Penny Chenery, forever to be identified as the owner of 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat and the face of horse racing thanks to her personality, has died at the age of 95.
As everybody knows, Penny Chenery, then known as Penny Tweedy, had to syndicate her two top horses, Riva Ridge and Secretariat, in order to pay the taxes on her late father's estate. Secretariat was syndicated for a then-record $6,080,000 before he ever ran as a three-year-old. She worked out a deal with the young Seth Hancock of Claiborne Farm, who recently retired from running the farm and turned it over to his son. The gamble, as we know, paid off tremendously. Secretariat not only won the Triple Crown, but he became a world-class broodmare sire. His bloodlines run through numerous top racehorses today, including 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, who Penny was lucky enough to see win the Belmont in person.
Penny was part of the Secretariat team, which included Red himself, Chenery, trainer Lucien Laurin, jockey Ron Turcotte, and groom Eddie Sweat. Of this crew, only Ron Turcotte is still alive. He is about 76 now and has been in a wheelchair since 1978. Of the human members, Penny was the most visible. She became almost as famous as the horse she owned.
Being in the spotlight like she was, she handled the pressure extremely well, although her marriage was already in the crapper and she would later divorce, remarry, and divorce again. She had four children. What wasn't known at the time, until she revealed it a couple of years ago for a video documentary, she had a torrid affair with married trainer Lucien Laurin. She must have been a foot taller than he was (Laurin had once been a jockey, as I recall, until he got too heavy for the job), and watching the pair in videos at the time, you would never, ever have known they were messing around many a late night in the stable area. Things were hot and heavy throughout the 1973 year, until Secretariat retired after the Canadian International, after which the affair ended. For his part, Laurin stayed married to his wife until he died in 2000. Penny didn't reveal the affair until after his widow died; she died at an even older age than Penny.
It was such a secret affair that Secretariat biographer William Nack, who spent around two years of his life following the great horse and thought he knew everything there was to know about Team Secretariat, didn't know the half of it. He was as shocked as anybody over the revelations.
Chenery would later become the focus of the 2010 movie Secretariat, a film I reviewed a few years back.
My take on the Chenery-Laurin affair is here.
She died yesterday at her home in Boulder, Colorado.
From the obit:
In the 2013 documentary “Penny & Red: The Story of Secretariat’s Owner,” produced and directed by Ms. Chenery’s son John Tweedy Jr., she revealed that she had an affair during that racing season of 1973 with Laurin, the trainer, arising, she said, from the crumbling of her marriage to John Tweedy (they would be divorced late in 1973) and her feeling of isolation in facing the pressures of the time.
“It may spoil my image,” Ms. Chenery told The Lexington Herald-Leader in discussing her revelation of the affair with Laurin, who died in 2000. “I don’t know, and at this point I don’t care. It was a tremendous experience for me to go through the Secretariat years, and I just really wanted to let people know what it’s like to have a top horse and no one to turn to.”
Helen Bates Chenery was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., 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.
Warts and all, people loved her just the same.
The Blood Horse:
"We are deeply proud of our mother, her accomplishments, and her courage." said daughter Kate Tweedy. "As we mourn her loss, the example of her strength, her intelligence, and her enduring spirit continue to inspire us."
While the family requests that its privacy be respected for an initial week of mourning, Lusky says that plans for a future public memorial service will be announced soon.
"We have always been overwhelmed and amazed by the love and support Mom received from her many fans," John Tweedy said. "We look forward to a time soon when we can celebrate her life in a way that honors that legacy."
In lieu of flowers, the Secretariat Foundation is offering special Penny Chenery Memorial fundraising projects on behalf of selected equine-related charities. For details, visit Secretariat.com.
Associated Press obituary can be found here.
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