Secretariat: The Making of a Champion

by William Nack

In 1973, Secretariat, the greatest thoroughbred in horse-racing history, won the Triple Crown. The only horse to ever break the two-minute mark in winning the Kentucky Derby until recent winner Monarchos, Secretariat also pulled off one of the most astounding victories in the annals of horse racing by winning the Belmont Stakes by a record-breaking thirty-one lengths. Now William Nack updates his acclaimed portrait with a new afterword that examines the legacy of one of ESPN's "100 Greatest Athletes of the Century": the only horse to ever grace the covers of Time , Newsweek , and Sports Illustrated all in the same week.

Genres: Nonfiction, Horses, Sports, History, Biography, Animals, Horse Racing

384 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 1988

About the author

William Nack is an American journalist and author. He wrote about sports, politics and the environment at Newsday for 11 years before joining the staff of Sports Illustrated in 1978 as an investigative reporter and general feature writer.

Since leaving S.I. in 2001, Nack has freelanced for numerous publications, including GQ and ESPN.com. He also served as an adviser on the made-for-TV-movie Ruffian (2007) and the Disney feature Secretariat (2010).

Reviews

[Florence (Lefty) MacIntosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story of 1973 triple crown winner Secretariat is packed with statistics on blood lines & racing stats; William Nack really knows his stuff. However, it is not a dry read at all. His behind the scenes look at the world of horse breeders is fascinating. I particularly liked his spin on the owner Helen Tweedy (aka Penny Chenery), and thought it pretty cool that both the jockey & trainer were Canadians. Now I know what “going the distance” really means, and it’s got nothing to do with Field Of Dreams. This book is worth reading just for the chapter describing his Belmont Stakes record-breaking thirty-one length win, the author puts you in the stands yelling & cheering at probably the most exciting race in track history. William Nack’s love of this horse he spent a lifetime following comes through loud & clear. Just a great, inspirational story.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you see the movie? I did, and can definitely say that the 'feel good' movie barely touched the surface of Secretariat and all that was going on before and around him....and was written by William Nack, who was a new Turf Reporter when Secretariat made his 2-year old appearance. So impressed, he decided to keep a journal and a side-focus on Secretariat for the long term.

Therefore, this book starts with the history of the major players in Secretariat's life. The Chenery family, and how The Meadow came about. Claiborne Farm, still ranked among the top breeders. This book is definitely a lesson, not a novel....but was so very interesting. Details. Statistics. And a more indepth look into everything.

The coin toss. The birth. The naming. The training. All are given more substance as this goes into the actual details of what was going on. Like, the saving of The Meadow was initiated by Riva Ridge, another Chenery horse, who was a year older, and had won the 1972 Derby, lost the Preakness, and came back to win the Belmont.

So if you enjoyed the movie, but suspect that there was more? There was. Do you wonder about her long-distance marriage and how it was affected by her taking active leadership in the breeding & racing? How about the $6.08 million syndication deal?

Regardless, this was a very informative book on Secretariat, and an excellent look at what goes on in the racing industry. Reading the chapters on the races had my heart pounding, just as if I was there and could feel the beat of the hooves. I totally recommend this...

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

A legend is born…

A true story of a remarkable Thoroughbred racehorse that has now also been made into a film for the big screen, Secretariat has to be one of my favorite books on racing ever written. Equivalent to works such as Seabiscuit, Arle and Red Rum this racehorse’s story is one that is heartwarming, magical and truly inspirational proving that the sky is the limit. Fast-paced at a thrilling gallop this story maintains its momentum throughout, where you ultimately loose yourself within the melee of thundering hooves and the scattering of dirt whilst a commentary thunders in the background. Here is living proof that ones dream can turn into reality as long as one possesses the determination, drive and will to succeed that you can do anything. Penny Chenery is such a woman with a dream who is not afraid to stand out within the male dominated world of the racing game, where she must fight her way to the top. She is a heroine for all women who aspire to living their dream and making the impossible possible, with much courage and strength of character.

As her world is turned upside down with the death of her father Penny has to make a decision on whether to sell or keep her father’s beloved farm Meadow Stables, and it is this crucial choice that sets in motion the course of her future. Things are never the same again once she takes the reins and breathes life into this failing, run-down yard that is balancing on a knife’s edge giving all those that surround her a sense of hope and optimism for the future. With the aid of the outlandish but charismatic Lucien Laurin and a blazing, bright chestnut colt called Secretariat, Penny travels on the most exhilarating rollercoaster of a ride. Here the unlikeliest of combinations with a female trainer and a gangly looking horse get set to change history, by becoming the first Triple Crown winner in America for 25 years. A legend is thus born in the form of ‘Big Red’ as he was known, whose endurance and stamina astonishes all who encounter him.

