Belmont Stakes<\/a> twice each, most notably sweeping the three with Secretariat to end horse racing\u2019s Triple Crown drought that dated to Citation in 1948. Secretariat\u2019s record time of 2:24 in the Belmont, winning by 31 lengths, still stands 52 years later.<\/p>\n\u201cRon was a great jockey and an inspiration to so many, both within and outside the racing world,\u201d Lusky said. \u201cWhile he reached the pinnacle of success in his vocation, it was his abundance of faith, courage, and kindness that was the true measure of his greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte won more than 3,000 races over a nearly two-decade career that ended in 1978 when he fell off a horse early in a race and suffered injuries that made him paraplegic. Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund chairman William J Punk called Turcotte one of the sport\u2019s greatest champions and ambassadors and praised him for his advocacy and efforts to help fellow fallen riders.<\/p>\n
He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1979.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world may remember Ron as the famous jockey of Secretariat, but to us he was a wonderful husband, a loving father, grandfather, and a great horseman.\u201d the Turcotte family said in a statement through Lusky.<\/p>\n
Ron Turcotte poses next to a statue of him and Secretariat in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada, in May 2023. Photograph: Stephen MacGillivray\/AP<\/p>\n
Turcotte was born in Drummond on 22 July 1941, as one of 12 children. He quit school to work as a lumberjack before moving to Toronto to get involved in horse racing, first as a hotwalker and then a jockey, becoming the leading rider at Woodbine Racetrack before rising to the Triple Crown level.<\/p>\n
Woodbine chairman Jim Lawson said Turcotte was \u201ca true Canadian icon whose impact on horse racing is immeasurable\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cRon carried himself with humility, strength and dignity,\u201d Lawson said. \u201cHis legacy in racing, both here at Woodbine and around the world, will live forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turcotte won the Preakness in 1965 aboard Tom Rolfe and the Derby in 1972 with Riva Ridge. But it was his time with Secretariat that made Turcotte a household name in racing, and he called it \u201clove at first ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the type of horse that you\u2019ll never see again,\u201d Turcotte said in 2023, nearly 50 years to the day since riding Secretariat in the Belmont. \u201cHe was doing something that you\u2019ve never seen before and will probably never see again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973, has died. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-85874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}