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Caroline County-bred Secretariat, who won the Triple Crown in 1973, dominated the field in this year's Kentucky Derby. Sixteen of the 20 horses that ran May 5 at Churchill Downs are descended from Secretariat's three grandsons, A.P. Indy, Storm Cat and Gone West, according to Leeanne Meadows Ladin, co-author of Secretariat's Meadow: The Land, The Family, The Legend .
The surprise winner, I'll Have Another, is not a descendant of "Big Red," but the second-place finisher, Bodemeister, is related to A.P. Indy and Storm Cat. He was bred in Virginia, at Audley Farm in Berryville. As of our print deadline, the field for the May 19 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore had not been set, but it's likely that Bodemeister, Hansen (the white colt), Optimizer and Went the Day Well — among other Secretariat descendants — will be running.
Secretariat's time records at the Derby and the Belmont Stakes still hold today.
