Secretariat sired 660+ horses. This woman is tracking them down. Here's how she finds them

Secretariat sired more than 660 progenies between 1975 and 1990.

That's an almost incomprehensible amount of children of which to keep track.

Over the past 50 years, journalist and author Patricia McQueen has become an expert on the topic. She has been tracking Secretariat's bloodline and its impact on the horseracing world for decades. Secretariat is arguably the greatest racehorse of all time. He set the record for the fastest run of the Kentucky Derby in 1973, which still holds today.

This month, she released a book called "Secretariat’s Legacy," which deep dives into some of his most successful offspring and highlights some of his last living daughters and sons. A little less than two months away from the 50th anniversary of his record-setting Kentucky Derby win, McQueen says of that 660-plus, there are only two known to be living today.

These survivors stayed largely out of the public eye following their unsuccessful racing careers. Trusted Company, a mare, is 34 years old and lives at Bright Futures Farm in Pennsylvania. Maritime Traveler was from Secretariat's final crop in 1990, and it was only last year that he emerged from his quiet life on a Florida farm.

The end of his offspring:A day with Secretariat's last known daughter, Trusted Company

McQueen says the more she wrote articles about "Secretariats," as she calls his progenies, the more links she found to his daughters and sons that were still alive. The Triple Crown winner's final crop was born in 1990 the year after he died. Secretariat's youngest surviving daughters and sons turned 33 this year — which is very old for a horse.

Could there be any other unknown Secretariats?

Maybe.

Here’s what to know about McQueen’s research and her search for the daughters and sons of Secretariat.

How long has McQueen been following Secretariat’s offspring?

McQueen started paying attention to Secretariat's offspring with the first crop of foals in 1975. She kept scrapbooks with clippings from his racing career and his early stud career. Once Secretariat died, she pivoted and began photographing as many of his last crop as possible.

McQueen has always had an interest in his descendants, she said, and she started thinking about writing a book in the early 2000s. Secretariat was an exceptional animal and that meant there were high expectations for his career as a sire.

Many of those fell short.

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"I always felt he was unfairly called a 'bad sire' and wanted to do something about it," McQueen said. "I really ramped up the research in the past dozen years."

What kind of research did McQueen do to find the 11 survivors she featured in her book?

It is extremely difficult to find horses that are in private hands, McQueen said. Larger farms where horses are used for breeding stock are much easier to follow.

"If a mare never had foals, and a stallion had no progeny, and for geldings [a castrated male horse], it's almost impossible (to find them) other than through word of mouth," McQueen said.

More often than not, people with ties to the Secretariats found her. She published an article about Innkeeper in 2016 on thoroughbredracing.com when the youngest Secretariats were already 26 years old. That story brought out a few more links to the iconic Triple Crown winner, including Fast Market, who was the last known stakes winner among Secretariat's progenies. Interest and contacts continued to bloom from there.

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How did McQueen stumble upon Trusted Company?

By mid-2018 McQueen thought she had found all the remaining Secretariats, so she was surprised when a woman, who worked in animal welfare in New Jersey, contacted her about some horses who needed to be rehomed. One of the horses in the herd, Trusted Company, was believed to be one of Secretariat's progeny. McQueen didn't really have any experience in retirement care for horses, but this person had found articles she had written about Secretariat's other offspring.

Through her work as a journalist, McQueen made a connection at Bright Futures Farms, a nonprofit sanctuary for elderly horses. She met the founder, Bev Dee, while was photographing Fast Market, and she liked how Dee cared for elderly horses no one else seemed to want. Together Dee and McQueen researched Trusted Company and verified her identity through foal photos accessed through the Jockey Club Registry. Trusted Company lived in a foster home until Dee had the space to bring her to Bright Futures in 2018.

How did McQueen learn about Maritime Traveler?

In the fall of 2022, a new, astute administrative assistant at Bridlewood Farm in Florida read a story McQueen had written about what were believed to be the final two living Secretariats at the time: Trusted Company, and Border Run, who died in late 2022.

The clerk knew of an old stallion on the property with a tie to Secretariat, and she reached out to McQueen, who previously photographed Maritime Traveler in 1993.

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Maritime Traveler had a pitiful racing career, and he'd been living at Bridlewood for years as a "tease," which is a horse who helps identify when mares are ready to breed.

McQueen published her story about finding Maritime Traveler on thoroughbredracing.com in February.

Does McQueen think there are any more Secretariat progenies out there?

McQueen says surprises like Trusted Company and Maritime Traveler are just "magical." She thought she'd discovered the last of the survivors as early as 2018, but Maritime Traveler didn't resurface until late last year.

"It's true that it's not 'impossible'" to find another one, McQueen said in March. "But it is highly unlikely. Age 33 is very, very old for a thoroughbred."

How do I find McQueen's book and articles about Secretariat's offspring?

McQueen’s book "Secretariat’s Legacy" is available online at secretariatslegacy.com. She also has several articles available online at thoroughbredracing.com.

Features columnist Maggie Menderski writes about what makes Louisville, Southern Indiana and Kentucky unique, wonderful, and occasionally, a little weird. If you've got something in your family, your town or even your closet that fits that description — she wants to hear from you. Say hello at mmenderski@courier-journal.com or 502-582-4053.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How is author tracking Kentucky Derby winner Secretariat's offspring?