Prize-winning horse racer greets fans at store opening

Former Secretariat jockey attends the grand opening of Rick’s Saddle Shop in Upper Freehold Township.

By: Kyle Moylan
   UPPER FREEHOLD — At his necropsy in 1989, it was discovered that Secretariat had an abnormally large heart.
   As those who were at Rick’s Saddle Shop this past Friday or Saturday know, so does his jockey, as evidenced by his spirit and attitude toward his sport.
   Ron Turcotte, 63, was at the store during its grand opening weekend as a spokesman for Equavena’s Hullness Oats, an all natural food for horses. Mr. Turcotte swapped stories, posed for pictures and signed autographs for the fans who came out to see him and reminisce about his Triple Crown victory aboard Secretariat in 1973.
   "It seems like every year the horse grows more popular," Mr. Turcotte noted. "I get more e-mail and mail now than I ever did."
   Mr. Tucrotte, who was left paralyzed in a 1978 racing accident that ended his career, embraces the attention and adulation with a smile.
   "When something happens like it did and you go down and you can’t ride anymore, you only want to remember the good things," Mr. Turcotte said, referring to the accident.
   Mr. Turcotte has a lot of "good things" to remember. He won 3,032 races. He rode Tom Rolfe to victory in the Preakness in 1965. He rode Riva Ridge to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont States in 1972. He even considers his time aboard Riva Ridge to be the most satisfying because he "had so much to do with the schooling of the horse."
   Then, of course, there are the great things. Mr. Turcotte has four daughters. He was elected to the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1979. And as a rider for Meadow Stables, Mr. Turcotte was the one selected to climb aboard Secretariat, the only nonhuman selection on ESPN’s 100 greatest athletes of the 20th century.
   "By all senses of the word, he was a great athlete," Mr. Turcotte said. "No one ever said the athlete had to speak. He was a lot smarter than a lot of the athletes you see. He didn’t take steroids, smoke pot or take heroin.
   "Secretariat was very gentle and manageable. I could do anything with him," he said "He’s the greatest horse that ever lived.
   "Riva Ridge was a great horse. You never know if you’re going to ride on a better one," Mr. Turcotte said. "Riva Ridge could have won the Triple Crown, but he had trouble in the mud at the Preakness. He wasn’t as versatile as Secretariat. Secretariat could handle all the race tracks."
   And in record time.
   "All jockeys want to win the Kentucky Derby," Mr. Turcotte noted. "After you do that, you want to win the Triple Crown. To do that and break all the track records is beyond your dreams."Secretariat’s 1:59 2/5 is still a record for the Kentucky Derby. Mr. Turcotte believes his performance in the Preakness was his best race, though. Secretariat stumbled at the start of the Preakness and was in last place early in the race. Mr. Turcotte felt the horses in front of him pull back to trap him and set a slow pace.
   "I swung him around and passed everyone in the first turn," Mr. Turcotte recalled. "It’s not something you’re supposed to do, but I took the lead halfway through the race and led the rest of the way."
   In the Belmont Stakes, there were no such dramatic moments or crucial strategy. Secretariat went out to the lead and just kept going faster and faster. People watching the race were almost yelling ‘go’ and ‘stop’ at the same time.
   "I could have stopped him at any time, but he was going so easy," Mr. Turcotte recalled. "Jockeys often are so worried about having something left at the end of a race that they’ll fight their horse. I never fought Secretariat. He wanted to go and I let him."
   Mr. Turcotte said he could feel he was on a record-setting run. There’s a famous photo of him turning around to look up at the clock to see his 2:24 record time after he crossed the finish line. Coming around the final turn, Mr. Turcotte also admits to looking to see where the rest of the field was.
   "As I finished the turn, I heard I was 25 lengths ahead," Mr. Turcotte recalled. "My curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to see where the other horses were. I had to look across the track on the turn to see them."
   Secretariat won by 31 lengths. According to many professional athletes, this may be the only time when absolute perfection was achieved in sports. Some of them, in fact, admit to sitting down and crying after the race was over.
   "I was just thanking God that I was there," Mr. Turcotte said. "I just didn’t want to fall down," he said with a laugh.
   "People ask me what it was like to ride him," he said. "It’s 32 years later and I still haven’t found a word to describe it. He had a big heart. It was huge and well-formed. He was a freak in the sense of his ability."
   Ditto on his jockey.