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Fifty Years Ago, the Secretariat Saga Began With a Loss

As the 42,329 fans that attended the races at Aqueduct on July 4, 1972 made their way to the exits and to the parking lot and the A train after the day's last race, it's doubtful that anyone among them realized they had just witnessed the debut of one of the greatest horses who ever raced. For Secretariat, it began 50 years ago from today with a bad trip and a fourth-place finish in a maiden special weight race with an $8,000 purse. It would turn out to be the worst performance of his career.

Secretariat wasn't bet that heavily that day. He was made the 3-1 favorite, the longest price of his career. But that trainer Lucien Laurin, who won the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont S. with Riva Ridge, had a 2-year-old who could run wasn't exactly a secret.

“I had seen Secretariat just a week before [his debut],” Secretariat biographer Bill Nack wrote. “I had been at the Meadow Stable barn one morning, checking on Riva Ridge, when exercise rider Jimmy Gaffney took me aside and said, 'You wanna see the best-lookin' 2-year-old you've ever seen?'

“We padded up the shed to the colt's stall. Gaffney stepped inside. 'What do you think?” he asked. The horse looked magnificent, to be sure, a bright red chestnut with three white feet and a tapered white marking down his face. 'He's gettin' ready,' Gaffney said. 'Don't forget the name: Secretariat. He can run.' And then, conspiratorially, Gaffney whispered, 'Don't quote me, but this horse will make them all forget Riva Ridge.'”

“There was a buzz about the horse before he ever raced,” said Dave Johnson, who called the race for NYRA. “The backstretch is like an echo chamber when someone has a good horse. They all talked about this big red horse that Lucien had.”

The reason why Secretariat wasn't more heavily favored is no doubt due to Laurin's choice of jockeys. He gave the mount to apprentice Paul Feliciano. Ron Turcotte, who would become Secretariat's regular rider, was not available that day because he was at Monmouth to ride the outstanding filly Summer Guest to victory in the Monmouth Oaks. But why a raw, 18-year-old bug?

“Lucien wanted to get a better price on the horse and that's why he put Paul Feliciano on,” Johnson said.

The move backfired. Going up against Hall of Fame jockeys like Angel Cordero Jr., who rode the winner, Herbull, Eddie Belmonte, Braulio Baeza, John Rotz and Jacinto Vasquez, Feliciano was in over his head.

As this grainy replay shows, Secretariat, breaking from the two hole in the 5 1/2-furlong race, was slammed at the start when a horse named Quebec came over into his path. After the incident, Secretariat wound up eleventh in the 12-horse field and seemed to be spinning his wheels. Still about 10 lengths back, he finally got rolling near the top of the stretch and made an eye-catching move to finish fourth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths. The footnotes to the Daily Racing Form chart reads that Secretariat was “impeded after the start, lacked room between horses racing into the turn, ducked to the inside after getting through into the stretch and finished full of run along the rail.”

“After Secretariat ran, I came back to unsaddle and Laurin was down there by the winner's circle and I knew something was up because he was smoking a cigarette–and he doesn't smoke unless he's a nervous wreck–and pacing up and down the racetrack,” Feliciano told me in 1991. “I thought to myself, Oh, boy. I'm in trouble.' He was mad.

“I got off the horse and he picked me up by my arm and was shaking me all the way back to the jocks room, giving me hell. He was saying, 'Boy, what kind of ride you call that?' He hurt my feelings so bad. I was about in tears.”

Though he was beaten, Secretariat's performance did not go unnoticed. Secretariat returned 11 days later (yes, horses used to do that back then) in another maiden race at Aqueduct. Surprisingly, Laurin left Feliciano on and the apprentice guided his mount to an easy six-length win as the 13-10 favorite.

Once again, Turcotte did not ride that day at Aqueduct. He suffered a chest injury in a spill on July 6 and missed three weeks.

Turcotte took over for Secretariat's next start, an allowance win at Saratoga. Wins in the Sanford, Hopeful and Futurity would follow before Secretariat lost the Champagne via disqualification during a campaign that led to the Horse of the Year title. It was clear that this was a very special horse.

