Secretariat: The Legend, The Truth, and The Hollywood Treatment

Secretariat: Behind The Scenes - YouTube

TL;DR: Secretariat won the 1973 Triple Crown with record-breaking performances that still stand today, guided by owner Penny Chenery who proved herself a capable businesswoman in managing her family's stable. The 2010 film dramatized their story with added personal conflicts, religious themes, and financial peril that weren't quite accurate, though the horse's genuine achievements needed no Hollywood enhancement. A good feel good movie which showed what Disney was capable of. The racing scenes are well done. A female role model we can all get behind.

In 1973, a chestnut colt named Secretariat captured America's imagination by winning the Triple Crown in record-shattering fashion, becoming not just a champion but a cultural phenomenon that transcended horse racing. His Belmont Stakes victory—winning by 31 lengths in a still-standing world record time of 2:24 for 1½ miles—remains one of the most dominant performances in sports history. His Kentucky Derby record of 1:59 2/5 has never been beaten. He appeared on Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated covers simultaneously and was later voted the greatest racehorse of the 20th century.

Behind this athletic marvel stood Penny Chenery, a Denver housewife and mother who took over her family's Meadow Stable in Virginia when her father fell ill. Though initially inexperienced in the racing industry's intricacies, she proved a shrewd businesswoman in a male-dominated field, syndicating Secretariat for a then-record $6.08 million before he even raced as a three-year-old. Working closely with trainer Lucien Laurin, she guided the horse through his legendary 1973 campaign while managing the stable's financial pressures and estate tax issues following her father's death.

The 2010 film "Secretariat," starring Diane Lane as Chenery, brought this story to a new generation but took significant dramatic liberties. The movie portrayed Chenery's marriage to Jack Tweedy as collapsing primarily due to her racing involvement, when in reality their troubled relationship predated her stable management and ended for unrelated reasons. It depicted her as more of a novice than she actually was—she'd already been significantly involved in operations before her father's illness.

The film amplified financial drama, suggesting the stable teetered on bankruptcy with Secretariat as their only salvation, when the situation was challenging but not quite so desperate. It added religious themes and imagery absent from the actual story, and dramatized the famous coin toss with Ogden Phipps (who won the toss for first choice of foals but selected the other horse) as far more tense than the routine business arrangement it was.

Despite Hollywood's embellishments, the core truth remains extraordinary enough: a remarkable horse and a determined woman achieved something genuinely historic, creating moments of athletic brilliance that needed no exaggeration.