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The rider who set up the legendary secretariat of racing horses to the triple crown in 1973, Ron Turcotte, died at age 84.
Turcotte’s family said through his former commercial partner and friend Leonard Lusky that the rider died of natural causes on Friday at his home in Drummond, New Brunswick in Canada.
“Ron was a great rider and an inspiration for many, both inside and outside the world of careers,” Lusky said. “While reached the pinnacle of success in his vocation, it was his abundance of faith, courage and kindness the true measure of his greatness.”
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Secretariat and Turcotte after winning the Kentucky derby (Jerry Cooke/Corbis through Getty Images)
It was included in the National Museum of the Racing Hall of Fame in 1979.
“The world can remember Ron as the famous rider of the Secretariat, but for us he was a wonderful husband, a loving father, grandfather and a great rider.” The Turcotte family said in a statement through Lusky.
Turcotte won more than 3,000 races, but his career ended in 1978 when he fell from a horse at the beginning of a race and suffered wounds, since he became paraplegic.
Turcotte won the Derby, Preakness and Belmont of Kentucky twice each, especially sweeping the three with the secretariat to end the drought of Triple Crown of Horse Racing that dates back to appointment in 1948. The record time of the Secretariat of 2:24 in the Belmont, winning by 31 long, still remains 52 years later.
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Secretariat that goes through a crowd during a race in 1973. (Jerry Cooke/Sports Illustrated through Getty Images)
Turcotte was born in Drummond on July 22, 1941 as one of the 12 children. He left school to work as a lumberjack before moving to Toronto to get involved in horse races, first as a hotwalker and then a rider, becoming the main pilot in Woodbine Racetrack before rising to the triple crown level.
The president of Woodbine, Jim Lawson, said that Turcotte was “a true Canadian icon whose impact on horse races is immeasurable.”
“Ron took with humility, strength and dignity,” Lawson said. “His legacy in the races, both here in Woodbine and around the world, will live forever.”

People meet around a giant statue of the Secretariat in Belmont Park in 2023, while celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Secretariat in Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York. (Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM through Getty Images)
Turcotte won the Preakness in 1965 aboard Tom Rolfe and the Derby in 1972 with Riva Ridge. But it was his time with the secretariat that made a family name in the races of Turcotte, and called him “love on the first trip.”
“It was the type of horse that you will never see again,” Turcotte said in 2023, almost 50 years until the day from the Secretariat of Belmont. “I was doing something you’ve never seen before and that will probably never see.”