For most of 2020 there was some small comfort for Secretariat fans knowing there were still four known living, breathing sons and daughters of the Triple Crown winner still with us. It wasn’t until mid-December that we finally said goodbye to one of them. Strider was the youngest of the ‘final four’, and just a couple of weeks away from his official 31st birthday.
His registered name was Secret Of The Sea, and he was one of the last foals born in Secretariat’s final crop in 1990 – his arrival on May 1 that year was followed by just eight more. Bred by Darley Stud out of a Lyphard mare, he seemed destined to find success on the turf course, but nagging setbacks throughout his career precluded a start on that surface. Instead, he retired with one win in just nine starts; three each at ages three, four and five.
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Secret Of The Sea’s story
Click here to read Patricia McQueen’s first article on ‘Strider’
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In his second start for Darley, he was claimed by trainer Clint Goodrich, who would co-own the gelding during the rest of his racing days with various partners. In retirement, Secret Of The Sea stayed with Goodrich and wife Caren when they retired from racetrack life and worked their way west, living in Montana and then Colorado.
It was in Colorado where fate brought Secretariat’s son to the home of Scott and Linda Riba in 2011.
With friends, Linda had made her first pilgrimage to see the Triple Crown winner in 1976, never dreaming that she would own one of his precious last foals 35 years later. When the Goodriches felt Secret Of The Sea needed a better, more permanent home, they found the Ribas purely by accident. “It really was a dream come true,” Linda would say over and over again of her good fortune.
And she gave Strider – her name for him based on a character in the J.R.R. Tolkien series Lord of the Rings – nine more wonderful years, and the best gift of all when it was time to say goodbye. Last fall, the gelding developed Cushing’s syndrome – a common ailment in older horses and typically manageable absent any other problems. Then those other problems unfolded in rapid succession.
Often prone to abscesses in his feet, Strider developed a massive one in his left front foot that wasn’t responding to treatment. That was his good front foot, as the hoof on his right front was starting to split; an old injury there meant there was always potential for weakness.
Then the horse Riba lovingly referred to as a ‘crash magnet’ clobbered his own right hind foot one day while getting up from a short rest. The last straw was when he tripped going into his stall, putting a big gouge into his left hind foot.
Any of those things individually might be recoverable, but at that point he didn’t have a sound leg to stand on. There was the very real possibility of laminitis quickly developing, and he was already in a lot of pain. Coupled with more manifestations of Cushing’s, and there was no way out.
So on December 12, a miserable blizzard-like day, Strider was relieved of his burdens. As hard as it was, Riba knew it was the right thing to do. “As Gretchen Jackson said when she let go of Barbaro, ‘Grief is the price we all pay for love.’”
Strider gave the sign
The next day dawned sunny and beautiful, and the gelding was buried next to four others from the past Riba herd; with his halter on, complete with nameplate. “I wanted them to know who he is when he gets there,” explained Riba.
As the task at hand was nearing completion, she looked for a sign from Strider that he was on his way. And lo and behold, she found it, down in the dirt that came up from the digging – a very large, very old rusty horseshoe. “I knew it didn’t come from any of our horses, so I’m convinced he was sending me a sign,” one which she would treasure forever.
Along with her memories, of course. And there are wonderful memories. As recently as last summer, the 30-year-old gelding got all hot and bothered when a new mare on the farm – a gray Quarter Horse named Cnotes Large Bourbon – came into season. “He was squealing like he was a young stallion,” said Riba, laughing. But otherwise the two horses became great buddies. “I enjoyed watching him with his girlfriend; he had a very happy summer.”
The Ribas celebrated Strider’s 30th birthday last spring with a small party among friends, including Debbie Robertson, who had accompanied Linda on that first trip to see Secretariat in 1976.
There was a cake, of course, but for Strider it was all about the carrots. He loved his carrots!
And Riba loved his enthusiasm for running when he first arrived on the farm. She or Scott would pony him around a field with another horse to make sure he’d get enough exercise. “Every time he acted like he was looking for the racetrack. He’d get all huffed up and was a different horse. It was like he was having a flashback and was ready to be a racehorse again.”
She’ll never forget his more recent visits with a chiropractor. “She would hit a certain pressure point and his eyes would close and he’d get a look on his face that said ‘that feels so good’,” recalled Riba. For part of the treatment, he’d lean into the chiropractor and the two would sway back and forth like they were engaged in a mystical dance. “He just loved her.”
Until early November, she thought the old boy would not only make it through the winter, but as the youngest of the group could even end up being the last Secretariat standing. That’s when things went downhill quickly, as they often do towards the end.
So instead, Riba simply reflects on her good fortune. “I have so many blessings to be thankful for, and having been entrusted with his care for that nine years was a horse-crazy girl’s dream come true. He was a splendid fellow.”