When Secretariat thundered across the finish line at the 1973 Belmont Stakes, thirty-one lengths ahead of the field, the world didn’t just see a horse. They saw a god. Naturally, when he retired to Claiborne Farm in Kentucky later 그해, everyone expected him to churn out an army of mini-Secretariats who would dominate the dirt for decades.
But horse racing is rarely that predictable.
If you’re looking for the hard number, here it is: Secretariat sired 663 named foals during his sixteen years at stud. If you count every single pregnancy, including those that didn't result in a registered name or lived birth, the "offspring" number shifts slightly, but the official Jockey Club record sticks to that 663 figure.
Honestly, by today's standards, that's a small number. Modern stallions like Into Mischief might cover 200 mares in a single season. Big Red? He was doing about 40 or 50.
The Numbers Game: Why 663 Is a Weird Total
You have to realize that Secretariat’s breeding career started with a massive panic. Before he ever covered a high-stakes Thoroughbred mare, there was a "fertility scare." People were terrified that the $6.08 million syndication—a record at the time—was going to be a bust because his first test matings were shaky.
To test his equipment, they didn't give him a champion. They gave him a 13-year-old Appaloosa nurse mare named Leola. The result was a loud-colored, spotted colt named First Secretary. He wasn't a Thoroughbred, so he couldn't race, but he proved the engine was working.
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Once he got going, the stats looked like this:
- Total named foals: 663
- Winners: 341 (roughly 51%)
- Stakes Winners: 54 (about 8%)
- Hall of Famers: 1 (Lady’s Secret)
For any other horse, these are "pretty good" numbers. For Secretariat? People called him a disappointment. They wanted lightning to strike twice, and when it didn't happen immediately in the form of another Triple Crown winner, the "dud" rumors started swirling.
The Secret Success of the "X Factor"
Here is where the story gets kinda crazy. While Secretariat didn't produce a son who could match his own freakish speed, his daughters were absolute powerhouses in the breeding shed.
In the world of horse racing, we call this being a "great broodmare sire." Basically, Secretariat’s daughters carried a specific genetic trait—often linked to the "Large Heart" gene or the X-factor—that they passed on to their own sons.
If you look at the 2025 Kentucky Derby field, literally every single horse in the gate was a descendant of Secretariat. Every. Single. One. They didn't get there through a direct male line of Secretariats; they got there because his daughters produced the greatest stallions of the next generation.
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The Big Three Grandchildren
You can't talk about how many offspring Secretariat had without mentioning the "Big Three" grandsons who actually defined modern racing:
- A.P. Indy: Out of the Secretariat mare Weekend Surprise. He became a "sire of sires."
- Storm Cat: Out of the Secretariat mare Terlingua. For a while, he was the most expensive stallion in the world.
- Gone West: Out of the Secretariat mare Secrettame.
These three horses are the reason Secretariat’s blood is in almost every elite Thoroughbred running today. He didn't build a kingdom of sons; he built a foundation of grandsons.
Why Didn't He Have More?
There’s a bit of a myth that Secretariat was "sub-fertile." That’s not really true. The real reason the number of Secretariat offspring stayed around 663 is that the breeding industry back then was just... smaller.
In the 70s and 80s, "books" (the number of mares a stallion sees) were kept small to maintain exclusivity and because we didn't have the veterinary tech we have now. Plus, Secretariat died relatively young at age 19. He was euthanized in 1989 due to laminitis, a horrific hoof disease. If he’d lived into his late 20s like some stallions, that 663 number would have easily topped 1,000.
Notable Kids You Should Know
While Lady’s Secret (the 1986 Horse of the Year) is the most famous, there were others who held their own:
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- Risen Star: He won the Preakness and the Belmont in 1988. He was probably the closest Big Red ever came to replicating himself in a son.
- General Assembly: Set a track record at Saratoga that stood for decades.
- Tinners Way: One of his last great foals, who won the Pacific Classic twice.
It's also worth noting that because Secretariat was so famous, he was occasionally bred to "non-traditional" mares. Beyond the Appaloosa test mare, there are stories of his blood surfacing in American Warmbloods and even some show jumping lines.
The Verdict on the 663
If you’re measuring Secretariat’s success by how many Triple Crown winners he sired, the answer is zero. If you’re measuring it by how many offspring he had that actually mattered, the answer is "all of them."
The sheer ubiquity of his DNA today proves that while 663 foals isn't a huge number, the quality of the genetic material was off the charts. He didn't need 2,000 kids to change the sport; he just needed a few daughters with his heart.
To truly understand Secretariat’s impact, you have to look past the "total number of offspring" and look at a modern racing program. If you see the names A.P. Indy, Giant's Causeway, or Tapit in a pedigree, you're looking at Secretariat’s legacy.
Next Steps for Pedigree Nerds:
If you want to track this yourself, grab a free account on Equineline or Pedigree Online. Look up any recent Stakes winner and trace the "Dam's Side" (the bottom half of the chart). You’ll usually find Secretariat tucked away in the 4th or 5th generation, usually through a mare like Weekend Surprise or Terlingua. It’s a fun rabbit hole that proves Big Red never really left the track.