Canada's Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the 1973 Triple Crown, dead at 84

He won over 3,000 career races, but Ron Turcotte will forever be remembered for the three he registered aboard the legendary Secretariat 52 years ago.

Turcotte guided Secretariat to an emphatic American Triple Crown sweep in 1973. So dominant was that performance that Secretariat still holds the records he set that year in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.

Turcotte's family said through his longtime business partner Leonard Lusky that the jockey died of natural causes at his home in Drummond, N.B., on Friday. He was 84.

Secretariat capped the Triple Crown sweep in dramatic style, registering an emphatic 31-length victory in the Belmont. That performance, dubbed by many as one of the most dominant in sports history, made Secretariat and Turcotte the first American Triple Crown winners in 25 years.

That race also produced the iconic photo of Turcotte, in deep stretch, looking behind to see the remainder of the field well back.

"I only looked back for the other horses at the quarter pole and I couldn't see anything under my arm," Turcotte told The Canadian Press in 2023, the 50th anniversary of the historic win. "The picture you see of me looking in was when I was looking at the (infield teletimer) because we'd run the first mile and a quarter faster than we did when we won the Derby."

But Turcotte wasn't the lone Canadian tie to the majestic colt. Secretariat's trainer was the late Lucien Laurin, of Joliette, Que. And the night before the Belmont, Turcotte was brimming with confidence.

"Lucien and I went for dinner the night after (Secretariat's) last work," Turcotte said. "I told him, 'If I get beat in the Belmont, I'll hang up my tack.'

"That's how sure I was and how much confidence I had because of how he'd