By Sean CW Korsgaard
CP Reporter
Penny Chenery, who bred and raced 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat and put Caroline County back on the map of American horse racing, has died. She was 95.
Chenery’s death comes just a few weeks after a deal was finalized to better showcase the birthplace of Secretariat at what is now the Meadow Event Park.
Chenery died last Saturday in her Boulder, Colorado, home following complications from a stroke, according to her children. They announced her death Sunday through Leonard Lusky, her longtime friend and business partner, in an announcement made to the Associated Press.
Chenery developed a love of horses as a child and learned to ride at age 5. She attributed her affinity for horses to her father, Christopher Chenery, who founded Meadow Stable, a thoroughbred racing and breeding operation, right here in Caroline County, Virginia.
After spending 20 years raising a family in Colorado, she returned to Meadow Stable in 1968 when her father’s health and mind began failing and her mother died. His Meadow Stable, which had been profitable, began losing money. Her two siblings had planned to sell it when their father could no longer run the operation. Refusing to see that happen, she took over, and with the help of siblings Margaret Carmichael and Hollis Chenery, began to turn things around.
What would immortalize Chenery, the Meadow Stable, and Caroline County was a horse born early in the morning on March 30, 1970, a “lovely colt” that would be named Secretariat.
In 1973, Secretariat took the race track and the world by storm, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years, sweeping the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. He won the last leg by a whopping 31 lengths in one of the greatest performances in sports history. To this day, outlets like Sports Illustrated and ESPN still recognize Secretariat’s Triple Crown victory as one of the greatest feats in sports of the 20th Century.
Chenery would come to enjoy as much of a reputation as Secretariat in racing circles, known for her charm, quick wit, and representing her equine champions and her stable with poise, dignity and a keen business sense.
“The horse can’t talk, but I can,” she famously said.
Following Secretariat’s retirement, Chenery became an ambassador for thoroughbred racing and remained so after the colt’s death in 1989.
She served as the first female president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. She became one of the first women admitted to The Jockey Club and helped found the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.
In Caroline County, her legacy looms – Secretariat is a born and bred Caroline County icon, who returned the craddle of American horse-racing to the limelight, and the Meadow Event Park, which includes the orginal Meadow Farm, has come to be one of the gems of Caroline County, hosting events like the Virginia State Fair.
She is survived by her children from her marriage to Tweedy: Sarah Manning, Kate, Chris and John. Her other survivors are seven grandchildren and stepson Jon Ringquist.
Lusky said a public memorial was pending.
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