Reflections on the 1973 Wood Memorial Stakes
Secretariat is top left in 3rd place. Credit: NTRA
April 23, 2025
Aqueduct’s Wood Memorial Stakes was long known as the proving ground for three-year-olds--the big final prep for the Derby that comes just two weeks later. Winning or losing it was a big deal, no matter who you are. When you have been syndicated for $6.08 million, it mattered a lot more. Secretariat lost it, memorably and with dramatic effect.
Sportswriters said that he “failed to fire”. He broke in a leisurely way, rallied on the final turn, and swinging wide, came at the leaders just a bit too late. Stablemate Angle Light won in mediocre time, and Sham came in a close second, with our boy running a lackluster third. It stunned us all and caused a huge media storm.
Our trainer, Lucien Laurin, was so shocked that he didn’t realize his other owner’s horse had won. The loss made Mother’s life a lot more complicated. The big question was why.
In the Disney film Secretariat, Mother is shown berating our jockey Ron Turcotte for riding poorly, wondering if he should be replaced. Ron recalls her fierce tongue-lashing but says he could offer no explanation. He only knew that his mount had tossed his head peevishly before the race and seemed flat. Lucien tried to mollify Mom by reminding her that everyone has an off day, even champions. But without better answers for the investors or the media, she felt exposed.
People started to say that the three-year-old Secretariat wasn’t the powerhouse he had been as a two-year-old, that sons of Bold Ruler never won the big classic races. Touts turned their faith to Sham. The golden horse had been seriously tarnished.
It wasn’t until several days later that our veterinarian discovered an abscess in Big Red’s mouth—in essence, when Ron tried to set the bit, it hurt. Word of the abscess had apparently not gotten to Lucien or Ron. If it had, Lucien said he might have scratched him. But no one told Mom until much later.
When I asked why, she explained that the track has a fixed hierarchy. Our groom Eddie answered to the assistant trainer, Henny, who answered to Lucien. Jockeys are hired by the trainer, not the owner. So Mom got all her info from Lucien. How had this important information not gone up the chain of command? Eddie said he told Henny, but no one knew what happened after that.
As all fans of the movie know, it took several more days of hot compresses and antibiotics for the infection to heal, during which time Secretariat was off his feed. It was a nerve-wracking time for the team, and to ward off rumors, they tried to keep his workouts to the hours before dawn.
Finally, a few days before the Derby, he regained his appetite and his energy and danced into the Derby starting gate as if nothing had ever been amiss. Then he ran the fastest Derby ever and, unbelievably, accelerated throughout the race. Abscess, shmabcess.
Later, Mom reflected that, looking back, despite the misery of the week, it had not been all bad. “It took the pressure off,” she acknowledged. The unthinkable had happened, and yet he had recovered and put the naysayers to shame in astonishing style.
He didn’t have to be perfect to be the most amazing horse anyone had seen since Man O’ War. In fact, he lost 5 times in 21 starts. In the Champagne, he was disqualified, unfairly in our opinion, and in the four other losses, he was likely sick. In the long run, none of that matters. He is still revered and still unrivaled. No one is perfect, but some are far more perfect than others.
©Kate Tweedy
