Ron Turcotte

Template:Short description Template:Infobox horseracing personality Ronald Joseph Morel Turcotte Template:Post-nominals (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.

CareerEdit

Turcotte began his career in Toronto as a hot walker for E. P. Taylor's Windfields Farm in 1960, but he was soon wearing the silks and winning races. As an apprentice jockey he rode Windfields's Northern Dancer to his first victory. He gained prominence with his victory aboard Tom Rolfe in the 1965 Preakness Stakes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Turcotte soon started working with Canadian trainer Lucien Laurin at the racetrack in Laurel, Maryland.Template:Citation needed

In 1972 he rode Riva Ridge to victory in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.<ref>Ocala Star-Banner article on Ron Turcotte – June 23, 1972</ref>

Turcotte became internationally famous in 1973 when he rode Secretariat to win the first Triple Crown in 25 years, with records in each race and Secretariat's phenomenal finish 31 lengths ahead of the field in the Belmont. A photograph of Secretariat winning the Belmont, with Turcotte looking over his shoulder at the pack far behind, became famous. Turcotte was North America's leading stakes-winning jockey in 1972 and 1973. He was the first jockey to win back-to-back Kentucky Derbies since Jimmy Winkfield in 1902 and the first jockey ever to have won five of six consecutive Triple Crown races (matched in 2015 by Victor Espinoza).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He was voted the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, which honors a rider whose career and personal conduct exemplifies the very best 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Turcotte's career ended on July 13, 1978, when he fell from his horse, Flag of Leyte Gulf, during the 8th race at Belmont Park. He suffered injuries that rendered him a paraplegic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2015, a statue of Secretariat and Turcotte crossing the finish line at the Belmont Stakes was unveiled in Turcotte's hometown of Grand Falls, New Brunswick.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

Born in Drummond, New Brunswick, Turcotte was one of 12 children. He left school at age 14 to work with his father as a lumberjack, then at age 18 headed to Toronto looking for construction work.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Turcotte now lives in his home town of Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada, with his wife Gaëtane and their four daughters. He is an advocate for those with disabilities and helps to raise funds for disability programs.<ref>L'Heureux, Juliana, "French-Canadian Jockey a Horse Racing Legend"</ref>

As a well-known survivor of an on-track accident, Turcotte makes appearances at racetracks to raise funds and awareness of the assistance that the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF) provides to fellow injured riders.<ref>"Stories: Ron Turcotte" Template:Webarchive - Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund website</ref>

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.<ref>[1] - ESPN Horse Racing website</ref> Turcotte sustained fractures to both legs, while his friend suffered minor injuries.<ref>[2] - WKTY website</ref>

MediaEdit

In the 2010 Disney movie Secretariat, Ron Turcotte's role as Secretariat's jockey is played by Otto Thorwarth, a real life jockey himself.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Wolski">Template:Cite news</ref>

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

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Secretariat's Jockey - Ron Turcotte at the National Film Board of Canada

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