Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973, has died. He was 84.
Turcotte’s family said through his long-time business partner and friend Leonard Lusky that the Canada-born jockey died of natural causes at his home in Drummond, New Brunswick, on Friday.
Turcotte won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes twice each from 1965-73 before his riding career ended when he fell off a horse and suffered injuries that made him paraplegic. Secretariat’s record time in the Belmont still stands 52 years later.
"He was a gallant and valiant man," said Kate Tweedy, daughter of Secretariat's late owner Penny Chenery. "He was a man of incredible courage with great riding skills. I really think he had this great, intuitive sense about horses that enabled him to communicate so well with Secretariat to be able to make the very, very best of his amazing talents and (1972 Kentucky Derby winner) Riva Ridge's. And of course the way he lived the rest of his life. That just took such courage. He was so great with fans, showing up and signing for long periods of time no matter how he felt. He loved and respected Secretariat."
Turcotte began his career as a jockey in 1961 and won 3,023 races with lifetime earnings of $29.6 million in an era prior to the larger purses of modern-day racing.
Turcotte’s career ended in the summer of 1978, when he was paralyzed in a fall at Belmont Park. He was hurt again in 2015 in a snowy accident driving near his home in New Brunswick, Canada.
After his riding career, Turcotte spent a lot of years staying in public. He has made appearances to sign autographs, meet fans and reminisce about Secretariat. Those meet-and-greets went a long way toward raising money and awareness for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.
Turcotte was the longest surviving of Secretariat's connections. Eddie Sweat, 58, Secretariat’s hard-working groom, died in 1998. Laurin, 88, died in 2000, and breeder-owner Penny Chenery, 95, passed away in 2017. Big Red himself preceded them all, euthanized in 1989 at age 19 after he got laminitis.
