Secretariat’s jockey Ron Turcotte remembers Triple Crown winner who ‘could fly’ on 50th anniversary

By BETH HARRIS
AP Racing Writer

It’s been 50 years since Secretariat and jockey Ron Turcotte crushed the field by 31 lengths to win the Belmont Stakes and become horse racing’s Triple Crown champion in 1973. The colt nicknamed “Big Red” and his Canadian-born rider were a formidable duo on the track and shared a special relationship off it. Turcotte says “it was love at first sight and first ride” when they got together. Now 81, Turcotte is the last surviving member of Secretariat’s team. He’s been a paraplegic since a riding accident at Belmont Park in 1978. He lives in his tiny Canadian hometown, where a bronze statue of him and Secretariat was installed.