Jim Gaffney
Secretariat Exercise Rider and Memorabilia Visionary
"I had been on racehorses almost all of my adult life when I stepped up on Secretariat the first time in April 1972. I had this big red machine under me and from that very first day I knew he had a power of strength that I have never felt from a 2-year-old horse before."
As a valued exercise rider for the heralded Meadow Stable, Jim Gaffney was an integral part of the day-to-day activities of Secretariat in 1972-1973 during the crucial and formative time early in the future champion's racing career.
Gaffney is featured in the classic photo-essay book by Raymond Woolfe, “SECRETARIAT,” published in 1974, and his experiences with Secretariat are chronicled in journalist William Nack’s book, “Secretariat, The Making of a Champion,” first published in 1975, as well as in the author's Sports Illustrated article, “Pure Heart” published in 1990 following Secretariat’s death.
In Gaffney's Own Words
Jim Gaffney was impressed with Secretariat from day one, and he was quick to share his enthusiasm with others. In Gaffney's own words:
"In the early morning of April 30th, 1972, at Belmont Park, Elmont, New York, the stable foreman Henny Hoeffner told me to put my tack on the horse in stall #7 in barn #5.
I took one look at him and he was just magnificent, a big beautiful chestnut, the most powerful looking horse that I had ever seen in my 22 years of riding racehorses. His name was Secretariat.
It would be 65 days until his first race. He had been laid up with a pulled muscle in his back after ducking away from jockey Paul Feliciano two weeks earlier.
I had been on racehorses almost all of my adult life when I stepped up on Secretariat the first time. I had this big red machine under me and from that very first day I knew he had a power of strength that I have never felt from a 2-year-old horse before.
I could tell by the way he galloped, his movement, his awesome power that he had everything going for him.…he was just so good looking that people would stop and just look at him.
Jockey Robyn Smith walked back from a workout with me one day and she just stared at him all the way and kept saying that she had never seen such a good looking horse in her life. Outrider Jim Dailey would always meet me at the back side at Belmont after pulling up and walk back to the gap with me just looking and marveling at Secretariat all the while.
I had been telling Lucien Laurin, Penny Tweedy, and others that I believed this horse was going to be a real nice horse. I called my mother in Florida and told her about him; she knitted me a pommel pad cushion for under my saddle with the name ‘Secretariat’ stitched on it.
I also told Bill Nack, who was around the barn at that time doing stories on Riva Ridge, to start taking notes on the horse in stall number 7.
Bill Nack went on to win seven Eclipse awards for writing and one of them was for his story on Secretariat called “Pure Heart. Bill also wrote the book “Secretariat: The Making of a Champion.”
Charles Hatton, a reporter for the Daily Racing Form, would come to the barn daily and just stand in front of Secretariat’s stall and look at him. Bill Nack wrote in his book that Hatton had seen thousands of horses in his life, thousands of two-year-olds and suddenly found perfection in this 106-carat diamond that was Secretariat. Hatton had marveled, "It was like seeing a bunch of gravel and there was the Kohinoor lying in there. It was so unexpected. I never saw a horse look like that...I never saw perfection before. I absolutely could not fault him in any way."
On May 14th, 1972, Secretariat’s trainer Lucien Laurin told me to let Secretariat run a quarter of a mile on Belmont’s main track. I told him "He will be running," and he said, "Well, let him." Secretariat ran the quarter in an astonishing 21 seconds, and Mr. Laurin saw what I had been saying all along of this horse’s extraordinary ability — that I believe this is the kind of horse that all horsemen dream of."
Secretariat, with Jim Gaffney aboard, and trainer Lucien Laurin after a morning gallop early in the colt's career.
Introducing Secretariat to Bill Nack
In Bill Nack's poignant Sports Illustrated article, “Pure Heart” published in 1990 following Secretariat’s death, the author recounted his introduction to the extraordinary colt:
It was July 4, 1972, and I was sitting in the press box at Aqueduct with Clem Florio, a former prizefighter turned Baltimore handicapper, when I glanced at the Daily Racing Form's past performances for the second race, a 5 ½-furlong buzz for maiden 2-year-olds. As I scanned the pedigrees, three names leaped out: By Bold Ruler-Somethingroyal, by Princequillo. Bold Ruler was the nation's preeminent sire, and Somethingroyal was the dam of several stakes winners, including the fleet Sir Gaylord. It was a match of royalty. Even the baby's name seemed faintly familiar: Secretariat. Where had I heard it before? But of course! Lucien Laurin was training the colt at Belmont Park for Penny Chenery Tweedy's Meadow Stable, making Secretariat a stablemate of that year's Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, Riva Ridge.
