What were you doing when....Secretariat won the TC

[inmotion]

I just read the movie thread.....and I was maid of Honor at my cousins wedding. A few of us escaped from the reception into the kitchen (there was a TV there) and had put money on the table betting who would be second......of course, my cousin found us and said...."I should of known I couldn't keep you away from horses....even for my wedding!"

It was grand and glorious......

[fish]

I was in at Sears watching it on all the TV's in the electronics Dept. at once :D

[carp]

I was sitting with my grandmother on the couch. She had gotten frail enough that she didn't get out much any more, and I was just old enough that I was paying attention to the adult world. For a few years she and I would read the Audax Minor racing column in the New Yorker and then watch the races together. I was actually rooting for Sham, because of course I had read Marguerite Henry's book "King of the Wind." I thought Secretariat was a pretty stupid name for a horse too.:lol:

[VirginiaBred]

I was glued to the television in my living room!!! (the previous two I was also at Sears!!!)

[Larksmom]

at a retail store that WASN'T Sears;) Kaui King won. I watched the rest at home. I only ever missed one or two when I was at a horse show. I know I missed Swale winning the Bemont.When Secretariat won, I was probably living on my own.For those of you too young to remember life before ESPN, or cable of any sort [!],it was a big deal that year. 'Sexy' made the cover of Time and Newsweek. I do know my beloved niece [who ended growing up with my once in a lifetime horse,] was one week old!:D

[inmotion]

I'm not the only one trying to find a tv.....ANY TV!!!! to watch a race. I watched Barbaro at Boscov's....

Carp...I love your memory.....I can picture you and your grand mom sitting together.....

Me.....I had one of the big pink foofy dresses with a foofy hat with a bow.....Maybe explains my desire to dress up at the races.....

[dressagetraks]

I was probably running around my yard at the ripe age of 4 either pretending to be a horse or pretending anybody at all in my family was interested in them. Since that latter was just a wish, I had no idea horse stuff was ever ON television, outside of horses in westerns and such.

I learned about the existence of horse sports including racing through reading books, not through watching. We barely watched anything anyway, as before the divorce, Dad was TV dictator (Hee Haw! and Scooby Doo), and after the divorce, Mom didn't even have a TV. My first Kentucky Derby seen was in 1980, when I happened to be at my grandparents' house, and Grandaddy was channel flipping the old-fashioned, pre-remote way on Saturday afternoon and ran across it. I couldn't believe it. Really? They put the Kentucky Derby on TV? Why hadn't any of my family ever MENTIONED this? They all just looked at each other and rolled their eyes. I did get to watch that broadcast, though, amid interference from my brothers who were trying to annoy me enough to make me go away so that Grandaddy would turn the channel again.

Genuine Risk was the first racer I fell in love with personally. I'd read Man o' War and Black Gold and Old Bones, but I SAW her. For me, the immediate image when I think of a chestnut Derby winner with blaze and socks is a horse of a different gender. :D

[hastyrebeljane]

When Genuine Risk ran in the Ky. derby I was working as a waitress in a resturant in Tysons. I conned the bartender into putting the tv on the bar, by racetime the whole place was on their feet screaming. great memory!

[inmotion]

I looked Genuine Risk up......I had heard she had passed, but couldn't recall hearing anything else. I didn't know she had been bred to Secretariat and lost the foal...):

anyone know what happened to the 2 babies she had?

I had a customer ask if I was sure enough to put money on the filly...Genuine Risk...I said sure and won 10$......easy money....great filly....great race!!!!

[Roan]

I was 13 and I watched the first two races in the TC that year in my basement with my best barn buddies. The last one we watched out by the pool. We even skipped our riding lessons to stay home and watch the races.

Man I loved that horse!

Eileen

[foxhavenfarm]

Being born...no seriously, my mom was in labor and I was born later that night! :)

[ReSomething]

14 or so, sitting with my Mom and her friend watching on the B/W TV in the living room, screaming my head off as he got further . . . .and further . . . . away. Man what a way to win a race!

[lizathenag]

probably riding. no television on the farm.

[Blinkers On]

I was months old, in fostercare, awaiting my family.

[Lady Counselor]

I was glued to our black and white TV set that my family hauled into the dining room for the occasion. All of 10 years old, going on 11, totally, absolutely, head over heels in love with Secretariat. Heard about him as a 2-year old, picked him that spring as my KY derby choice. My best friend picked Sham.
By the Belmont, my normally oblivious to horses family tuned in on it and watched with me.
I was stunned at his performance.
He galloped away from the field, my folks were hollering, I had goosebumps.
That was a moment to never be repeated.
His connections lived a dream that the rest of us can only imagine.

[Calena]

In my parents' living room watching the second race I had ever seen on TV. The first was that year's Preakness. Fell totally in love with Secretariat. That was a great year to be in love with a horse :yes:. My mom finally figured out last year where I'd be the first Saturday in May - someplace watching the race! My non-horsey family just doesn't get it, though mom has finally admitted that I'm not going to grow out of this :lol:.

