Nov. 6, 1946: Three fillies from Argentina arrived at Newark Airport, having made a journey of 8,250 miles, the then-longest flight ever for horses.
Nov. 6, 1973: Secretariat was paraded before 33,000 fans at Aqueduct, as his final appearance at a racetrack before retirement to stud at Claiborne Farm.
Nov. 6, 1993: The Breeders?’ Cup was simulcast to England for wagering purposes for the first time.
Nov. 6, 1993: Lure became the fourth horse to win consecutive Breeders?’ Cup events when he won the Breeders?’ Cup Mile. The three other runners with consecutive victories were Miesque, Bayakoa (ARG) and Morley Street (IRE), the latter a two-time winner in the steeplechase division.
Nov. 7, 1998: Skip Away finished sixth to Awesome Again in the Breeders?’ Cup Classic and was denied the title of racing’s all-time leading money earner. Skip Away was retired after the race with earnings of $9,616,360, second to Cigar, whose earnings total $9,999,815.
Nov. 7, 1998: Jockey Richard Migliore gained his 3,000th career victory, winning aboard Belle?’s Appeal in the second race at Aqueduct.
Nov. 8, 1997: Favorite Trick won the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile, concluding an 8-for-8 two-year-old campaign. Favorite Trick would later be voted 1997 Horse of the Year.
Nov. 8, 2000: The New York Racing Association announced that it would begin using the color-coded saddlecloths adopted by many other racetracks around the country.
Nov. 9, 1957: Wheatley Stable?’s Bold Ruler, with Eddie Arcaro aboard, won the Trenton Handicap in a wire-to-wire victory over Gallant Man and Round Table in a three-horse race. Bold Ruler was subsequently named Horse of the Year off this performance.
Nov. 9, 1972: Secretariat worked seven furlongs in 1:25 4-5 at Garden State Park in preparation for the final race of his two-year-old season, the Garden State Stakes on Nov. 18.
Nov. 9, 1988: Laffit Pincay Jr. became the second jockey in history to win 7,000 races when he won the seventh race at Hollywood Park aboard Phone Bid.
Nov. 9, 1998: A world-record-equaling bid of $7 million was made by Jayeff B Stable for the broodmare Korveya at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. The only other broodmare sold for $7 million was Miss Oceana, who went through the auction ring in 1985.
Nov. 10, 1978: Jockey Patrick Valenzuela won his first career race, aboard Parker Petite, at Sunland Park, New Mexico.
Nov. 10, 1984: The inaugural Breeders?’ Cup was run at Hollywood Park. The highlight of the seven Breeders?’ Cup races, the Classic, pitted Wild Again, Gate Dancer and Slew o?’ Gold, who was the odds-on favorite despite having a well-publicized hoof injury. After a furious drive to the wire, which involved considerable bumping among the three horses, Wild Again prevailed, but Gate Dancer was disqualified from his second-place finish for interference and was placed third, behind Slew o?’ Gold.
Nov. 11, 1973: Secretariat was flown to Claiborne Farm to begin his stud career.
Nov. 11, 1978: At age four, 1977 Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew won his last race, the Stuyvesant Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack, by 3 1-4 lengths.
Nov. 12, 190: Four-year-old Machine Gun carried 159 pounds, believed to be the highest impost in a winning effort on the flat, at Riccarton in New Zealand. Time for the five-furlong race was :58.
Nov. 12, 1999: Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, a driving force behind American racing, died in Mill Neck, N.Y., at age 87.
Nov. 14, 1997: Jockey Eddie Arcaro, a 1958 Racing Hall of Fame inductee and the only two-time winner of the Triple Crown, died of cancer at his home in Miami at age 81.
Nov. 15, 1990: Alydar, one of the top sires in America and runner-up in all three Triple Crown races to Affirmed, was euthanized at Calumet Farm.
Nov. 15, 1995: Jockey Julie Krone rode her 3,000th career winner, in the fourth race at Aqueduct, aboard Dustin?’s Dreamer.
Nov. 16, 1951: The Pimlico Special, then a winner-take-all $15,000 contest, became the first race to be televised nationally. The winner was C.T. Chenery?’s Bryan G.
Nov. 17, 2000: Officials of Breeders?’ Cup Limited announced the addition of an interactive stallion nomination system to the company?’s Website.
Nov. 18, 1961: Jockey Eddie Arcaro rode his last career race, finishing third on Endymion in the Pimlico Futurity. He retired with a then-record $30,039,543 in purses.
Nov. 18, 1972: Secretariat capped his two-year-old racing season with a 3 1-2 length victory in the Garden State Stakes at Garden State Park. The winner?’s share of the purse was $179,199, the most Secretariat ever won in a single race.
Nov. 18, 1979: In the eighth race at Aqueduct, Laffit Pincay Jr. had his 4,000th career win, aboard Gladiolus.
Nov. 19, 1956: Jockey Fernando Toro won his first career race at the Hipodromo in Santiago, Chile.
Nov. 19, 1995: Jockey Russell Baze became the first rider to have won 400 races a year for four consecutive years, after he rode Royal Boutique to victory at Golden Gate Fields.