A new 2019 calendar has just been issued featuring the last living sons and daughters of legendary 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat. The first calendar in this series, released last winter for 2018, raised more than $4,600 for the equine industry groups it benefits despite the late December launch.
“We were very happy with the support we received for the 2018 calendar, even though it was truly a last-minute idea,” said writer-photographer Patricia McQueen, who created the calendar as a fundraiser and to share these special horses with Secretariat fans everywhere. “By launching the 2019 calendar in the more timely month of October, we hope to reach even more people this year, and as a result raise even more funds.”
The new calendar spans 15 months, from January 2019 through March 2020. Featured on the cover is stakes winner Fast Market, now the oldest known living offspring of Secretariat at age 32. As a racehorse, he made more starts (144) than any other Secretariat. The other five living sons and daughters included in the calendar are:
- Torbay (31), a full brother to two-time Pacific Classic winner Tinners Way.
- Ball Chairman (30), the dam of G1 winner Perfect Soul. She did not appear in the 2018 calendar.
- Stakes-placed Border Run (30), a full brother to Terlingua and Pancho Villa.
- The last-crop Secretariat’s Fire (28), who is the last Secretariat mare to produce a foal.
- Secret Of The Sea (28), one of the final Secretariat foals born in the spring of 1990.
Albany’s Secret is also included; she passed away in August but was a happy and healthy 30-year-old until the day she died.
“Sadly, we have lost four of our living legends this year,” said McQueen, noting the additional losses of Innkeeper, Time Alert and General Poppy (just a week before his actual 35th birthday last April). “Unfortunately it’s what we have to expect with these old horses; we just enjoy them while we can. On a personal note, they have provided me with a lifetime of memories, and, despite the tears when they leave us, I am better for knowing them.”
The Living Legends Class of 2019 also includes two very special elderly grandsons of Secretariat: 29-year-old Horse of the Year and sire phenomenon A.P. Indy, and 26-year-old Istabraq, a legend over the hurdles in the UK and his native Ireland. “These two grandsons are each very deserving of the term ‘living legend’ and I am honored to include them.”
There is one more special horse featured – Secretariat himself. Thanks to the generosity of the Tony Leonard Collection, a photo of the Triple Crown winner by the late, great photographer appears in the 2019 calendar.
All profits from the sale of the calendar are allocated to three worthy organizations, each of which has been a caretaker of one of the last known Secretariats. They are Bright Futures Farm, an equine rescue and sanctuary accredited by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance; Victory Alliance Ranch, an equine rescue and sanctuary supporting veterans and special needs children; and Virginia Tech’s MARE Center.
“These and similar organizations work so hard for the welfare of all horses, and this is my way of giving a little back,” said McQueen. “I’d also like to thank the industry media for helping us in our mission by spreading the word.”
Although the publicity for the 2018 calendar only produced one more living daughter of Secretariat (Ball Chairman), McQueen hopes there might still be others out there and asks anyone knowing of such a horse to reach out to her.
The calendars, which will start shipping immediately, are available for $25 each at SecretariatsLegacy.com
Media contact: Patricia McQueen, (508) 788-1367.