For the better part of four decades, the number 11 held significance in the sport of Thoroughbred racing.
Tag: Legends
Secretariat’s Shocking Stumble in 1973 Wood Memorial in Final Kentucky Derby Prep
With an off-the-pace victory in the Bay Shore Stakes and a front-end triumph in the Gotham Stakes to welcome in his 3-year-old campaign, Secretariat had taken the requisite steps that would land him in Louisville on the fi
Ron Turcotte: Secretariat’s Hall of Fame Rider
There should be no mention of the mighty Triple Crown champion Secretariat without pointing to jockey Ron Turcotte as an integral member of a dynamite team. It might appear from watching replays of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes in 1973 as if Turcotte was merely a passenger taken for a wonderful ride by the gleaming colt they called “Big Red.” But Penny Chenery, Secretariat’s owner, knew better.
How Surgery Took Racehorse Alysheba from Unremarkable to World Champion
In the mid-1970s, a crafty but achy-armed left-handed pitcher named Tommy John faced the prospect of surgery to extend his career in Major League Baseball. His surgeon, Dr. Frank Jobe, devised a new way to treat John’s ailment, using a tendon elsewhere in his patient’s body to replace a damaged ulnar collateral ligament. The new technique proved a stroke of genius as it not only allowed John to resume his career, it also saved the career of a long list of pitchers in future years. Today, Jobe’s breakthrough surgical procedure is known as Tommy John Surgery.