Reading this book is like opening a window onto the past and being able to experience a poignant and unforgettable moment within history that along with other greats shall not be forgotten. Here dreams are made that flourish, blossom and grow hence turning the vision in ones mind into reality. Penny is a testament to all those who go that extra mile and beyond, who have that self-belief to push the boundaries and reach those unreachable heights.

[Kaora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to get into this one.

There is a ton of name dropping, and very little description of who they are. Some names do - inheritor of the Campbells Soup dynasty, etc, but a lot don't so it was difficult keeping everyone straight especially when it came to the syndication chapter. A full chapter on just names!

And it isn't just human names. You'll hear about Citation and Man O'War and Native Dancer and Nasrullah. If you aren't familiar to the world of racing this may be a bit of a shock.

But the races were so well done and done in so much detail that I found myself holding my breath while reading. I couldn't put it down. Unfortunately those don't really happen until the end of the book so you have a lot to slog through before you get there.

If someone is really interested in getting into the nitty gritty of Secretariat please read this book. You will learn everything you need to know to every race he lost, every race he won, every warm-up and even a history on his bloodlines.

If you are just interested in passing in Secretariat watch the movie! I enjoyed it immensely and it was well done. Keep in mind some things are exaggerated to keep it interesting, but for the most part it is pretty accurate.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5?

Maybe it's not fair to compare Secretariat to Seabiscuit, but here I go. While I can't judge who would have won in a race between the two horses, one's story is far superior, and that is Seabiscuit's.

Secretariat came from basically a royal bloodline, he was big and beautiful and upon his death was discovered to have an enlarged heart which may have been what helped him run so fast. I can appreciate that he was quite an amazing animal and probably pretty wonderful to watch (I haven't actually seen his races) but really, what could he do but win? Running from behind in a race is not the same as overcoming all odds to win, and knowing going into the story that Secretariat won the Triple Crown meant that there was very little suspense in the book. Here's the story in a nutshell: Secretariat is born, shows promise, is syndicated (before it's known if he will be a distance runner), wins the Triple Crown, and is retired to stud.

Not helping is Nack's writing style which I just didn't enjoy very much. It's very dry and factual and rather dull. The book is filled with times run and names of horses in Secretariat's bloodline. There's also a lot of digressions and an overly long section about the phone calls made to every single person who was offered a share when Secretariat was syndicated. The end of the book has one article which I enjoyed more than all the rest of the book -- it's a more personal story of Nack's relationship with the horse which made me understand why he loved Secretariat and wanted to write about him. I think I would have enjoyed the whole book a lot more if it was told in this way.

Seriously, just read Seabiscuit. Much more emotional journey of a horse overcoming obstacles and winning, much more interesting cast of characters (horse and surrounding personalities), much more interesting history and much better explanations of the horse racing world. Really, just a much better book.

[Rachelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really thought I would like this book and couldn't wait to read it but then once I started to read it I realized it was not at all what I expected. There were times in the book when I thought I was reading Genisis when they were going through the lineage of the horses. I really don't understand or care who parented who. I also am not into horse racing so all the timing and how they placed them in the race was foreign to me. I should take the time to learn something new but horse racing is at the bottom of my list of sports. I don't always agree with how they are used in racing and it hurt my heart so much to read about one of the horses dying on the track of a heart attack and the jockey had been hitting with his stick to make him run. That was just wrong. Maybe I'll try watching the movie and see what I think but the book had so much background into the business and how the money flowed and even though they took wonderful care of the horses it wasn't with love, it was a business.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. I liked it a lot more than the movie. I think that if you are a person who is not 'into horses' or does not know a lot about horses, you will like the movie better. This book is so well researched and filled with every single fact you could imagine, but could get confusing if you are not into horses and racing. Great writing, captured me within the first 3 chapters. I learned a lot about racing history in that time period and some of the facts stunned me. This book is a great collection of historical facts, along with a well written story of the truth behind a great race horse. I also liked that the author made a point to not choose sides or opinions, he kept his writing even and did not make any attempt to change the story of what really happened in those great years.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband and I read this together. We thoroughly enjoyed this inspirational book. Reading about animals that have talents above others it is another reminder of God showing us that we can have hope in excellence and perseverance.