“It's a tough thing for me to say this–and I could be wrong–but I think he's a superior colt to Riva Ridge,” Laurin said of Secretariat in 1972.
Laurin would die in 2000. Turcotte, 80, lives in Drummond, New Brunswick, Canada.

As for Feliciano, his career sputtered after he lost his bug. He wound up riding at low-level tracks like Fairmount Park and the Woodlands. In 1990, he went 1-for-73. Tragically, he died in a car crash on May 14, 1994 in Leslie, Missouri at the age of 42.

“It would have made a big difference to my career if I could have stayed on him, wouldn't it?” Feliciano said of his brief association with Secretariat.

As for those who bet on Secretariat that day, the unthinkable happened. They got 3-1 odds on maybe the greatest horse who ever lived but somehow came away empty handed. But they witnessed racing history, whether they knew it at the time or not.

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NYRA and Vitali Reach Undisclosed Agreement

The New York Racing Association and trainer Marcus Vitali have reached a settlement regarding NYRA's effort to exclude the trainer from participating at its three tracks. According to NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna, the agreement requires that the terms of the settlement remain confidential.

The TDN reached out to both Vitali's attorney Brad Bielly Friday in an attempt to gather more information. By mid-afternoon, he had not responded. Vitali told the TDN that he was not aware of the terms of the deal.

In September, NYRA announced that it would begin the process of taking action against Vitali, alleging that the trainer had “engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the best interests of the sport of Thoroughbred racing or potentially injurious to the health or safety of horses or riders. Further, as detailed in the respective statements of charges, this conduct warrants revocation or suspension of their right to train horses, enter races, or engage in any racing-related activity at all NYRA properties including Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course.”

In an official “statement of charges issued against Vitali, NYRA pointed to what it alleged was a long and lengthy list of suspensions and medication violations.

“From between in or about 2010 and in or about 2020, Respondent amassed an extensive record of medication violations, lengthy suspensions, improperly using 'program' or 'paper' trainers during suspensions and obstructing an investigation into alleged wrongdoing,” the statement read. “In the past five years, Respondent was denied entry, ejected and/or had license applications denied by regulators of Thoroughbred racing in Florida, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Delaware; and was sanctioned by the Jockey Club for violating a racing statute, rule or regulation relating to prohibited or restricted drugs, medications or substances seven times in a single year.”

Since the original statement of charges was issued, things have only gotten worse for Vitali. In February, he was hit with a one-year suspension by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission after a horse he trained allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine. Vitali appealed the suspension and has continued to train. With several tracks not accepting entries from his stable, he has raced primarily at Presque Isle Downs and Turf Paradise.

Vitali rarely runs in New York, but did have a starter at last year's Saratoga meet. He sent out Red Venus (Candy Ride {Arg}), who finished seventh in a $50,000 claimer.

As was the case with Bob Baffert, who was also issued a “statement of charges” in September, NYRA was required due to a court ruling to hold a hearing into the Vitali matter before it could take any action against the trainer. The hearing was originally scheduled for March 1, but was delayed. With Friday's announcement, a hearing is no longer necessary.

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Baffert Issued 365-Day Suspension at NYRA Tracks; Can Return in January

A three-member panel assigned with the task of deciding whether or not the New York Racing Association was justified in punishing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert announced its decision late Thursday afternoon, issuing a one-year suspension from the NYRA tracks, effective immediately.

In April, a hearing officer recommended that Baffert be suspended for two years, so Thursday's decision was not a complete loss for the embattled trainer.

After a federal judge ordered that NYRA could not impose a ban on Baffert without affording the trainer due process, a hearing was held in January in which the racing association stated its case for suspending the trainer. The hearing officer was O. Peter Sherwood, a retired New York Supreme Court justice, who turned over his findings to the panel.

The 14-page decision released by the panel can be found here. Sherwood's report can be found here.

The process began in September, 2021 when NYRA delivered a statement of charges to Baffert alleging that he had engaged in conduct detrimental to the best interests of the sport of Thoroughbred racing, conduct that was potentially injurious to the health or safety of horses or riders. The statement of charges was an offshoot of Medina Spirit (Protonico) testing positive for betamethasone in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby, along with other medication violations Baffert had been charged with within a relatively short time frame.