[jeano]

I was in a dorm room, just after commencement (not mine, that year, but for some reason I was hanging around college rather later than usual as I recall) and I watched the race with a guy from New York City who wouldve far preferred to be there in person--he had a tiny little grainy black and white set and we screamed like maniacs when the camera pulled away and all you could see was one solitary horse and what seemed like miles of empty track behind him. What a race!

Speaking of never growing out of it--for this year's Derby I begged my husband's ICU nurse to let me stay past visiting hours to catch the race. Mr Jeano had just come off a ventilator after open heart surgery the day before. That was a fun race, too.

[Lori B]

I was 7, and each of the triple crown races that year were the first horse races I'd ever seen. Because my best friend was cheering for Secretariat, I was cheering for Sham, who I thought was pretty too. (I was only 7, after all.) What a great memory....

Love the story about waitressing in Tyson's Corner.

[Peggy]

Watching it on the BM's TV in her apartment above the barn.

[Barnfairy]

I was doing this (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3466/3809500276_7a9ab04bcd_m.jpg).

Those who know me might say I haven't changed a whole lot.


I looked Genuine Risk up......I had heard she had passed, but couldn't recall hearing anything else. I didn't know she had been bred to Secretariat and lost the foal...):

anyone know what happened to the 2 babies she had?
It's been almost a year since she passed.

Neither of Genuine Risk's foals went on to race. Her Rahy colt, Genuine Reward (http://www.barbaralivingston.com/albums/ontrack19741999/GenuineReward2296.jpg), is a sire of polo ponies and at least one winner on the track, while her Chief Honcho colt, Count Our Blessings, was gelded and is/was a jumper in New York.

[Fred]

I was with my grandmother too, in our living room, sitting on the arm of her chair (where I always sat), crying my eyes out.

It was a once in many lifetimes race by a once in many lifetimes horse. Unforgettable.

[inmotion]

I love reading the memories.......It's so cool to share a b-day with this great day.....but barnfairy..... ssooo cute.....

So many great stories......Isn't it funny how we were already so horse inspired?

[Barnfairy]

inmotion, I added a picture link of Genuine Risk's son in my last post (I think we were posting at the same time.)

Isn't that a cute little donk? I wonder whatever became of him...

He, along with two molly mules, a standard donk named Claude, a ginormous Belgian named Tony (Oh! How I loved Tony. :sadsmile:) and that pinto pony in the top of the photo were residents of Drumlin Farm, a working farm operated by the Audubon Society a couple towns over from where I grew up. They did well to tide me over until the thoroughbreds grabbed my attention.

Seattle Slew was the first I really remember -- and what an era to start loving horses! I was glued to the tv whenever racing was on.

Like I said, some may say I haven't changed much. :lol:

[inmotion]

What isn't to love about little donkeys......oh the ears kill me.....they are darling.....and you were a cutie too! I love little horse crazy kids.

Thanks for the picture.....I love GR and can't imagine the sadness losing the Secretariat foal. Poor girl must of had baby problems....I'm glad one went on to a show life.....

[secretariat]

I attended my first (and only live) Kentucky Derby in 1973. What a party! But I'll admit I only saw 3 horses all day (and no, I didn't pass out) -- 2 before I got to the infield, and one afterwards on the way to the car.

Life is fun, tho; our first Advanced event horse was a Secretariat grandson.

[Barnfairy]

I attended my first (and only live) Kentucky Derby in 1973...You sure did! ;)

And here I thought you were going to post "I was running like a tremendous machine!"

:winkgrin:

[danceronice]

Lol...not being born for another five years and three months. (I missed Affirmed, too)

[A Horsey Canuck]

I was at home, in my livingroom in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and like Jack Nicklaus, I applauded and I cried as he came down the stretch. He is my hero, and unfortunately, I only got to stand at his gravesite, after he was gone. He WAS the one!

[Beverley]

I was in France and saw the photo in the International Herald Tribune, and was amazed. Happily have seen the race replay many times since, and it is equally enjoyable every time.

Reading Audax Minor- that's a blast from my past!

[Acertainsmile]

I was nine years old, and came up from the barn to watch him win! Watched it with my dad on our black and white TV. A moment I will surely never forget!

[rebeginner]

I watched Secretariat win the Belmont on a TV in the dorm room of my then-ex-boyfriend. (I don't recall why I was there, since we had been broken up for at least a year.) However, I do remember screaming as that amazing gap opened up between Secretariat and -- who? Sham?

Here's the worst part: two years later I was working in Lexington, KY, for a radio station affiliated with the Daily Racing Form. One of the racing guys asked me if I wanted to go with him to visit Secretariat, who I guess had just retired. OK, you ready? I said no. :( WHAT DID I DO INSTEAD, FLOSS? WHAT WAS I THINKING? (Actually, I think I thought I would have another chance later, probably.)

Anyway, it's astonishing in retrospect to think that I could have had a private tour and perhaps petting opportunity with Secretariat (the great-grandsire of my mare), but no.... I was too busy.... or something....

[arktos19]

Home watching on TV, jumping up and down and screaming :D - you too can relive that moment on youtube.... :cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS4f6wiQJh4

Coincidentally, my boy is out of a Secretariat mare....

[texang73]

I was only a few months old... :D Wish I could've remembered it!