Champion Riva Ridge

[PerfectSoul]

Here is a video about a day in the life the great Riva Ridge and groom Eddie Sweat. It really gives you a sense of what a cool horse Riva was. I think he's a bit lost in racing history, thanks to being overshadowed by stablemate Secretariat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03_5-...eature=related

Born in 1969. By First Landing, out of Iberia (by Heliopolis)
Riva was an Eclipse Award winner at two.
Winner of the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. Hated the mud and ran poorly in the muddy Preakness.

Beaten by Secretariat in the 1978 inaugural Marlboro Cup. An exhausted Riva hung on for second.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huOmZH3G-Dc

In thirty lifetime starts Riva Ridge won 17 races, finished second three times and third once, with earnings of $1,111,497. Set numerous track records.

Riva Ridge was retired at the end of the 1973 racing season. He stood at stud at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky for his entire breeding career until he died at age 16 of a heart attack on April 21, 1985. He was elected to the Racing Hall of Fame in 1998.

He was most beloved by owner Peggy Chenery. And just so you know, it wasn't Secretariat that saved Chenery's stable, a bit of fiction perpetuated by the Disney movie "Secretariat." It was, indeed, Riva who saved the Chenery farm by bringing home the bacon in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes."I have the greatest admiration for Secretariat, but I love Riva Ridge,” Mrs. Chenery has been quoted as saying. In private, her nickname for Riva was Golden Boy.

More info, including a wonderful headshot of Riva with a groom and barn cat/
http://equineink.com/2010/10/08/it-w...aved-the-farm/

[halo]

Thats not exactly true. When Christopher Chenery died there was an enormous estate tax due of several million dollars. That was why Secretariat was syndicated when he was; otherwise he would have been syndicated at the end of his racing career, the way all other horses were.

[rivaridge]

who was it that said Riva Ridge savwd the farm?

[Secretariat Forever]

who was it that said Riva Ridge savwd the farm?

everyone? He did.

[halo]

He paid the bills for the farm at the time he was running, but he did not "save the farm" in the same way Secretariat did. Had they not syndicated Secretariat early, they indeed would have lost the farm to inheritance taxes.

[Allspice]

If I remember correctly (and granted, it's been a while since I've read 'Secretariat') there was pressure to sell the farm before Mr. Chenery died and Riva Ridge was the reason Penny Chenery was able to convince her family not to sell the farm outright (a "see, we can still breed excellent horses", type thing), so he did in fact save the farm.

Thank you for posting about him. Riva is one of my favorites. He was a great in his own right, one of those "if only it hadn't...he would have been a TC winner". In his case it was if only the track hadn't been sloppy in the Preakness.

[the Ol'Line Rebel]

everyone? He did.

I thought this was pretty common knowledge. Yes, they owed taxes, too, but without Riva pulling through earlier, the farm itself might've been on major lien - i.e., essentially taken from them.

But, it's interesting to see more details.

[Secretariat Forever]

get your free report



http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-ridge-feature

[afleetphil]

Riva. Underrated and under appreciated. He was a tremendous racehorse.

[ManoWar]

Riva Ridge was amazing, but no one remembers him.

[theruffian]

I remember Riva Ridge fondly. Canonero II pulled me into racing the year before, so Riva's career was one of the first that I followed. I have articles from the paper from his career. Back then, the Boston papers really covered racing. And Newsweek and Time magazines as well. It was great. Now there is barely a mention of racing anywhere.

Riva's loss to Bee Bee Bee in the Preakness was hard to take. Riva was a wonderful horse. I loved that he was not a glamour boy and seemed to be very sweet.

So sad when he died young at Claiborne.

[ManoWar]

How did Riva Ridge die?

[fortune_pending]

Derby Winner Riva Ridge Dies In Stable Associated Press

April 24, 1985
LEXINGTON, KY. — Riva Ridge, a two-time champion who lived in the shadow of a two-time Horse of the Year, dropped dead in his paddock shortly after a trip to the breeding shed, according to officials of Claiborne Farm.
The winner of the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes was 16. He was buried Sunday, a few hours after his death, in Claiborne's shaded stallion cemetery, just down the hill from the barn he shared with 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat.

[Flanders]

A book I have said he died from a heart attack on April 21, 1985.

[interco]

I still have the racing form from Riva Ridge's derby day. Eastern edition in mint condition.