This is the first in a three-part series examining Secretariat’s influence on the Thoroughbred bloodstock industry as we mark the 50-year anniversary of his historic Triple Crown triumphs. This week, learn about Big Red’s record pre-Kentucky Derby syndication and how he flew the flag for his home state of Virginia. This year’s Kentucky Derby candidates are gathering beneath the twin spires in their final days of preparation for “the greatest two minutes in sports.” At age 3, they have plenty of racing future, and potentially lucrative stud careers, ahead of them, should luck be on their side and should they write their names in the record books. When Secretariat arrived at Barn 42 at Churchill Downs a half-century ago, he had already put his name in the record books multiple times – remarkable, considering the run he was about to embark upon, beginning with shading two minutes in the Derby. The big red colt, racing as a homebred for Meadow Stables, was already the 1972 Horse of the Year and had already secured part of his future, syndicated for a record $6.08 million to stand at Claiborne Farm. Penny Chenery assumed leadership of The Meadow in Doswell, Va., after the death of her father, Christopher Chenery, in January 1973. Estate taxes and other financial considerations required her to leverage the family’s equine assets – namely, her newly crowned Horse of the Year, Secretariat – in order to keep the stable running. And thus, Seth Hancock, who had taken over the leadership of Claiborne Farm following the death of his own father, Arthur “Bull” Hancock, in September 1972, stepped up to the plate. The Meadow and Claiborne had a long business association, and many of historic Claiborne’s other long associations helped make the record deal work. “My dad said the syndication process wasn’t as challenging as it may seem,” Walker Hancock, Seth Hancock’s son and now president of Claiborne, recounted. “He had 28 shares to sell, and he only made 32 phone calls. He believes that the main reason it went so well was because his father had just passed, and a lot of his phone calls were to friends of his father’s. He feels the relationships that his father, Bull, had formed over the years earned a lot of respect amongst his peers, and they probably took the shares as a tribute to Bull. Also, they wanted to help him, being a young 23-year-old. Start his career off with a bang.” In late February 1973, before Secretariat had started his 3-year-old campaign, it was announced that the colt had been syndicated for a record $6.08 million, in 32 shares of $190,000 each, with Chenery retaining four shares. The syndication price surpassed the previous high-water mark of $5.44 million for English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky in 1970. Bull Hancock handled that deal. According to a calculator provided by the American Institute for Economic Research, that $6.08 million would be the equivalent of $40,074,594 in U.S. funds in 2022, with the $190,000 per share translating to $1,252,331. That still stacks up well against today’s numbers, even as the Thoroughbred industry has become more commercial and more global. American Pharoah was similar to Secretariat in that he was syndicated after a championship 2-year-old season, and before breaking a long Triple Crown drought. The sale of his breeding rights to the Coolmore group was completed by early 2015 for a reported $13.8 million – although additional “kickers” were reportedly in the contact for the colt’s additional accomplishments through the year. Looking at one of the more anticipated stallions of recent years, Flightline’s syndication and pending stud career at Lane’s End Farm was announced last fall, before he won the Breeders’ Cup Classic to complete an unbeaten championship career. Two days after the Classic, a 2.5 percent minority interest in him fetched $4.6 million at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Shortly afterward, it was announced that his advertised stud fee was set at $200,000, the highest for a first-year stallion in North America since American Pharoah debuted at the same mark in 2016. :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. “Syndicating a stallion has changed tremendously,” Walker Hancock said. “Shares aren’t exactly necessary to gain access to a stallion in this era of large books. It also seems that process has changed just in the last five years, and I’m sure it will continue as the market becomes more and more commercial in the next five years.” At the time, Secretariat’s syndication price also was considered staggering because his sire, Bold Ruler, had yet to check an important box off his résumé. Bold Ruler led the North American sire list seven straight years at Claiborne, from 1963-69, and claimed an eighth title in 1973. Underlining the rarity of that dominance, in the last half-century, no North American stallion claimed more