Secretariat's Cool Down Blanket, ca. 1973
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GUEST:
A few years before Secretariat won the Triple Crown, we met Penny, her own, his owner, at Saratoga. As my fortune would have it, as an 18-year-old, I answered fan mail for him. Anything that came that was too much for the New York office to handle, they sent up to Saratoga at the big mansion, and I worked in the mansion, answering fan mail by hand.
APPRAISER:
Secretariat's fan mail?
GUEST:
Secretariat's fan mail. This was given to Penny after he won the Triple Crown, Secretariat won the Triple Crown. And those are her colors over there.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
Those are her silks, Secretariat's name is down here.
APPRAISER:
It says "Roots" in the bottom corner. Significance of that?
GUEST:
Um, I believe it's the maker of the blanket.
APPRAISER:
I, I... I think you're 100% right-- so you mentioned the Triple Crown races, which consists of the...
GUEST:
Kentucky Derby.
APPRAISER:
Kentucky Derby. Preakness, and Belmont, right.
GUEST:
Preakness, and Belmont Stakes.
APPRAISER:
And he won all three of those in 1973.
GUEST:
And she also became very good friends with my whole family, especially my mother. When our mother was in the nursing home, a few months before, unfortunately, she passed, Penny sent her this in the mail. Ju, a gift. So she knew that my mother and the rest of us family would enjoy it.
APPRAISER:
You were super-fortunate to happen to meet Penny Tweedy the way you did.
GUEST:
Extremely.
APPRAISER:
And there's a picture here in Saratoga.
GUEST:
That's my sis, little sister Simone. My mother, our mother. There's me in the red dress, and next to me is Penny Tweedy, in the green dress.
APPRAISER:
And she owned Secretariat. When we talk about Secretariat, people say, "Oh, he's a great race horse," but horses are athletes.
GUEST:
Yes, they are.
APPRAISER:
They're, they're probably the greatest athletes around.
GUEST:
Yep.
APPRAISER:
And when you look at Secretariat, especially, Secretariat only had a 16-month career. Ran in 21 races...
GUEST:
Yep.
APPRAISER:
...and was first, second, or third in 20 of those races. He only finished out of the money on his maiden race.
GUEST:
Yup.
APPRAISER:
It's a wonderful piece of horse race history. And, and you're talking about a horse that was ranked number two in the 100 greatest horses of the past century. Man o'War was one, Secretariat two. In the Triple Crown races, Secretariat broke all the track records.
GUEST:
Oh, yes, he did.
APPRAISER:
And if you remember the Belmont Stakes, an incredible win at 31 lengths.
GUEST:
I was there.
APPRAISER:
So to me, Secretariat's the Babe Ruth of horse racing, as far as I'm concerned.
GUEST:
Oh, extremely.
APPRAISER:
It's the greatest horse I've ever seen run, and I don't think I'll ever see anyone as great.
GUEST:
Me, too.
APPRAISER:
It's a cool down blanket.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Which they would put on the horse after the race.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And if you notice the white line across the middle, that's basically the center point where...
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
...they would drape it over...
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
...Secretariat's back. I'm not quite sure if they ever really put it on the horse, 'cause it looks quite fresh. But again, Secretariat's career was quite short. Conservatively, I would probably tell you to insure it for $15,000. If I was doing an auction estimate on a, on a blanket, and I was sure that Secretariat had it on him at one point or another, I would have estimated probably $15,000 to $25,000. Maybe even $20,000 to $30,000, because Secretariat memorabilia, when it sells, sells for an enormous amount of money. Horseshoes themselves go for thousands of dollars.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness.
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