Ron Turcotte Biography

Ronald Joseph Morel Turcotte, born on July 22, 1941, was a Canadian thoroughbred jockey best known for riding Secretariat to victory in the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973. He began his career in Toronto in 1960 as a hot walker for E. P. Taylor's Windfields Farm before transitioning to riding and winning races. Turcotte was recognized as North America's leading stakes-winning jockey in both 1972 and 1973. He became the first jockey since 1902 to win back-to-back Kentucky Derbies and the first to win five of six consecutive Triple Crown races, a record matched in 2015. He received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, which honors excellence in both career and personal conduct within thoroughbred racing. His racing career concluded on July 13, 1978, after a fall from his horse Flag of Leyte Gulf during the eighth race at Belmont Park. A National Film Board of Canada documentary titled Secretariat's Jockey, Ron Turcotte, directed by Phil Comeau, premiered in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 2013.