than three sire titles until last year, when Into Mischief earned his fourth straight title. However, before Secretariat’s run in 1973, Bold Ruler had yet to sire the winner of an American classic. The fleet but fragile stallion was the Horse of the Year in 1957, when he captured the Preakness Stakes, and the following year’s champion sprinter. He quickly found success with precocious offspring, but his ability to impart stamina was considered somewhat suspect. “As great a stallion as he was, Bold Ruler had been essentially a speed sire and had never produced a single winner of a Triple Crown race,” the late Bill Nack, Secretariat’s biographer, wrote in his famed obituary of the champion, “Pure Heart,” for Sports Illustrated, as he recounted the days leading up to the 1973 Derby. “I couldn’t help but suspect that Secretariat was another Bold Ruler, who ran into walls beyond a mile.” A half-century later, of course, Bold Ruler’s classic influence is powerful, through his Triple Crown-winning son Secretariat, his Triple Crown-winning great-grandson Seattle Slew, and others. Of the 20 horses who sit in the main body of the 2023 Kentucky Derby field as of April 29, 14 of them sport Bold Ruler, Seattle Slew, or Secretariat in the first five generations of their pedigrees. Those 14 include 2-year-old champion and acknowledged Kentucky Derby favorite Forte. While the colt was foaled in Kentucky, he was bred by Virginia-based Amy Moore and spent his formative months at her South Gate Farm in Millwood, Va. That is about 100 miles from The Meadow, where Secretariat was foaled on March 30, 1970. He went on to become one of four Virginia-bred Kentucky Derby winners, preceded by Reigh Count (1928), and followed by Pleasant Colony (1981) and Sea Hero (1993). “You could say he was one of the most famous ‘people’ ever to come out of Virginia,” said Debbie Easter, executive director of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association. “What other Virginian ever had their picture on the cover of Time magazine and Sports Illustrated, twice?” The idea of a Virginia-bred Kentucky Derby winner seemingly passed out of mind for several years as the state’s Thoroughbred industry fought for success. Colonial Downs, in New Kent, Va., opened on Sept. 1, 1997, and proved a valuable stop for turf 3-year-olds, hosting future champions such as Kitten’s Joy, English Channel, and Gio Ponti. However, in the latter years of the track’s original run, management found itself at odds with the horsemen’s association over the race dates held at the track each year, and Colonial ultimately closed in 2014. With a lack of live racing in the state, the Virginia breeding industry, already grappling with the nationwide foal crop decline, found its numbers shrinking even further. The Virginia registered foal crop was 540 in 2001, the furthest back state fact book statistics are available from The Jockey Club. The crop was 115 in 2021, the most recent year in the fact book. However, in April 2018, Virginia enacted a law to allow historical racing machines at the track and at offtrack betting facilities in an effort to make it economically viable to reopen the track. And thus, live racing at Colonial re-emerged the following year under new ownership. A strong racing product quickly garnered national attention, and last year, it was announced that Churchill Downs Inc., had reached an agreement to purchase the track. Over the years with no live racing in the state, breeders’ and horsemens’ associations worked to cultivate incentives to keep Thoroughbred activity in the state with awards for Virginia-breds running around the country. The fund’s Virginia-certified program also has worked to support farms and training centers by encouraging young horses to come to the state. Any horse conceived and foaled outside Virginia but maintaining residency in the state at a registered farm or training center for a mandated period of time became eligible for bonus money when winning at a track in any of the Mid-Atlantic states. “We’ve worked hard,” Easter said. “We knew the Thoroughbred racehorse industry was in danger of disappearing. . . . [Virginia-certified] has been a savior to our farms and our industry and people employed by horses.” Churchill plans to run 27 live racing dates this summer at Colonial, with a gradual increase in those dates. Meanwhile, at the parent company’s flagship track, Forte continues to train toward the Kentucky Derby under the twin spires, taking Secretariat’s lineage and the pride of Virginia with him. “If the racing gods look upon us well – and you know how hard that is! – how fortuitous would it be to see Forte win?” Easter said. In the next part of this series, Preakness Stakes week, learn more about Secretariat’s sons and daughters on the track, including Preakness and Belmont winner Risen Star. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.