LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On the 50th anniversary of Secretariat’s Triple Crown win, a larger-than-life bronze statue is on display at Churchill Downs.
Fifty years after racing into history, Secretariat has returned to the Bluegrass State, charging into Louisville for the 149th Kentucky Derby. Its thousand-mile journey is over four years in the making.
It’s the second bronze casting of a massive statue sculpted by renowned wildlife artist Jocelyn Russell. Russell was greeted by Louisville friends ahead of an already memorable Derby Week.
“So we are invited to all three of the races. We will be in a prominent location for all to see as they come into the races,” Russell told Spectrum News 1.
Secretariat and jockey Ron Turcotte will be on full display near the main entrance of Churchill Downs. On Sunday, Russell and her statue were guests of honor and grand marshals of the Kentucky Derby Festival Pegasus Parade.
Russell and her metal-artist husband Michael Dubail are taking Secretariat on a Triple Crown tour before it is permanently installed in Ashland, Va., the champion’s birthplace.
“Secretariat Racing into History,” will be honored at the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes this year.
If you get a chance to see it, you’ll notice the saddle cloth on the statue reads “Number 2,” the number worn during the Belmont.
“It really has turned into ‘Secretariat,’ the last five years of my life, which has been really wonderful. Anytime I talk to someone about Secretariat, they are all about it,” Russell said.
Russell designed, sculpted and completed the demanding bronze statue in 2019. The first casting of the 2,800-pound statue is installed near Lexington on Old Frankfort Pike Road. A third casting is expected to be installed in Paris, Ky., to commemorate Secretariat’s retirement at Claiborne Farm.