“This was an impartial and deliberative process that has resulted in a lengthy suspension of the sport's most prominent trainer,” Dave O'Rourke, NYRA President & CEO, said in a statement. “However, this is not simply about Bob Baffert or any one individual but about protecting the integrity of the sport here in New York. Today's decision advances that goal.”

Reacting to the decision, Baffert's attorney Clark Brewster lashed out at the panel and accused NYRA Board members of taking action against Baffert because they are jealous of his success.

“From reading the NYRA-selected panel's decision it is obvious they tried hard to mitigate and generalize the nonsensical and contradictory ramblings of the Peter Sherwood order, but still they capitulated to the will of a few NYRA Board members who are blindly driven by jealousy and self interest to destroy Bob,” Brewster said in a text message.

The panel called allegations that NYRA Board Members took action against Baffert for competitive reasons “reckless.”

The panel credited Baffert with 59 days he served while temporarily suspended before the court made its ruling regarding due process. He was also credited for the 90-day suspension issued by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and reciprocally honored by the New York State Gaming Commission. He will become eligible to compete again at the New York tracks on Jan. 25, 2023.

Baffert is also currently serving a suspension from Churchill Downs, which banned the trainer for two years.

Brewster had requested any penalty issued to Baffert be stayed pending an administrative and judicial review. The panel denied that request, stating that the decision of the hearing panel is “final” and takes effect “immediately.” Referring to Rule 16(f), the panel's report concluded that “there shall be no administrative appeal within NYRA of the Panel's final decision.”

The panel did not blindly agree with all of Sherwood's charges. It noted that the retired judge had written that Baffert was guilty of multiple instances of doping. The panel found problem with the word doping, noting that Baffert wasn't necessarily charged with using performance-enhancing substances. It also took exception to Sherwood's charge that “Baffert has engaged in a pattern and practice of unlawful conduct that has no parallel in the modern history of Thoroughbred racing.”

“There is scant support in the record for such a statement,” the panelist's report read.

In an effort to explain why the suspension was reduced to one year, the panel asserted that Sherwood “appears to have relied principally on a decision by Churchill Downs Inc. to ban Baffert through the 2023 Kentucky Derby to arrive at his recommendation for a two-year ban by NYRA.” The panel noted that Churchill, a private company that does not necessarily have to hold a hearing for someone it attempts to suspend, never did hold a hearing regarding Baffert's two-year suspension. Had it done so, the panel was not convinced that a hearing officer would have issued such a lengthy suspension.

The panel consisted of attorney John J. Carusone Jr., William Alempijevic and Rev. Humberto Chavez. Carusone is an attorney with the firm Carusone & Carusone in Saratoga Springs, New York. Alempijevic is the Executive Director of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. Chavez heads the New York Race Track Chaplaincy of America (RTCNY).

Though Baffert is based in California, he normally makes a few starts a year in Saratoga and is always eligible to have a candidate in the GI Belmont S. He has won the Belmont three times.

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Rick Dutrow Nearing Return?

Some 9 1/2 years after being handed a 10-year ban by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, the predecessor of the New York Gaming Commission, trainer Rick Dutrow could be only a few months removed from a return to the racetrack. His last starter came on Jan. 16, 2013 at Aqueduct, meaning that he may be allowed to resume training by mid-January of next year.

“Ricky is doing quite well and he really is in a great frame of mind,” said trainer Tony Dutrow, Dutrow's brother. “He's excited about getting back and he's hopeful that he is going to get back. He's not taking anything for granted, but he is a survivor and he's excited about the possibility of getting back.”

Dutrow's lawyer, Karen Murphy, told the TDN that within the next few months she will start the process she hopes will lead to the Gaming Commission agreeing to restore Dutrow to good standing. While remaining confident that Dutrow will be allowed to begin training early next year, Murphy explained that her client was not suspended, but instead had his license revoked. There is, she said, a difference between the two types of penalties.

“This involves a nuance,” she said. “It was a revocation and not a suspension. A suspension goes from a certain day to a certain day that you must sit out. When it's over, you can come back. With a revocation of a license, something has been taken away and you have to ask for it back. You can ask for it back shortly before the date in question and then a consideration is made so far as whether or not you should receive that license.”

