Racing Over Adversity: Meeting Ron Turcotte
Ron Turcotte is the heroic French-Canadian racing jokey who won the triple crown of racing in 1973, with the super champion horse Secretariat.
Ron Turcotte’s life in retirement was caused by a debilitating injury when preparing for another ride at the Belmont Stakes, in New York. Five years after his amazing triumph riding Secretariat, a racing accident in 1978, left Turcotte paralyzed from the waist down. Ever since his rehabilitation, he has demonstrated determination to be a role model for others through his travels and motivatioal speeches. Mr. Turcotte is a popular legend in his home town of Grand Falls, in New Brunswick, Canada and admired for sharing his inspiring story to others, described in Bill Heller’s biography, “The Will To Win”, in social media and documentary film.
I have had the honor to report about Ron Turcotte in my essay published in Goose River Press and again in this blog, titled “Racing Over Adversity: Meeting Ron Turcotte”.
Check Ron Turcotte’s social media page at this site here.
Racing Over Adversity: Meeting Ron Turcotte
I’m not an autograph collector, but the signature I own from Ron Turcotte is a particular treasure.
Turcotte is a horse racing Triple Crown hero who exceeded my expectations after we met, because he exposed a life beyond the dream of winning equestrian victories.
Turcotte is rare among an elite group of racing champions. He won back to back races at the Kentucky Derby in 1972 and 1973. Then, in 1973, riding Secretariat, he made horse racing history by winning the Triple Crown.
Turcotte and Secretariat were an impressive racing duo. Together, they won the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, the Preakness at Pimlico, in Baltimore Maryland and the Belmont Stakes in New York during the same year. It’s an extraordinarily difficult feat for one horse and jockey to win all three races.
Some sports writers called Secretariat “the super horse of the 19th century”, because of his ability to sustain his strength through the end of his winning races
Being a world famous jockey is heroic enough, but Turcotte became a champion after acquiring a disability in 1978, the result of an accident at the Belmont. Since then, he’s been a paraplegic, meaning the injury caused him to loose mobility in his legs. His heroism shines in the quietly professional way he expresses a profound appreciation for his life after acquiring a disability. Moreover, he’s become a motivational speaker for disabled jockeys and a role model of for all who overcome physical challenges.
My meeting with Turcotte followed more than decade writing about him as a news reporter for Maine’s French-Canadian and Franco-American cultures (about 33 percent of the state’s population shares these ancestries). He was born on July 21, 1941, one of eleven siblings. He grew up in a close knit French speaking family, in Drummond, New Brunswick, Canada. His father worked in the Northern woods as a logger. Turcotte left school after finishing the 8th grade to work with his father in logging, but his small size kept him out of the rugged side of the job. Instead, his job as a teenager was caring for the logging camp’s horses. Although he was too small for forestry work, his physical attributes made him a perfect fit for horse racing.
Eventually, Turcotte learned to work with race horses, which clearly lead him to become a jockey. In one interview I had with him, he acknowledged his “horse whisperer” talent for treating horses with gentle tactics and speech.
Computer search engines typically find my name when people start looking for the Triple Crown winners of horse racing. My byline pops up around the first Tuesday in May, when Kentucky Derby followers look for past winners. Turcotte is one of 13 jockeys since 1919, to win the Triple Crown.
Turcotte rode in 20,281 races in his career, beginning in 1961. By the premature end of his career in 1978, he won first place in 3, 021 races (including riding Riva Ridge in the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes). He placed 2nd in 2, 897 and showed third in 2, 559, with a total recorded $29,606.205 winnings in his career.
Numerous accolades and honors are included in his resume. He is an esteemed member of several Halls of Fame, including The Canadian All Sports Hall of Fame. Sculptor Edwin Bogucki created a statue at Churchill Downs featuring Turcotte, riding Secretariat immediately after the Kentucky Derby on May 5, 1973, as he danced into the winner’s circle, led by his groom Eddie Sweat.
Mr. Turcotte is a guest of the Kentucky Derby every year.
Queries about how to find Turcotte come from sports magazines, television anchors, curious readers and children. An 11 year old 6th grader from Upstate New York asked her grandmother to call me about how she might contact Ron Turcotte? In her case, she wanted to ask Turcotte how to find the jockey clothing like he wore in 1973, when he rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown victory. She wanted to role play his winning story to her school class.
Responding to her request, Turcotte went beyond speaking with this young fan on the phone. He even took time to write a short autobiography called “My Personal Story”, so she could read it during show and tell, while wearing the racing attire.
He wrote to her about his faith in God and the “ups and downs” of his racing career. “I had some great wins and some disappointments, but through it all, I have always tried to give it my best,” he writes.
Furthermore, he writes, “I had a chance to ride some top horses and win some major stakes, but 1972, and 1973, were, of course, the highlights. Riding Riva Ridge and Secretariat gave me the biggest thrills, winning two consecutive Derbies, which had not been done in 71 years. Then, of course, the honor of winning the Triple Crown.”