[Andrea Uhde Shepherd · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish it - stunning writing and amazing reporting, but way too much emphasis on the horse bloodlines for me!

[Susy Flory · Rating 1 out of 5]

A slow read without any fire. I was hoping for another Seabiscuit but this is more like Slowpoke.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you like learning about horse earnings, “prestigious” horse breeding heritage, and obsessing over split times - this book would be perfect for you.

[Mom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most excellent book that I've read so far on horse racing. Very well written.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This book is very technical and relentlessly detailed for the average reader (like me). I'm not involved in the Thoroughbred racing or breeding industries, and I'm not even a casual fan of the sport, though I loved horses as a girl (and had a few). The first half-dozen chapters read like the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament, a laundry-list of sires and broodmares and offspring, breeders and farms, owners and wanna-be owners and, of course, races won and lost. Yet there's something in Nack's writing that flows smoothly, even if the technical jargon is hard to follow, and I'm glad I stuck with the book and got to experience, at least in the pages of this book, Secretariat's record-breaking Triple Crown run in 1973.

While there was some tension in these pages leading up to some of the horse's biggest moments, the book never triumphed for me, even though Secretariat did. Maybe he had too much going for him (described by many as a "superhorse", the most perfect specimen of his breed), or maybe it was the tough-to-follow stats and names and racing play-by-plays that had me number-crunching rather than being swept away on an incredible journey. Still, I respect the passion this author has for the sport, and the passion with which he transferred his knowledge to these pages.

[... · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid racehorse biography. The second half is really the heart of the book, with all the major races that make one's heart pound with excitement. Like with Seabiscuit, you've seen the movie, you know the story, you know he's going to win - and yet you're holding your breath when he races past the other horses, opens one lenght, five, ten, and wins by thirty one.

But man, this one is long! 460 pages and maybe 4 black and white photos squeezed somewhere in the middle (my edition, at least). It's wonderfully written (even though I had a hard time getting used to Nack's style at first), but Secretariat's racing career was relatively short for such a long book. And there was a topic Nack brought up and then abandoned, never arriving at a conclusion, which was frustrating, because I kept reading and the book ended and I never found out what he wanted to say.

I'm a simple girl who spent a few childhood and teenhood years around horses, and even though it's all behind me now, I still love a good horse story. And the story of Secretariat? It's one of the best ones.

[Chana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Secretariat is great but this book does not flow like a well written story. It veers between lots of names, dates, places, races; and a novel like attempt at description that often seems overdone, incongruous and unnecessary. I was glad that I did not have to take a test on it and was sorry it did not come with charts of bloodlines and race statistics. One of the problems with the writing, to my mind, was that he does not follow a timeline, he jumps back and forth in time in order to tell the stories of people and horses. That left me a little confused and with the feeling that if I was to really try to remember things that I had better take notes. The barrage of facts would be interspersed with detailed descriptions of what someone was wearing or how a room was decorated. Still, I enjoyed reading about Secretariat very much.

[Julia Langevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I've always had a love for race horses since my first horse was a OTTB turned eventing horse. The author does an amazing job of sharing Secretariat's story, and the love he had for this horse really showed throughout the entirety of the book. It was amazing to read about his journey leading up to the triple crown, and continuing on after the triple crown. I also learned a lot about the ins and outs of racing, and how even at the speed they're going, horses can change their leads around the corners of the racetrack. I also learned about running a "twelve clip" and lineage as well. This has become one of my favorite books, and even if you're not a horse person, I feel that anyone would enjoy this book about this amazing animal.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do you like equine genealogy? This book is for you!
Do you love horse racing? This book is for you!
Do you like loads of minutiae detail? This book is for you!
If you don't mind a story that jumps around and shifts focus constantly than this book is for you!
Everyone else I would suggest reading a summary or doing a bit of Google research and call it quits. What a slog. Secretariat isn't even introduced until chapter SEVEN! I was so close to putting this one down.
This might be one of those times where the movie is more engaging than the book, but I haven't seen it so I'm not sure.

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of fascinating information on racehorses, training, techniques, and bloodlines. Too much for me, perhaps. I felt it was a bit of an overload, e.g., I didn't need to know the groomsman's personal history, when what I was really interested in was Secretariat's career. However, it did help me understand, by the end of it all, why his feat and abilities were so impressive---so perhaps it needed the extremely long build-up. Still, I think it could have been cut down to a quarter of the size and still been quite impactful.

[Marnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the book that the popular Disney movie was based on. How anybody was inspired to create a movie from this particular book I have no idea. The book was very dry and boring.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book and one of my favorite non-fiction books.

I was eight years old when Secretariat won the Triple Crown. The impression he made on me has lasted a lifetime and motivated me to start a career in horse racing. I have visited Claiborne Farms in Paris, Kentucky, I've seen the stall where he lived, the paddock where he romped and paid my respects at his grave. For me he is and always will be the ultimate racehorse. I regret that I did not visit him when he was still alive. Appropriately, the day I learned of his death I was working at the track and I heard the news from the trainer I worked for.

I read this book years before the movie came out; but of course I had to see the movie as well. One thing that was very disappointing about the movie.........no mention of Riva Ridge?! Why? I don't think it would have taken anything away from Secretariat's story to mention that another Meadows owned/Lauren trained horse won two of the three triple crown races in 1972. Then again, when does Hollywood ever get anything right? Well, since I haven't gone to the theater to see a movie since "Secretariat" was released I can only say that my interest in Hollywood film is ......zero......zilch......nada......ignore it and hope it goes away.........Milos Forman, where are you?

This book isn't really meant for civilians, it is written for people who have lived the life. The information in this book is fascinating to us. The complaints I read in the bad reviews reflect more on the reader than on this book. People who have no interest in the details of horse racing, people who wanted a book about humans instead of horses........why did they even pick it up in the first place? I don't read books about the NFL and bitch about how boring they were.........I already know that football bores me, so I avoid it. This is another reason why I prefer equines to humans......horses don't suck!

I rated this book with 5 stars, but as far as I'm concerned, it goes all the way to 11.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful read. What a wonderful horse. What wonderful memories come flooding back of watching him run in the Triple Crown. It is so very nice to see the behind-the-scenes story.

I had to laugh at the thought of the horse raking after watching one of the grooms raking. It made me laugh out loud.

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

To much family tree stuff.

[Michele A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book a little slow reading in the beginning

[Rick Reitzug · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know much about horse racing and have wanted to read a book for some time that provides insight into the practices and culture of the horse racing world while also telling a good story. Secretariat more than filled the bill for both of these goals. While the early chapters drag a bit because the author goes into great detail about Secretariat's and other famous race horses genealogy, once you get past these chapters (I skimmed them) the book really gets cooking. I have a much better understanding of the basics of the horse racing world now and a true appreciation for the magnificent race horse, Secretariat. The book has made me eager to visit the Kentucky Horse Park, Churchill Downs Museum, etc. and I will be watching the Kentucky Derby and other horse races with much more interest in the future.

[19EnsorN · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to those who are interested in the horse racing industry. Whilst this book is interesting, full of facts and inside knowledge some may struggle to get into this book as I found it repetitive and too many facts than an actual story. Those who enjoy reading facts with a hint of a story line would enjoy this book whilst others like me may not. The book is about the 1973 triple creosote winner Secretariat, a racehorse with and interesting background. I would recommend readers would be over 14 as it can be hard to get through and some words and sentences are complex and long.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decide to read this (for the first time) prior to watching again the movie in which I enjoy the performances of
Diane Lane, John Malkovich, and Margo Martindale. Of course there are differences and I find such differences interesting. The tale of pre-Triple Crown abscess is much more detailed and interesting in the book. For instance, it comes across in the book it could have been handled earlier and had more ramifications. Also the book is much more detailed on the horse's heritage and birth. Finally, the story of the $190K per share "syndication" sales is much more detailed in the book and makes for interested reading, too.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t sure if I was going to finish this book as the beginning and the genealogy was Just. So. Boring. But after I got through that part the rest of the book was good, especially the descriptions of the races. This book wasn’t as easy to read as Seabiscuit, but a very thorough description of Secretariat and his accomplishments.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably a really good book, but it focused alot of races and what it takes to be In them. I thought it would be more about the horses themselves!

[Sophie Els · Rating 4 out of 5]

My god that boy was born to run. I love you Big Red. I love you horses!

[BarbaraW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have this thing about famous horse books. I’m in awe of their drive and success. This author does a very good job detailing the life of this famous thoroughbred, who is one of the greatest ever. My edition was from 2010 so you got even more interesting info to delve into. He takes you back several generations to show you how Secretariat was made into a champion. Wonderful story of Big Red.