds to the training stables in Hialeah, New York or Delaware. As they would see, it was a different world outside the rolling green fields of The Meadow. 

“Everybody was treated equally at the farm,” Tillman said.  “I didn’t see any racism.  We were all like a big family.”   

But on the road, in those days of segregation, “coloreds” were not allowed in many restaurants or hotels.  “I had to stay back in the back with the horses from here to New York,” Tillman explained.  When the van stopped for lunch, the white driver, Bill Street,  would bring him his meal which he ate in the van as the racehorses munched their hay and occasionally sneezed on his food.  If the grooms did take a break from the van, they had to go the back door of the restaurant to get a sandwich or eat in the kitchen with the cooks. Mostly they shrugged it off as part of their job.  

At the racetrack, the Meadow grooms would stay with the horses for maybe three or four weeks.  “We had our bunks right on the end of the barn, so  if anything happened, like if the horses would get down in the stall or start kicking,  we’d be right there with them,” Tillman said.   After new grooms were hired and the horses were settled in, the Meadow grooms would return to Virginia to start working with the next crop of young hopefuls.

Alvin Mines first came to The Meadow at the age of eight or nine, tagging along with his grandfather Lewis Tillman, Sr., who was affectionately called “the Mayor of Duval Town.”  (their nearby community)   He remembers playing in the fields with the other grandchildren until feeding time when his grandfather would call the mares and foals up from their pasture in the Cove.

“Man, the horses used to come running up, maybe about fifteen of them with their colts and the foals,” Mines recalled. “I remember we’re grabbing round his leg because we thought the horses would run us over. He said, ‘Don’t worry, the horse is not going to bother you.’ And sure enough, they’d come up and they’d just circle around you and go on.”

Alvin began working at Barn 33, also known as “First Landing’s Motel” around 1974. (First Landing was the sire of Riva Ridge.) There with groom Clarence Fells he helped with the visiting mares who were to be serviced by the Meadow stallions. Often the mares had foals at their sides, who did not want to leave their mothers for even a few minutes.

“I had to hold the foals and then you were in a rassling match!” Mines said.

Next he worked at the broodmare barn with his uncle Lewis Tillman, Jr.  Later he went across the road to work at the racetrack/training center, with his brother-in-law Raymond Goodall. Goodall was the chief groom for Riva Ridge.

He taught the short and stocky Alvin how to handle the tall, high-headed Thoroughbreds who often did not want to have a halter or bridle put on them. It seemed that farm manager Howard Gentry liked to test the young groom by giving him the tallest horse in the barn to lead.  Mines recalled being jerked off the ground more than once.

The grooms who had a special way with horses were highly respected at the farm.  This was particularly true of Howard Gregory, who worked at The Meadow for nearly thirty-two years.  He was known as “the stud man.”

He began as a farm worker, making twenty-five dollars a week in the 1940s.  Like the other grooms, he had no prior experience with horses, other than some farm mules. He simply learned by doing, mostly under the watchful eye of Howard Gentry, who supervised all the breeding.

He had been working at the training track for several years when Gentry offered him the job taking care of the stallions, along with a raise. “He told me I had a good hand on a horse and no fear,” Gregory recalled. “I had five young children to take care of, so I took the job. I did not know what I was getting into!”

He took charge of six stallions, each of which had his own paddock. Breeding time was around 2:00 p.m. each day in the breeding shed. Some days there would be four or five mares to be serviced. 

 “I had three horses that died in there,” Gregory noted.  “One was Third Brother, a full brother to Hill Prince. He just dropped dead after breeding the mare.” Another time, a stallion fell over dead, nearly crushing Howard Gregory and Howard Gentry against the wall.

One stallion, named Tillman in honor of Lewis Tillman, did little to flatter his namesake. He was especially rank and ill-tempered. “That horse looked to kill you!” Gregory said, adding that the horse would charge at any groom who entered his paddock.  Gregory was the only one who could handle him. “I had many people come watch me,” he said of those who came to learn his techniques.

His favorite stallion was First Landing.  “He was very, very mannerable,” Gregory noted. “When I would take him around to breed, you’d never hear him squeal or make a whimper or nothing.”

Despite the inherent dangers of his job, Gregory said, “I would turn back the hands of time” to do it all over again.

Charlie Ross also came to the Meadow in the early years. He would earn the distinction of being the last Virginia groom to take care of Secretariat before the colt was shipped down to Lucien Laurin’s training stable in Hialeah in January 1972. Though track groom Eddie Sweat and exercise rider Charlie Davis were more closely affiliated with “Big Red” during his meteoric racing career, it was Charlie Ross, along with trainer Meredith “Mert” Bailes, who helped start Secretariat under saddle. 

Ross had been working at the farm for over twenty years when Secretariat was transferred over to the training center and became one of his charges. He held the colt while Bailes first “backed” him, laying himself over the colt’s back to get him accustomed to human weight. He was the groom who led Secretariat around with his first rider, Bailes, in the saddle. 

