Owner of thoroughbred legend Secretariat dies at age 95
PENNY CHENERY /
Penny Chenery, who took over her father’s thoroughbred farm with little knowledge of horse racing and became one of the few women prominent in the sport as the owner and breeder of Secretariat, perhaps the fastest horse who ever raced, died Saturday at her home in Boulder, Colorado. She was 95.
Her death was announced by her family.
When Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes in 1973, capturing the Belmont by an astounding 31 lengths, he was a national celebrity.
When Secretariat died at 19 in 1989, Chenery, who oversaw his fortunes as the manager of her family’s Meadow Stable in Virginia, recalled how he had enthralled so many in troubled times.
“In 1973, the country was in an emotional slump,” she wrote in The New York Times. “It was the time of the Watergate and Nixon scandals, and people were looking for something wholesome to admire. I’ve always felt that because he was a chestnut horse and our stable colors were blue and white, he was running in red, white and blue.”
The story of the wonder horse and the emergence of Chenery as a pre-eminent figure in thoroughbred racing have endured in popular culture. It was reprised in the 2010 Disney film “Secretariat” with Diane Lane portraying Chenery.
“Lucien Laurin trained and campaigned the horse, not me,” Chenery noted long afterward in recalling Secretariat’s glory years. “I discovered I had the ability to communicate with the public, though, and as the horse’s spokeswoman I suppose people began to think of horses being owned by women.”
Helen Bates Chenery was born in New Rochelle, New York, on Jan. 27, 1922, and grew up in nearby Pelham Manor, a daughter of Christopher T. Chenery, who made his fortune organizing public-utility holding companies. She rode in shows as a youngster, developing a love for horses from her father, who took part in polo matches and fox hunts.
Chenery’s survivors include her sons, John and Chris Tweedy; her daughters, Sarah Manning and Kate Tweedy; a stepson, Jon Ringquist, from her marriage to her second husband, Lennart Ringquist, which ended in divorce; and six grandchildren.