SECRETARIAT’S JOCKEY RON TURCOTTE DIES AT 84
1973 Triple Crown Winning Rider Was an Inspiration to Many
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Aug. 22, 2025) — Ron Turcotte, best known as the jockey for 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat, and a beloved figure in the Thoroughbred racing community, died of natural causes today in his Drummond home outside Grand Falls, New Brunswick. He was 84. Mr. Turcotte’s family announced his death through Leonard Lusky, his longtime friend and business representative.
Turcotte rode Meadow Stable’s Secretariat to record-breaking wins in the 1973 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, followed by an astounding 31-length victory in the Belmont Stakes, putting a glorious end to horse racing’s 25-year Triple Crown drought at the time.
Turcotte began his career as a jockey in 1961 and won 3,023 races with lifetime earnings of $28,606,490 in an era prior to the larger purses of modern-day racing. At the age of 36, his racing career came to tragic halt on July 13, 1978 when he suffered severe injuries in a spill at Belmont Park that rendered him a paraplegic for the remainder of his life.
Turcotte was inducted into six different sports Halls of Fame, including the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1979, and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.
Among many honors, he was the recipient of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing’s Avelino Gomez Memorial Award, and the Turf Publicists of America’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 Canadian Racing’s Man of the Year. Following his riding career, he delighted racing fans in numerous public appearances across the U.S. and Canada, raising awareness for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF).
“Ron was a great jockey and an inspiration to so many, both within and outside the racing world. While 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,” said Lusky.
Turcotte is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Gaetane, and their four daughters: Tina, Ann, Lynn and Tammy.
“The 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.” said the Turcotte family.
Born in Drummond on July 22, 1941 as the third-oldest of 12 children, Turcotte quit school to work with his family as a lumberjack, then moved to Toronto where he became a hotwalker and soon a jockey. The leading rider at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack in 1962 and 1963, Turcotte later earned his first Triple Crown race victory aboard Tom Rolfe in the 1965 Preakness Stakes.
In 1971, Turcotte’s patience and handling of the Meadow Stable’s Riva Ridge resulted in the colt sweeping several major stakes and being named 2-Year-Old Champion. In 1972, he piloted Riva Ridge won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes the following year, providing Turcotte and the Meadow Stable team their first of two consecutive victories in the “Run for the Roses” and the “Test of the Champion.” That same summer, Turcotte was aboard the Meadow’s regally bred chestnut colt, Secretariat, who so dominated the juvenile division that he was named Horse of the Year. In 1973, Secretariat created a media frenzy with Turcotte aboard for each of “Big Red’s” record-breaking victories in the 1973 Triple Crown races, including one of the most celebrated athletic performances of all time, a 31-length victory in the mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes in the world record time of 2:24 for the mile-and-half distance. Secretariat’s accomplishments that year culminated in the second of his two Horse of the Year honors.
Secretariat’s Triple Crown campaign and Turcotte’s association with the Meadow Stable champion were depicted in the 2010 Disney Studios film Secretariat. Turcotte also was the subject of the 2013 award-winning documentary Secretariat’s Jockey: Ron Turcotte, produced by the National Film Board of Canada, as well as several books, including his 1992 biography The Will to Win by Bill Heller and recently published The Turcottes by Curtis Stock. On his July 22 birthday this year, Ron was honored with a proclamation recognizing his accomplishments and his contributions to the communities of Grand Falls and Van Buren, Maine by Janet Mills, Governor of Maine.
As the jockey of one of the greatest horses in racing history, Turcotte said of Secretariat, “It was love at first ride!”
The family requests privacy at this time while plans are formalized for a private funeral. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions be made to the PDJF. For more about Ron Turcotte and a personal message to fans, visit Secretariat.com.
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