We bided our time n a mom and pop grocery store/gas station and talked with some of the locals. One of them was a farm hand at Clayborne Farms. He asked us, “Hey, you wanna see Secretariat?” He took us to the farm, so Tom and I got to spend 10-15 minutes with him. Now that I think about it, I may have a picture. I'm gonna have to look for that.
Great story!
He was racing at the same time as Ruffian, the "Queen of the Fillies," who'd won all ten of her races, including the Fillies' Triple Crown. In July 1975, a match race was arranged between the horses. They had the same jockey—Jacinto Vásquez, who chose to ride Ruffian, with Braulio Baeza taking over on Foolish Pleasure. This race became more than a horse race. It became a highly publicized "battle of the sexes" contest, similar to the tennis matches between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs that occurred about the same time. Thousands of fans gathered at the track, and the race was also televised. While on the lead, Ruffian broke the sesamoid bones in her leg. She continued to run, further damaging her leg, for another hundred yards, trying to finish the race. Post-surgery, she did even further damage to herself in panic, and finally had to be euthanized. Technically, Foolish Pleasure had "won", and it was several more years before other owners and trainers would risk entering females into the Kentucky Derby and other male-dominated races.
It is unfortunate because all anyone remembers is that Ruffian broke her leg and had to be euthanized. The public blamed Foolish Pleasure, although I think any "blame" belongs to the organizers of the match race. FP went on to take 2nd in the Belmont and the Preakness, which is better than any Derby winners have done in recent years.