I had seen Secretariat just a week before. I had been at the Meadow Stable barn one morning, checking on Riva, when exercise rider Jimmy Gaffney took me aside and said: ''You wanna see the best-lookin' 2-year-old you've ever seen?''
We padded up the shed to the colt's stall. Gaffney stepped inside. ''What do you think?'' he asked. The horse looked magnificent, to be sure, a bright red chestnut with three white feet and a tapered white marking down his face. ''He's gettin' ready,'' Gaffney said. ''Don't forget the name: Secretariat. He can run.'' And then, conspiratorially, Gaffney whispered: ''Don't quote me, but this horse will make them all forget Riva Ridge.’'
Predicting a Legend, Preserving a Legacy
Along with his efforts in the success of champions Secretariat and Riva Ridge and the recognition from his Meadow Stable peers, Gaffney’s contributions to the sport are invaluable. A memorabilia visionary of sorts, Gaffney realized early in Secretariat’s career, even prior to the colt's first start, that any artifact connected with budding superstar might someday be of historic value.
Secretariat Race-Worn Garden State Shoe
Working in concert with groom Eddie Sweat and regular farrier George Collins when Secretariat was re-shod, Gaffney began acquiring the future Triple Crown champion’s cast-off horseshoes and their respective nails, developing a retrieval ritual of sorts, that included meticulously documenting each individual piece and its collection date.
"I was so intrigued with Secretariat that I started collecting the shoes when George Collins, Secretariat’s blacksmith, would put new shoes on him," said Gaffney. "I was usually the one that would hold him and I would keep the shoes (that are normally thrown away) and nails as I knew someday this horse would be famous and that they will be of value. I had 40 shoes at one time and over the years have had the pleasure of giving them to friends and also to people that were his fans. President Richard M. Nixon sent me a personal letter of thanks for his framed shoe that Secretariat wore in the Garden State Stakes and had it hanging behind his bar at his home in Key Biscayne, Florida."
Gaffney’s collection efforts were first recognized in a June 1974 feature story by Washington Post columnist Gerald Strine who wrote that of all the Secretariat memorabilia being sold during that Belmont Stakes week, “none is more interesting than the shoes in Jimmy Gaffney’s closet… He is a man who knows a good thing when he sees one, months in advance.”
"I was so intrigued with Secretariat that I started collecting the shoes when [blacksmith] George Collins would put new shoes on him... I knew someday this horse would be famous."
The aforementioned photographer Ray Woolfe referenced Gaffney’s unofficial role as Meadow stable historian in an inscription of his book gifted to the exercise rider, "To my buddy Jimmy - the keeper of the shoes - Raymie Woolfe.”
And Gaffney is one of the primary reasons that original Secretariat artifacts have since been displayed in several public institutions, including the National Museum of Racing, Kentucky Derby Museum and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, as well as a number of private collections.
In November 2017, a singular original race-worn 1973 Belmont Stakes horseshoe nail from Gaffney's collection sold at public auction for the world record price of $28,557.
More of Gaffney's memorabilia and favorite pieces can be viewed in the Jim Gaffney Collection
Just as Gaffney recognized that Secretariat was special months before the horse even raced, he also knew that the 1973 Triple Crown champion's impact would far outlast his racing career. Gaffney was proud to attend the ribbon-cutting dedication of the Secretariat bronze monument by sculptor Edwin Bogucki located at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington and later recalled:
"On April 8th, 2006 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, a monument was erected and dedicated to the immortal Secretariat across the way from the great Man o’ War at the main entrance to the horse park. There the Thoroughbred legend’s statue will stay for generations to come, and people from all walks of life will continue to celebrate the legacy of Secretariat’s achievements."
April 6, 2006 Secretariat Bronze Dedication Ceremony at the Kentucky Horse Park
"I was just one of the spokes of the wheel that had helped Secretariat on his path to greatness and immortality. I feel honored and proud to have been a small part of his life and miss him dearly. I guess animals have a way of growing on you and he certainly did with me and will always have a place in my heart."