Dutrow, now 62, declined to be interviewed for this story.

Dutrow, whose career accomplishments include wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. with Big Brown (Boundary) and in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with Saint Liam (Saint Ballado), was a controversial figure throughout his training career and had compiled a number of medication violations. His problems intensified when a horse he trained, Fastus Cactus (Cactus Ridge), was found to have butorphanol in his system after winning the third race at Aqueduct on Nov. 20, 2010. Around the same time, Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.

In 2019, former Gaming Commission steward Stephen Lewandowski alleged that the syringes were planted in the office by investigators.

In October of 2011, the State Racing and Wagering Board announced that Dutrow, due to his history of rules violations and the recent incidents with the syringes and Fastus Cactus, was being fined $50,000 and that his license would be revoked for 10 years.

“New York's racing industry has no place or patience for Mr. Dutrow,” Racing and Wagering Board Chairman John Sabini said in a release after Dutrow had his license revoked. “His repeated violations and disregard of the rules of racing has eroded confidence in the betting public and caused an embarrassment throughout the industry. His self-described 'game' in New York horse racing is over. We will not permit individuals who cheat and sully New York's world-class racing product.”

Subsequent court challenges from Dutrow's legal team kept him in action until Jan. 16, 2013, at which time he began serving his penalty.
Barred from having anything to do with Thoroughbred race horses, Dutrow was lost. With no income coming in, he was forced to sell his house and in 2017 declared bankruptcy. He has spent much of the time away from the track living with his mother in Saratoga and also spends time with his brother, who has a house in Floral Park, NY.

“He's got nothing,” said Murphy, who took up Dutrow's case in 2015 at, she said, the request of prominent owner Michael Dubb.

“I don't know how he has sustained himself through this,” Murphy continued. “For him, there is no other life. You or I, we could shift gears and do something different and be just fine. This is it, all he knows how to do. But he is always positive. Since this all began, he has never stepped out of line or never violated any of the terms of this insidious, onerous, if not unconstitutional, if not unlawful, order which prohibited him from putting a hand on a horse.”

Since taking over the Dutrow case, Murphy tried to get Kentucky to license her client, but was unsuccessful. A petition drive spearheaded by fellow horsemen asking the Gaming Commission to allow Dutrow back, also did not go anywhere. In 2016, Murphy submitted an application to the Gaming Commission, asking them to exercise clemency and reinstate Dutrow's trainer's license. The request was denied. And a 2020 report in the New York Daily News that included Lewandowski's charge that Dutrow, when it came to the syringes, was framed, also led nowhere. With that in mind, Murphy is wary of declaring victory too early. But she believes that changes in state government and at the Gaming Commission will work in Dutrow's favor.

“I am hopeful,” she said. “We have a new governor (Kathy Hochul) and a new member of the Gaming Commission in Brian O'Dwyer. That has to be a plus. It's a big improvement because this is going to be looked at by a fresh pair of eyes.”

If and when Dutrow gets reinstated, he will have to build a stable from scratch. That he was someone who normally won with about 25% of his starters and won at the highest levels of the sport will no doubt appeal to some owners. But others may want to stay away from a trainer with so much baggage. When asked by the TDN whether or not he would give horses to Dutrow upon his return, Dubb, who had been among Dutrow's most important and loyal owners, said it was too early in the process for him to have made that decision.

“There are people out there who do not believe in Ricky, but there are plenty out there that do,” Tony Dutrow said.

“At the end of the day, what matters to owners who really care about the horse is to have a trainer who really cares about the horse and also gets the results that Rick got,” Murphy said. “There will be baby steps at the beginning. But Rick has shown what he can do. I think some of his owners will show up from day one. He may not have Grade I stock starting out but I think he will have Grade I stock in short order.”

Though optimistic, Murphy can only hope that a fight that has lasted more than 10 years is almost over. The goal is to have Dutrow back training at Aqueduct in January. But if that doesn't happen, Murphy said the battle will continue.

“Am I confident? Yes,” she said. “That's because I will never give up. He will train horses again because he has to be training horses again.”

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