Secretariat's Meadow Hardcover – September 10, 2010

I absolutely love and admire horses. I love true stories and this was such a beautiful, uplifting story! I recommend to anyone who loves, horses, people and life!

A lovely book and thought especially so by me as I was at the Belmont when magnificent Secretariat won the Triple Crown and I will never forget it. This book is full of wonderful photographs of his early life as a colt and growing up in Virginia, his story told with deep affection.

Reading about the legacy of Secretariat's Meadow made me feel closer to the most amazing horse of all time. Secretariat will have a place in our hearts forever. 🐴🐴

This wonderful book brings to life all the people who made The Meadow Stable such a prominent figure in Thoroughbred racing, from Christopher T. Cherney's dream to his grand-daughter's, Penny Cherney's dream horse, Secretariat.This is no one note history of an East Coast Horse Country family, so much more than a simple regional history. It is a tribute to the land, the beginning of a breeding/racing empire and the extended family who made it all possible, a rare trifecta of fate. Such a book could only be accomplished by an author who has intimate knowledge of such details, Penny Cherney's daughter, Kate Cherney Tweedy, is one of the authors. She is joined by Leanne Meadows and noted Virginia photographer, Wayne Dementi. The story, photographs and acknowledgement of so many people who make up a successful racing operation endears these three to my heart.A horse-crazed teenage girl, I was glued to Derby, Preakness and the Belmont Stakes every year, hoping to witness such a winner. I can remember in vivid detail Secretariat's ascent to Triple Crown glory and into my heart where he will live forever. Other college girls had their rooms plastered with posters of the Pop stars, mine were newspaper clippings and photos of the greatest thoroughbred of my generation. His effect has not lessened some 30 years later, tears still run down my face whenever I see a film clip of "Big Red" on the racetrack. I know I will never see anything like Secretariat again in my life.This Autumn there is to be a film released about Secretariat starring Diane Lane as Penny Cherney, the "First Lady of Racing". Three horses are making up his role, I am surprised it did not entail more. This book comes at the crucial time to heighten interest in him again and then there are those of us who have already purchased a box of tissues and tickets for the local primere.May I also recommend some of my Secretariat favorites:Secretariat, Updated EditionThe Life & Times of Secretariat, an American Racing LegendSecretariat: The Making of a ChampionLater this month another Secretariat book, this time for children, will be released: Big Red Horse, the Secretariat Story. You know there will be a place on my bookshelf for it no matter what the age of the target audience.Enjoy the book!UPDATE: 10/16/10 Just finished "The Big Red Horse" and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I first watched the movie "Secretariat" with my children and although I'm not a horse person, became completely enthralled with the story. Then I saw that The Meadows had this amazing history, and I was even more interested because I love history. The book really delivers. I'm probably going to also buy the book that the movie was actually based on too. I came to appreciate Chris Chenery's amazing story through this book. But since seeing the movie, I still find Secretariat's making so amazing. The amazing blood line giving him both stamina and speed, and yet his heart was a congenital anomaly. And even with all the natural gifts he was given, he still had to be conditioned and psychologically promoted properly by the right mix of people to get what the public got to see in the end. Such an amazing mix of circumstances and luck make this one of the most amazing stories...

Secretariat, one of the greatest thoroughbreds of all time, was born at a lovely Virginia farm called The Meadow and his owners, the Chenery family, raced under the name Meadow Stable. I did not find the title misleading because the noun Meadow refers to the farm, and the possessive modifier capitalizes on its most illustrious resident. The subtitle "The Land. The Family. The Legend." further explains the subject matter. The author is the daughter of Penny Tweedy--later Penny Chenery--who was in charge of the stable during Secretariat's racing career, and she writes about her family, her ancestors, the history of the farmland dating back to the 1600's, the operation of the farm, those who worked there, the horses, and finally Riva Ridge and Secretariat. Even though Secretariat's story doesn't begin until page 113 (out of 152 pages), his fans should love the book, which provides a lot of background material that will be new to many. It mentions the five names that were rejected before he became Secretariat and, most disturbing to me, the destruction of the beautiful house at the Meadow after the ownership changed. The book is a coffee table sized volume with fascinating photographs on every page. My only criticism is that most of the pages are brown or gray, which makes the print much harder to read. The eyes that watched Secretariat win the Triple Crown in 1973 are no longer young, and better contrast would have been greatly appreciated. But in spite of that, I liked the book and I would definitely recommend it. Even if it's hard to read, you can have a lot of fun looking at the pictures.

Informative and well written this book is filled with historical events, family connections and photographs. Excellently presented by the granddaughter of Christopher Chenery. The foreword was written by her mother Penny Chenery who put Secretariat on the world stage and left the great racehorse in our hearts.

Wonderful story

Secretariat's Meadow is the history of how the Meadow Farm Stables began, the Cheney family and how Secretariat saved the Farm. A fabulous read. The quality of the paper in this book is exceptional. It is a book to cherish for anyone who loves Sectetariat.

I have watched the DVD of Secretariat, but there are flaws in the story. The book explained the real story ofthe horse and the people who worked with him. Disney made a "feel good" movie, but left out a lot of details.The history of the Chenery family was interesting.

I am giving this as a birthday gift to my father in February for his 80th birthday so I can't tell you anything about the inside but the outside cover is beautiful.