YORKTON - Admittedly I am not particularly a ‘fan’ of thoroughbred racing.
I could not tell you who won this year’s King’s Plate or Kentucky Derby without the help of Google --- for the record Rafael Hernandez and filly Caitlinhergrtness and Mystik Dan with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.
That said I have long been aware of Canadian jockey Ron Turcotte thanks to his rides of fabled horse Secretariat – easily one of the greatest to ever run.
What I had not been aware of is that Ron Turcotte was only one of five brothers who were jockeys. That knowledge was gained thanks to a new book Turcottes : The Remarkable Story of a Horse Racing Dynasty by Curtis Stock.
Given the significance of the quintet in terms of Canadian sports history it is surprising the book had not been written earlier.
It’s something not lost on author Stock.
“I was kind of surprised it hadn’t been written,” he told Yorkton This Week in a recent interview.
As for Stock -- a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee and 11-time Sovereign Award-winning writer for best thoroughbred story of the year -- the story is one that he had long considered penning.
“I was thinking about writing it for 10-years – maybe 20-years,” he said, but time never seemed to allow it.
Then fate of a kind struck.
“When COVID hit there were no more excuses,” said Stock.
At least through the years of covering the sport Stock had had the opportunity to interview four of the brothers, and there were stories aplenty in the press to wade through.
“There was a lot of research. That took the longest by far,” said Stock.
Along the way there were things that surprised even a long time horse race writer -- Stock had more than 30 years with the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald, and has loved horse racing since he was in junior high school.
“Ron’s story is unbelievable. It really is impossible what happened,” said Stock.
One of 14 children Ron Turcotte was working in the logging mills of New Brunswick when he made the decision to head to Toronto for other work, but a carpenter’s strike meant few jobs. He ended up picking worms in graveyards and golf courses getting $3 for 1000 worms.
Then on the suggestion of his landlord he went to the track because the landlord thought Ron was the right size to be a jockey.
At the track Turcotte somehow connected with the barn manager of EP Taylor, one of the biggest names in racing at the time, and his course was set.
Stock said it was amazing how many things had to have happened along the way to get Turcotte to his first ride, and then the rest of the story could start to fall into place.
Ultimately, Ron won 3,032 races “Just two years removed from picking worms on a Toronto Golf course, where he was paid $3 for a thousand, he was Canada's leading jockey. He was the rider of Secretariat, the greatest thoroughbred of all time – a horse so brilliantly fast and powerful that many of his records still stand today, including his bewitching 31- length victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. The week before the Belmont, Secretariat was on the covers of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated,” details the book’s prologue.
The other brothers followed -- Noel, Rudy, Yves and Roger. Collectively they amassed huge success in the saddle. Each Turcotte found outstanding success. Collectively winning a staggering 8,251 races for purse earnings just shy of $60 million.
But this book is not a ‘good news’ tale in the end.
Stock said the toll of the sport hit the Turcottes – hard.
Ron Turcotte was paralyzed from the waist down in a track accident. He had had 3000-plus wins, career earnings of $30 million, but his riding days were over.
Roger and Noel would hang themselves.
The tragedies juxtaposed against the huge successes on the track make this a book that is a cut above most sport books.
“It’s all the different things that add up,” said Stock.
It adds up to a book the author said has been well-received.
The Turcottes is a finalist for the 2024 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, and a finalist for the 2024 Media Sovereign Awards in the Writing Category awarded by the Jockey Club of Canada.
“The reaction has been really good,” he said, adding on a personal level he was happy that he had finally fulfilled his long held desire to tell the story.
“I’d always wanted to write a book. For a long time it looked like it wasn’t going to happen,” he said, adding it took two years but he is happy with the results of his effort. “. . . It was a lot of work, but it was good work.”