“Yeah, he sat up on the saddle in the stall and I turned him around in the stall, waiting until he got used to that. Then the next move we would take him out in the big round shed and we’d walk him around in there until he’d get used to that,” Ross recalled.  He added that Secretariat did not act up or buck like some of the other horses did in those circumstances.

Typically taciturn, Ross admits he was a part of history. Then a flash of pride breaks through and he says, “They called me The Man,” for his way with horses. He agreed that the early care a young horse receives can influence him for life.

Alvin Mines put it best.  He said, “I think the horses, once they got the feel of the grooms that were working with them, there was something that growed up in them, you know. They go to someone else’s hands when they leave here, but I think the horses always know who had the first hand on them.”

 Meadow groom Lewis Tillman holding a colt for his Jockey Club ID photo. Photo by Bob Hart. 

Note:  To see what the grooms said about Secretariat and Riva Ridge as colts, read Chapters 11 and 12 in “Secretariat’s Meadow.”

by Leeanne Meadows Ladin

copyright 2011

This excerpt may not be reprinted without permission.

Guided Tour Program Starting at The Meadow, Birthplace of Secretariat

Millions of moviegoers saw the screen version of The Meadow, Secretariat’s Virginia birthplace, in the Disney movie “Secretariat.” Soon fans of “Big Red”will be able to visit the very grounds where the immortal 1973 Triple Crown winner was born. This spring, The Meadow Event Park, owned by SFVA, will begin offering guided tours of “Big Red’s” famed birthplace in Doswell, Virginia, just north of Richmond.  

I am very excited about this because I will be the guide! As co-author of the book “Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend,” with Kate Chenery Tweedy (Penny Chenery’s daughter) I have lived and breathed the history and the mystique of The Meadow for several years.  I will share behind-the-scenes stories about the circa 1805 farm, its famous stallions and broodmares, and the people who lived and worked there during its heyday.

 Highlights of the tour will include seeing the foaling shed where Secretariat was born on March 30, 1970; the yearling and training barns with the stalls where Secretariat and  Riva Ridge (Meadow Stable’s first Kentucky Derby winner) stayed as young colts; the stallion barns; the fabled Cove, where the broodmares and foals grazed (pictured in our blog headline);  a horse cemetery; and much more!

Secretariat’s Meadow Tours will involve a tram ride, some walking and an indoor presentation which features video clips of Secretariat’s 1973 Triple Crown races.  Tour guests will have the opportunity to purchase a signed copy of Secretariat’s Meadow.  Proceeds from the tours will benefit the future Museum of the Virginia Horse to be built at The Meadow.

There will be two types of tours:  customized tours for groups which may be booked from March to December; and a limited schedule of tours for the general public.  The customized  tours are available for groups which may be renting The Meadow Event Park facilities for meetings, trade shows, horse shows and other functions, as well as for groups such as historical societies, civic and alumni organizations, book clubs and the like.   The basic cost is $10 per person, with a 40 guest minimum.  Other special features can be added to the tour for additional fees. For instance, a group could add a lunch or reception or perhaps a horseshoeing demonstration by a farrier. We can even arrange for a “photo op” with Rainaway, Secretariat’s great-grandson who lives on the property. The basic tour takes about an hour and advance registration is required.

 The general public tours are slated for March 27, May 7 and July 23.  The public tour cost is  $10 per person, $5 for children under 12, with a 40-guest minimum. Advance registration is required. More public tour dates may be added to the schedule as demand warrants. 

You can read more details about the customized group tours and the public tours at www.meadoweventpark.com. The Meadow Event Park is located off I-95, exit 98 to Doswell, 1.5 miles east of King’s Dominion, about 25 miles north of Richmond.  

You can learn more about the history of  The Meadow and its famous Thoroughbreds  at our website www.secretariatsmeadow.com (and order our book!)   

             

Leeanne Meadows Ladin

copyright 2011

 

                                                     

Secretariat’s Meadow Galloping into Kentucky

Our Barnstorming Book Tour is going along at a fast clip!  October will kick off with a crowded field of events!

First,  Kate and Penny will be going to LA for the long-awaited premiere of the Secretariat film on Sept. 30. We will look for them on the red carpet!  Or maybe it will be a blue and white carpet for the Meadow Stable colors?  

Then our jet-setting Kate lands in Paris, KY for the Bourbon County Secretariat Festival on October 2 where she will be meeting and greeting fans and signing “Secretariat’s Meadow.”  On October 3, she is signing at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington for our good friends with the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.  That evening, Wayne Dementi (our publisher)  and I meet up with Kate for the special screening of the film and a book signing.

On October 4, we have signings at the International Equestrian Festival in Lexington and at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville. Wayne and I have to get back to Richmond on October 5, but Kate stays to continue signing at WEG and IEF through October 6.

On October 7, Kate rejoins us in Richmond for another round of book events  through October 14. The complete schedule for the book tour is posted on www.secretariatsmeadow.com  We promise to post lots of pics and video.  Be sure to check our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Secretariats-Meadow-The-Land-The-Family-The-Legend/107942289227260?v=wall#! for for daily updates from Kentucky!

It’s starting to feel like Secretariat’s Derby where he ran every furlong faster!

Leeanne Meadows Ladin

co-author, “Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend”