Jim O'Donnell remembers the glorious June day nearly 50 years ago when the most charismatic thoroughbred champ of the TV age, Secretariat, came to Arlington Park.
IMAGINE TAYLOR SWIFT, DRAKE AND BEYONCE suddenly combining summer tours for a one-off at a Chicago-area sports venue in two weeks. The date was Saturday, June 30, 1973 -- 50 years ago Friday.
"Among the people meeting me was state trooper," Turcotte -- now 81 -- told The Daily Herald from his New Brunswick, Canada farm on Thursday. He told a young Neil Milbert of the Chicago Tribune:" wants a race. He's raising hell in his gallops and he almost threw Turcotte the other morning . I'd planned on giving him a rest after the Belmont but he won't have it."
"Actually, that summer, for a number of reasons, we were stabled in New Jersey," said Goldfine, now 70 and a resident of Palatine."We had an excellent 3-year-old named My Gallant, who ran ninth in the Derby behind Secretariat and third in the Belmont. Our Native was a very good 3-year-old in a very bad spring to be a 3-year-old chasing Secretariat. He was trained by the memorable Louisiana rogue Bill Resseguet.
Added brother Billy, all of age 7 that magical summer:"And what got us in was that second-place finish at 60-1 in the Pontiac Grand Prix. That day was wet at Arlington. Everyone said we had no shot in the Invitational. If it had rained that day, I think we had a shot."INSTEAD, THE HISTORIC SATURDAY was gorgeous. Electricity filled the Arlington air as 41,223 elbowed in.
Sitting in a reserved grandstand seat above the finish line, Rick Robertshaw of Hawthorn Woods thought he saw a new AP mark.
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