Secretariat's exercise rider reflects on champion horse
The last time Charlie Davis saw Secretariat was through the blinds of his dorm room at Belmont Park. He couldn't bear to watch from any closer.
The horse he had exercised, along with Jim Gaffney, was loaded onto a van and was retired to stud. It marked the end of the 3-year-old colt's short racing career. It wasn't the way Davis wanted to remember him.
He and Gaffney had been with the Triple Crown winner for nearly two years. No one had ridden the horse as much as they had.
Davis, now 70, lives in Ocala. He works at Pennston Farm doing odd jobs and grading the track. He is too old to exercise horses any longer but is content to be around them.
On Saturday, a dozen 3-year-old colts will take to the same Belmont Stakes track like Secretariat did in 1973. They will try to make a little history for themselves, though none will likely succeed the way Secretariat did, Davis predicted wistfully.
Secretariat is one of only 11 thoroughbreds that has won each leg of the Triple Crown. That included the 1973 Belmont Stakes, which he won by an incomprehensible 31 lengths and in 2 minutes and 24 seconds - a time that still stands as the fastest ever on a 1 1/2-mile race on dirt.
In October, Disney will release a feature film about the horse many consider the greatest that ever lived. (To see the trailer, go to http://disney.go.com/Secretariat.)
When Davis spoke of the horse last week he smiled often and his eyes widened at the memories Secretariat could still evoke.
His hands grasped imaginary reins and the body that has succumbed to the stiffness of age became momentarily supple. He rocked his body as if again riding the horse and whispered lovingly as he did to the animal nearly 40 years ago.
"This is from my heart," he said, tapping his chest as if speaking of the horse was not to be taken lightly. "We didn't make Secretariat. Secretariat made us.
"He wasn't the 747, he wasn't the DC-10. He was the Concorde," he said. "(And) I wasn't the pilot. I was the co-pilot. I was just along for the ride."
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Davis' ride began long before he ever met Secretariat and watched him win 16 of his 21 races.
Davis was born in Orangeburg, S.C., the county seat of Orangeburg County. There were fewer than 6,500 people living in the county when Davis was born there. He was the oldest of 11 children.
His father was a farm hand and sharecropper. As a boy, Davis would help and try to make ends meet.
Davis is a small man and had to put in more effort as a boy to get work done. "But I was tough," he said. "If they asked me to do something I did it the way the big boys used to. If I didn't do it I wouldn't be where I am today."
He dropped out of school after the fifth grade. By then he had already been cutting classes to watch the farm's thoroughbreds train and to mimic the exercise riders. Until then, his only experience riding was atop his father's mule and quarter horse.
With the help of his father, he convinced the farm's owner, Eddie O'Brient, to allow him to work as an exercise boy and gallop horses around the track.
He fell often, but slowly got better with the help of the other riders. At about 15, Davis went to New Jersey to help one of the farm's trainers. He sent half his salary home to his parents and siblings, which left less than $50 a week for himself. Until then, Davis had never been more than 40 miles away from home, and then only to visit his grandmother.
As an exercise rider, he was out of bed by 5:30 a.m., but finished about four hours later. Sometimes he would do groom work to help out.
"I'd watch TV. I went to the races. I'd go to the city. I'd look at the tall buildings and thought, 'Oh my God, looky here,' " Davis recalled.
A few years later, Davis went to work for trainer Lucien Laurin at Holly Hill, S.C., where the trainer maintained a thoroughbred farm. The decision would be a turning point and solidify his place in horse racing history.
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That's because in 1971 Laurin went to work for Meadow Stable in Virginia. At that time, the stable was having financial problems. That changed when the farm produced Riva Ridge. Under Laurin's training, Riva Ridge went on to win the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes in 1972. Davis was also Riva Ridge's exercise rider.
That same year, Laurin was named the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Eclipse Award winner as North America's most outstanding trainer.
Laurin also went on to train Secretariat, voted the 1972 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, and the 1972 and 1973 American Horse of the Year. Laurin was the one who tapped Jim Gaffney and Davis to exercise Secretariat.
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The first time Davis saw the colt, he wasn't impressed.
"He was a big fat sucker," Davis said, laughing. "I mean, he was big. He wasn't in a hurry to do nothin'. He took his time. The quality was there, but he didn't show it until he wanted to."
By the time Secretariat entered the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Davis said he had no doubts his horse would win.
"Me and him had a bond with each other," he said.
When Davis would spend Friday and Saturday nights drinking and staying out late, the former exercise rider said it seemed like Secretariat would know it and give him an especially smooth and easy ride the next mornings. Davis said when Secretariat wasn't up to par, he would do the same for him.
Davis also considers himself lucky because being an exercise rider allowed him to avoid may of the consequences of segregation and discrimination that were prevalent during the era.
Davis said he never had any desire to be a jockey. His philosophy: "Don't bite off more than you can chew. Just let me be as I is."
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Although Secretariat's racing career ended, Davis continued working as an exercise rider.
From 1975 until 1981 Davis continued to gallop horses until a horse threw him, leaving him with an injured back and ending his exercising career.
Davis has been married for 46 years and has nine children - none working in the horse business. One of Davis' great pleasures now is to spend time with young exercise riders and shoot the breeze about the profession they once shared.
There hasn't been a Triple Crown winner since 1978 with Affirmed. Davis thinks the industry isn't necessarily breeding weaker horses; it just races them too early and too often. He said his last hope of a great horse like Secretariat and a new Triple Crown winner was with Barbaro in 2006. But after winning the Kentucky Derby, Barbaro broke his leg in the Preakness Stakes. Due to complications from the break, he was euthanized less than a year later.
Secretariat's last race was the Canadian International Stakes, which he won by an impressive 6 1/2 lengths.
Meadow Farm had entered into a syndication deal with investors that didn't allow Secretariat to race beyond 3 years old. He was required to go to stud.
Davis wanted him to race another year, but "it's about money" he said of the investors who bought into Secretariat's stud career.
He never saw Secretariat at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., where the horse he helped train lived. He didn't want to see the horse anywhere except on a track, he said.
In the fall of 1989, Secretariat got laminitis, which is a painful and often incurable hoof disease. He didn't improve and was euthanized on Oct. 4 of that year at the age of 19.
When he heard the news of the horse's death, Davis' reaction was: "I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it."
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Davis said he will continue working as long as he's physically able. His mind drifts sometimes, often to thoughts of the horse that he says was the best the world has ever seen. When he rides his farm's tractor or watches young exercise riders, his mind goes back to Secretariat and the feeling of galloping, which Davis said could only be compared to flying.
And how does Davis want to be remembered?
Davis said he'd like people to say, "I knew a guy that galloped Secretariat."
"That," he said, "is good enough for me."
Contact Fred Hiers at fred.hiers@gmail.com or 352-397-5914.
Born on March 30, 1970, The Meadow, Doswell, Va. Died on Oct. 4, 1989, Claiborne Farm, Paris, Ky. Raced for two years; took 21 titles (including the 1973 Triple Crown). Disney feature film “Secretariat” is scheduled for release in October. It stars Diane Lane and John Malkovich. The Belmont Stakes Saturday, Belmont Park, Elmont, N.Y. 142nd running $1 million purse Dirt track; 1½-mile race Post time: 6:32 p.m TV coverage: Noon to 5 p.m., ESPN; 5 to 7 p.m., ABC