We are deeply saddened to hear that Secretariat Triple Crown winning jockey Ron Turcotte has passed away at the age of 84. Ron was a great jockey, a great man and a great friend, and will be greatly missed. Please read about Ron’s inspiring life and legacy, and send our condolences to his family and all those grieving his passing:

SECRETARIAT JACKIE RON TURCOTTE DIES AT 1973 Triple Crown winner an inspiration to many

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (August 22, 2025) — Ron Turcotte, best known as the jockey for 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretaria and a beloved figure in the Thoroughbred racing community, died of natural causes today at his home in Drummond, outside Grand Falls, New Brunswick. He was 84. The news was announced by Turcotte’s family through Leonard Lusky, his longtime friend and business representative.

Turcotte rode Meadow Stable’s Secretariat to record-breaking victories in the 1973 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, followed by an astonishing 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes, ending horse racing’s 25-year Triple Crown drought at the time.

Turcotte began his jockeying career in 1961 and won 3,023 races for a lifetime total of $28,606,490, an era before the larger prize pools of modern horse racing. At the age of 36, his racing career came to a tragic end on July 13, 1978, when he was seriously injured in a carriage accident at Belmont Park, leaving him a paraplegic for the rest of his life.

Turcotte has been inducted into six different sports Halls of Fame, including the National Museum of Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

Among his many honors, he received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, the Canadian Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Avelino Gomez Memorial Award, and the American Racehorse Promotional Association’s Big Sport of Turfdom Award. In 1974, Turcotte was inducted into the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor; and in 1978, he was named the Canadian Horse Racing Association’s Man of the Year. Following his racing career, he delighted racing fans with numerous public appearances across the United States and Canada, raising awareness for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF).

“Ron was a great jockey and an inspiration to so many people, both inside and outside the racing world. Although he reached the pinnacle of success in his career, it was his faith, courage and abundant kindness that were the true measure of his greatness,” Lusky said.

Turcotte is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Gaetane, and four daughters: Lynn, Ann, Tina and Tammy.

“The world may remember Ron as a famous horseman of Secretariat, but to us he was a wonderful husband, loving father, grandfather and an accomplished horseman,” the Turcotte family said.

The family requests privacy during this time while waiting for private funeral plans to be finalized. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the PDJF Foundation.

Born on July 22, 1941, in Drummond, the third of 12 children, Turcotte dropped out of school to join his family as a lumberjack, then moved to Toronto, where he became a track jockey and soon became a jockey. A leading rider at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack in 1962 and 1963, Turcotte then won his first Triple Crown on Tom Rolfe in the 1965 Preakness Stakes.

In 1971, the Meadow Stable colt Riva Ridge’s patience and handling allowed the colt to sweep the major events and be named Champion 2-Year-Old. In 1972, Turcotte rode Riva Ridge to victory in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes the following year, giving Turcotte and the Meadow Stable the first of two consecutive victories at Run for the Roses and Test of the Champion. That same summer, Turcotte rode the Meadow Stable chestnut colt Secretariat, who dominated the colt class to the point of being named Horse of the Year. In 1973, Secretariat created a media sensation when Turcotte accompanied “Big Red” in each of the record-breaking victories in the 1973 Triple Crown races, including one of the most acclaimed athletic performances of all time, a 31-length victory in the mile and a half Belmont Stakes in a world record time of 2:24 for the mile and a half. Secretariat’s performance that year culminated in his second of two “Horse of the Year” titles.

Secretariat’s Triple Crown campaign and Turcotte’s relationship with Champion Meadow Stable were featured in the 2010 Disney Studios film Secretariat . Turcotte was also the subject of the award-winning 2013 documentary , Secretariat’s Jockey: Ron Turcotte, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, as well as several books, including Bill Heller’s 1992 biography The Will to Win and Curtis Stock’s recently published The Turcottes . On his birthday, July 22, this year, Ron was honored by Maine Governor Janet Mills with a proclamation recognizing his achievements and contributions to the communities of Grand Falls and Van Buren, Maine.

As the jockey of one of the greatest horses in racing history, Turcotte said of Secretariat: “It was love at first sight!”