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Ron Turcotte, the Hall of Fame jockey who rode Secretariat to the 1973 Triple Crown, dies at 84

Notable deaths 2025 RELATED VIDEO: Here’s a look at some of the most notable deaths in 2025. (Source: AP Images, CNN Newsource, Canva, DCC Gray News) (AP Images, CNN Newsource, Canva, DCC Gray News)

(AP) - Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973, has died. He was 84.

Turcotte’s family said through his longtime business partner and friend Leonard Lusky that the Canada-born jockey died of natural causes Friday at his home in Drummond, New Brunswick.

FILE - Jockey Ron Turcotte walks Secretariat towards the winners circle after they captured the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., June 9, 1973. (AP Photo/File)

He won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes twice each, most notably sweeping the three with Secretariat to end horse racing’s Triple Crown drought that dated to Citation in 1948. Secretariat’s record time of 2:24 in the Belmont, winning by 31 lengths, still stands 52 years later.

Secretariat still holds the record for fastest time in all three Triple Crown races.

Ron Turcotte poses next to a statue of him and Secretariat in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. Turcotte rose to the heights of the horse racing world, riding Secretariat to a sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont in 1973. (AP Photo/Stephen MacGillivray) (Stephen MacGillivray/AP)

“Ron was a great jockey and an inspiration to so many, both within and outside the racing world,” Lusky said. “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.”

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FILE - Jockey Ron Turcotte, left, aboard Secretariat, turns for a look at the field many lengths behind, June 9, 1973, as they make the final turn on their way to winning the 1973 Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes race at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Horse racing has come a long way since it was known as the sport of kings. It no longer captures national attention in the U.S. or worldwide the way it did when horses like Seabiscuit, Man o’ War and Secretariat were racing. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff, File) (DAVE PICKOFF/AP)

Turcotte won more than 3,000 races over a nearly two-decade career that ended in 1978 when he fell off a horse early in a race and suffered injuries that made him paraplegic. Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund chairman William J. Punk called Turcotte one of the sport’s greatest champions and ambassadors and praised him for his advocacy and efforts to help fellow fallen riders.

Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973, is shown next to a monument of him and Secretariat in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Stephen MacGillivray) (Stephen MacGillivray/AP)

He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1979.

“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.” the Turcotte family said in a statement through Lusky.

FILE - Secretariat, with jockey Ron Turcotte up, passes the twin spires of Churchill Downs during the running of the 99th Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky. on May 5, 1973. (AP Photo/File) (AP)

Turcotte was born in Drummond on July 22, 1941, as one of 12 children. He quit school to work as a lumberjack before moving to Toronto to get involved in horse racing, first as a hotwalker and then a jockey, becoming the leading rider at Woodbine Racetrack before rising to the Triple Crown level.

FILE - Jockey Ron Turcotte sits on Secretariat on their way from the paddock area to the track at Belmont Park, June 9, 1973. Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown. Horses like Seabiscuit, Man O’War and Secretariat were well known in their time beyond racing circles, pop culture icons fed in part by radio, newspapers and, eventually, TV. (AP Photo/File) (AP)

Woodbine chairman Jim Lawson said Turcotte was “a true Canadian icon whose impact on horse racing is immeasurable.”

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“Ron carried himself with humility, strength and dignity,” Lawson said. “His legacy in racing, both here at Woodbine and around the world, will live forever.”

FILE - Jockey Ron Turcotte is led to the Winner's Circle at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, May 5, 1973, after Turcotte rode Secretariat to a record win in the 99th Kentucky Derby. (AP Photo/File) (Anonymous/AP)

Turcotte won the Preakness in 1965 aboard Tom Rolfe and the Derby in 1972 with Riva Ridge. But it was his time with Secretariat that made Turcotte a household name in racing, and he called it “love at first ride.”

“He was the type of horse that you’ll never see again,” Turcotte said in 2023, nearly 50 years to the day since riding Secretariat in the Belmont. “He was doing something that you’ve never seen before and will probably never see again.”

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