Groundshaker, a great-great-granddaughter of Secretariat (Photo courtesy Meadow Event Park)
Meadow Event Park recently launched a fundraising campaign for the Secretariat Heritage Center, a nonprofit dedicated to the legendary racehorse.
Kate Chenery Tweedy, daughter of the late Penny Chenery, Secretariat’s owner, is leading the national campaign to raise $2.5 million for the project, which involves renovating the barns on Caroline County property and adding educational features.
“By 2020, we hope to have enough money to start repairs on some 80-year-old barns,” says Leeanne Ladin, Secretariat tourism manager and historian. “We also want to use some of the areas in the barns for more exhibits. We want to re-create some of the spaces to look like they did in Secretariat’s day.”
Plans also include adding a life-size statue of Secretariat and enhancing the Meadow Hall Mansion as a museum and conference center.
“Horses are a huge industry in Virginia,” Ladin says. “With this being the birthplace of Secretariat, there’s a conscious effort to pay attention to the equine heritage of this property. Even though it’s no longer a racehorse training facility, we definitely do a lot to maintain that legacy.”
Ladin adds that the park hopes to have the center open by 2023, the 50th anniversary of Secretariat breaking the track records at all three Triple Crown events: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. His records still stand.
