Secretariat’s Immortal Triple Crown and Bloodline

Written By Leeanne Meadows Ladin

Secretariat and Ron Turcotte entering the Belmont track,  from "Secretariat's Meadow - The Land, The Family, The Legend"

June 6, 2025

On Saturday, June 7, 2025, we confidently predict that a Secretariat descendant will win the Belmont Stakes, the last race of the Triple Crown.

In fact, we predicted that a Secretariat descendant would win the Preakness on Saturday, May 17, and the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3. This, too, proved accurate.

The secret of our success stems from the fact that EVERY horse in this year’s Triple Crown races is a Secretariat descendant!  We’ve been tracking pedigrees for over 18 years and typically have found that the majority – 60 to 75 percent – of the horses in the Triple Crown races had “Big Red” bloodlines a few generations back in their pedigrees.  

This year is the first time we’ve seen 100 percent representation in all three races.

 “The fact that every horse entered in all three Triple Crown races is a descendant of Secretariat sets yet another record for his list, and for the history of racing.  Our family is very proud of Secretariat’s ongoing legacy as one of the 20th century’s greatest athletes,” said John Tweedy, son of Penny Chenery.

There is a time-honored axiom in horse breeding that states “Blood will tell.”  For years, critics underrated Secretariat as a stallion because he did not replicate his incomparable self at stud or become a “sire of sires.”  Those critics overlooked Secretariat’s immense prowess as a broodmare sire, producing daughters who produced outstanding sons, carrying his dynamic bloodline forward well into the 21st century.  

The best illustration of his enduring lineage can be found with his daughters Weekend Surprise, Terlingua, and Secrettame. Their respective colts -   A. P. Indy, Storm Cat, and Gone West - became breed-shaping stallions after their racing careers. 

Contemporary standouts such as Tapit, Into Mischief, Elusive Quality, and the last two Triple Crown winners – American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018 – can claim at least one of these three prolific grandsons of Secretariat in their pedigrees.

Yes, blood does tell.  Secretariat achieved racing immortality with his near-mythic performance in the Belmont and his unassailable speed records in the 1973 Triple Crown. 

On Saturday, as his latest descendants take to the track, Secretariat’s bloodlines take another step closer to immortality as well.

©Leeanne Meadows Ladin

Leeanne Meadows Ladin

Leeanne Meadows Ladin is an award-winning author, historian, speaker and lifelong equestrian. She has written seven books, including “Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend,” which she co-wrote with Kate Chenery Tweedy and Penny Chenery. The book was published in 2010 and has sold over 45,000 copies. Leeanne also developed and ran the original Secretariat Birthplace Tour program at The Meadow from 2010-2020. One of her proudest accomplishments was getting the original barns built in 1936 listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Historic Landmark Register.  Leeanne and her husband Gary lived at The Meadow for several years and now reside in Montpelier on their 1850-era horse farm. One of her horses is a descendant of Secretariat.

As a founding member of the Secretariat For Virginia committee, Leeanne helped bring the “Secretariat Racing Into History” monument to Ashland as the first and only statue of the Triple Crown champion in Virginia.  She is an in-demand speaker whose presentation “Galloping Through Virginia Horse Racing History with Secretariat” is an eye-opening ride tracing Secretariat’s Virginia roots and legendary career, along with the illustrious role of the Commonwealth as the cradle of American horse racing.

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