Secretariat's Son Who Should Have Won the Triple Crown – Risen Star

Kentucky's buyers wouldn't pay $250,000 for this son of Secretariat. Less than two years later, only his father had ever run the Belmont Stakes faster. In July 1986, a dark bay colt by Secretariat out of the mare Ribbon was led out of the Keeneland sales ring unsold after the bidding stopped at $210,000. Many breeders at the time saw Secretariat as a disappointment at stud. Then New Orleans horseman Louie Roussel III and car dealer Ronnie Lamarque bought the colt for $300,000 at a two-year-olds in training sale and named him Risen Star. This is the true story of the 1988 Triple Crown season. Risen Star won the Louisiana Derby and beat champion Forty Niner by a head in the Lexington Stakes. In the Kentucky Derby he was boxed in and forced six wide while Winning Colors set the pace. Then came the Preakness at Pimlico and a Belmont Stakes he won by 14¾ lengths in 2:26 2/5. We also cover the runaway gallop that left his right front ankle swollen two weeks before the Belmont, the five veterinarians brought in to decide whether he should run, and whether Secretariat's most accomplished son could carry the bloodline forward. Subscribe to Hoofed for more true stories from horse racing history. #Secretariat #RisenStar #HorseRacing