“Although I had a racing spill in 1978, that put an end to that part of my life, I am now a paraplegic, confined to a wheel chair. But, I don’t consider my life to be over by any means. I was lucky to have the full support of my family and was able to come back to Canada and lead a rich, fulfilling life with my wife and four daughters. My wife, who comes from Drummond, New Brunswick, where I grew up, shares the same principles we instilled in our children and that our parents taught to us. We believe life is not always easy, but it is what you make of it. (Moreover)…my injury gave me the chance to really enjoy more time with my family and to spend precious time with my parents,” he writes.
My personal meeting with Turcotte was finally realized when he happened to be speaking in Waterville, Maine, at a venue called The Muskie Center. A group of Senior
Spectrum community members asked if he would speak at a fund raising event. At the time, his cousin was driving him north to his home in New Brunswick, so he agreed to stop overnight, for the opportunity to speak.
Many of the adults brought their grandchildren to hear Turcotte speak. These children seated themselves cross legged on the floor, forming an arc around the base of his wheel chair. A standing room only crowd filled the room and lined up along the walls.
Initially, I thought meeting Turcotte would allow me to hear some interesting horse racing stories. Maybe I’d even get an autograph. After more than a decade of periodically speaking with him on the phone while covering his biography as a French-Canadian son of a lumber jack who became an icon of the French-Canadian sports culture, I assumed there was little else to learn about his many accomplishments.
But, I was wrong.
On first impression, he appears shy, but his capacity to charm quickly infected the room. His smile beamed through a calm demeanor. You get the sense of how he must have had a calming effect on high strung racing horses.
Wearing a casual executive suit, he looked completely different than the real life jockey actor Otto Thorwarth, who played Turcotte in the popular Disney released movie “Secretariat”.
Turcotte showed videos of his horse racing victories. Having him personally explain the details of each individual Triple Crown win, while showing his videos riding Secretariat was nearly as exciting as being at the track. He explained what was going on with detailed descriptions of the race, like the events happened yesterday. He’s justifiably pleased to show the video of Secretariat’s Belmont win, the third leg of the Triple Crown. That’s the arduous race where he won, with Secretariat, by 45 lengths, a record that’s yet to be broken.
Spontaneous applause followed each video, especially when the audience saw Turcotte edging out other horses while appearing to fly toward the finish lines.
As the audience cheered each race, a jovial Turcotte seemed to take on the energy of where he was in the videos. He looked like he could let go of his wheel chair in a second, if someone just put him in the saddle of another race horse.
My brief meeting with Turcotte returned more than stories or a souvenir autograph. I gained an understanding about what makes Turcotte a hero. It’s a character trait he projects when speaking about the totality of his life, particularly his response to the adversity he experienced during his physical and career changing challenges.
An audience member in Waterville asked Turcotte how he felt about his life changing disabling injury. Turcotte gave a typically optimistic response:
“I don’t think of myself as being disabled,” he said. “I believe God has granted me the ability to live a wonderful life”. (Ron Turcotte in Waterville Maine)
Turcotte and his wife Gae live in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada. It’s a long way from almost anyplace you can name, but only a phone call away from his many fans. In fact, it’s been my experience that he and Gae answer all phone calls and email.
Secretariat and Turcotte visited together several times after he won the Triple Crown. Secretariat died at Claiborn Farms, in Paris, Kentucky, on October 4, 1989, after suffering from a treatable but incurable laminitis, an inflammation of the hoof.
Finishing his education was another milestone Turcotte accomplished in May, 1990, when he earned a high school diploma from Caribou High School, in Maine.
An authorized biography, currently out of print, about Turcotte’s life, with stories from his childhood in the logging camp and his career, was told to sports writer Bill Heller (with Ron Turcotte). “The Will to Win: Ron Turcotte’s Ride to Glory”, was published in 1992, by Fifth House Publishers, in Saskatchewan Canada. I’ve encourage a reprint of this inspiring memoir, especially since the movie “Secretariat” was so popular.
Turcotte’s faith in God inspired him to persevere through his “ups and downs”. Yet, beyond his personal story, he inspired those who met him in Waterville, Maine to think about optimistically about how people living with disabilities are able to be role models for all of us.
Turcotte’s victorious stories lifted the mood of his audience while he practically hypnotized the children with the personal accounts of his winning races.
Everyone there saw and heard a real hero.
Obviously, my Ron Turcotte autograph is now more than a souvenir.
It’s symbolic of how a determined human spirit can race over adversity.
Footnote: Secretariat was a tremendous race horse. The website www.twinspires.com reports, “Even with modern technology advanced training, expert trainers and advanced breeding techniques, no horse has ever even come close to Secretariat’s record.