Ron Turcotte

Ron Turcotte
Ron Turcotte at the 2014 Belmont Stakes
Occupation	Jockey
Born	(1941-07-22) July 22, 1941 Drummond, New Brunswick Canada
Career wins	3,032
Major racing wins
Breeders' Stakes (1962) Coronation Futurity Stakes (1963) Toronto Autumn Cup (1963) Canadian International Stakes (1964, 1971) Kentucky Oaks (1965) Sport Page Handicap (1966) Suburban Handicap (1966) Bernard Baruch Handicap (1967) Tremont Stakes (1967) Beldame Stakes (1970) Diana Handicap (1970, 1971, 1976) Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap (1970, 1979) Jockey Club Gold Cup (1970) Withers Stakes (1970) Alabama Stakes (1971) Flash Stakes (1971) Belmont Futurity Stakes (1971, 1972) Champagne Stakes (1971) Gotham Stakes (1971, 1973) Laurel Futurity (1971, 1972) Blue Grass Stakes (1972) Coaching Club American Oaks (1972) Florida Derby (1972) Hopeful Stakes (1972) Hollywood Derby (1972) Manhattan Handicap (1972) Monmouth Oaks (1972) Sanford Stakes (1972) Wood Memorial Stakes (1972) Brooklyn Handicap (1973) Excelsior Breeders' Cup Handicap (1973) Man O' War Stakes (1973, 1974) Matron Stakes (1973) Travers Stakes (1973) Dwyer Stakes (1974) Edgemere Handicap (1974, 1976) Santa Anita Handicap (1974) Cornhusker Handicap (1975) Queens County Handicap (1975) American Derby (1976) Aqueduct Handicap (1976) Alcibiades Stakes (1977) Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes (1977) Adirondack Stakes (1977) Cup and Saucer Stakes (1977) Schuylerville Stakes (1977) Stars and Stripes Turf Handicap (1978) American Classic Race wins: Kentucky Derby (1972 & 1973) Preakness Stakes (1965 & 1973) Belmont Stakes (1972 & 1973)
Racing awards
Leading jockey at Woodbine Racetrack (1962, 1963) United States Triple Crown (1973) Canadian Racing's Man-of-the-Year (1978) Big Sport of Turfdom Award (1978) George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award (1979) Avelino Gomez Memorial Award (1984)
Honours
New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame (1973) Order of Canada (1974) National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (1979) New York Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1980) Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (1980) Hawthorne Racing Hall of Fame (1986) Paul Harris Fellowship Long Island Sports Hall of Fame (1990)
Significant horses
Arts and Letters, Crafty Lace, Dahlia, Damascus, Dark Mirage, Fanfreluche, Fort Marcy, Northern Dancer, Politely, Quadrangle, Riva Ridge, Secretariat, Shuvee, Tom Rolfe, Upper Case

Ronald Joseph Morel Turcotte, CM ONB (born July 22, 1941) is a retired Canadian thoroughbred race horse jockey best known as the rider of Secretariat, winner of the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973.

Career

Turcotte began his career in Toronto as a hot walker for E. P. Taylor's Windfields Farm in 1959, but he was soon wearing the silks and winning races. As an apprentice jockey he rode Windfields' Northern Dancer to his first victory. He gained prominence with his victory aboard Tom Rolfe in the 1965 Preakness Stakes.

Turcotte soon found himself working with Canadian trainer Lucien Laurin at the racetrack in Laurel, Maryland.

In 1972 he rode Riva Ridge to victory in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.

Turcotte became internationally famous in 1973 when he rode Secretariat to win the first Triple Crown in 25 years. He was North America's leading stakes-winning jockey in 1972 and 1973. He became the first jockey to win back-to-back Kentucky Derbies since Jimmy Winkfield in 1902 and was the first jockey to ever have won five of six consecutive Triple Crown races (matched in 2015 by Victor Espinoza).

He was voted the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award that honors a rider whose career and personal conduct exemplifies the very best example of participants in the sport of thoroughbred racing. He is the first person from Thoroughbred racing ever to be appointed a member of the Order of Canada.

Turcotte's career ended in 1978 following a tumble from his horse, Flag of Leyte Gulf, at the start of a race at Belmont Park that left him a paraplegic.

He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1979. He was voted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame and in 1980 was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1984 he became the first ever recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award given annually to the jockey who is Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or a regular in the country, who has made significant contributions to the sport.

Personal life

Turcotte lives in his home town of Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada, with his wife Gaëtane and their four daughters. He is an advocate for the disabled and helps to raise funds for disability programs. He is involved with the Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund (PDJF).

A well-known survivor of an on-track accident, Turcotte makes appearances at racetracks to raise funds and awareness of the assistance the PDJF provides to fellow injured riders.

Turcotte was hospitalized on March 9, 2015 following a single-vehicle accident in New Brunswick. The van he was driving flipped after hitting a snowbank. Turcotte and a friend were both injured in the accident. Turcotte sustained fractures to both legs, while his friend suffered minor injuries.

Media

In the 2010 Disney movie Secretariat, Ron Turcotte's role as Secretariat's jockey is played by Otto Thorwarth, a real life jockey himself.

Directed by Phil Comeau, a National Film Board of Canada documentary feature film on Ron Turcotte's life and career, Secretariat's Jockey, Ron Turcotte, had its world premiere in Louisville, Kentucky in May 2013.

References

• Heller, Bill. The Will to Win: Ron Turcotte's Ride to Glory (1992) Fifth House Publishers ISBN 978-1-895618-08-2
• Ron Turcotte profile at Penny Chenery's Secretariat.com
• Ron Turcotte at the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
• Ron Turcotte at the United States ' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

External links

• Ron Turcotte at the Internet Movie Database
• Secretariat's Jockey - Ron Turcotte at the National Film Board of Canada