Canadian jockey star Ron Turcotte of Drummond, New Brunswick passed away at the age of 84 on Friday according to Dan Ralph of the Canadian Press. Considered a national horse racing legend, Turcotte recorded six American Classic victories. He is most famous for riding Secretariat to victories at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes in 1973. Secretariat became the ninth horse in history to win the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont). Turcotte also was the jockey when Tom Rolfe won the Preakness Stakes in 1965, and when Riva Ridge won the Belmont and Kentucky Derby in 1972.
Turcotte was the jockey when Northern Dancer won his first race in Fort Erie, Ontario in 1963. A year later Northern Dancer, the Canadian horse, won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 1964 with Bill Hartack as the jockey.
In 1978, Turcotte became a paraplegic when he fell off his horse, Flag of Leyte Gulf in Elmont, New York. He was also in a serious vehicle accident in 2015 in New Brunswick.
Turcotte was inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in Fredericton in 1973, and the Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Toronto in 1980. I had the pleasure of meeting Turcotte at the grand opening of the Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame when it relocated to Calgary in 2011. Turcotte also received the Order of Canada in 1974.
