And a horse named Secretariat emerged on the horizon as something to believe in. Even non-horseplayers gave their hopes and, later, their hearts, to the chestnut-colored colt named Secretariat and a 5-1, 110-pound Canadian-born jockey named Ron Turcotte. Together, they would make unique equine history and capture the nation’s psyche.

The Hall of Fame jockey swept the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, ending a quarter-century drought in horse racing’s Triple Crown.