Eddie Sweat
Encyclopedia
Edward "Eddie" Sweat was an American groom
in Thoroughbred
horse racing
who was the subject of the 2006 book by Lawrence Scanlan titled The Horse God Built: Secretariat, His Groom, Their Legacy.
, Eddie Sweat was one of nine children of an African American
sharecropper
. Holly Hill was where future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame
trainer Lucien Laurin
maintained a Thoroughbred horse farm and he offered Sweat a job after he saw the wide-eyed teen frequently peeking at the horses through a fence to the property as well as sometimes skipping school just to watch the horses. In 1957, the then eighteen-year-old Sweat accepted the offer of full-time work as groom for the Laurin stable of racehorses with a small fixed salary plus 1% of the horse's earnings.
One of the first highly successful horses placed in Sweat's care was the 1958 American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Quill
. In 1966, Sweat was part of the Laurin stables' first American Classic win when Amberoid
captured the Belmont Stakes
. Six years later, Sweat gained national media attention for his abilities in handling Thoroughbreds when sportswriter William Nack
spent many hours with him during 1972 and 1973 outside the Laurin stable stalls of Kentucky Derby
winner Riva Ridge
and the horse who would become an American legend, Secretariat
. In a Sports Illustrated
feature article, Nack said he took notes compulsively, endlessly, feeling for the texture of the life around the horse. Secretariat was voted the 1972 American Horse of the Year, an extraordinary feat for a two-year-old, and leading up to and through the horse's winning of the 1973 Triple Crown
, all of the key people involved with Secretariat received massive national and international attention. Interviewed and photographed countless times, Sweat appeared on television and was on the covers of both Ebony
and Jet
magazines. Eddie was also the 1st groom to ever have groomed Kentucky Derby winners two years in a row, Riva Ridge in 1972 and Secretariat in 1973.
Following Lucien Laurin's retirement, Sweat worked for his son, Roger Laurin
, and in 1984 once again received considerable national media attention with Chief's Crown
. The colt won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile
, was voted the Eclipse Award
as American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, and was the betting
favorite for all three of the 1985 Triple Crown races.
, New York
, a short drive from the Belmont Park
racetrack. After 41 years in the business, he died of leukemia
in 1998.
of Eddie Sweat leading Secretariat and jockey Ron Turcotte
to the winner's circle after winning the 1973 Kentucky Derby. He was featured in the 2009 movie "Secretariat."
, Eddie Sweat was portrayed by actor Nelsan Ellis
.
Groom (horses)
A groom is a person who is responsible for some or all aspects of the management of horses and/or the care of the stables themselves. The term most often refers to a person who is the employee of a stable owner, but even an owner of a horse may perform the duties of a groom, particularly if the...
in Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
who was the subject of the 2006 book by Lawrence Scanlan titled The Horse God Built: Secretariat, His Groom, Their Legacy.
Career
Born in Holly Hill, South CarolinaHolly Hill, South Carolina
Holly Hill is a town in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,281 at the 2000 census. Prior to 1910 it was located in the northwest portion of Saint James Goose Creek Township, Berkeley County.-Geography:...
, Eddie Sweat was one of nine children of an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
sharecropper
Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land . This should not be confused with a crop fixed rent contract, in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a fixed amount of...
. Holly Hill was where future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
trainer Lucien Laurin
Lucien Laurin
Lucien Laurin was a French-Canadian jockey and Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse trainer.-Life and career:...
maintained a Thoroughbred horse farm and he offered Sweat a job after he saw the wide-eyed teen frequently peeking at the horses through a fence to the property as well as sometimes skipping school just to watch the horses. In 1957, the then eighteen-year-old Sweat accepted the offer of full-time work as groom for the Laurin stable of racehorses with a small fixed salary plus 1% of the horse's earnings.
One of the first highly successful horses placed in Sweat's care was the 1958 American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Quill
Quill (horse)
Quill was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 1958 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly in the United States.-References:*...
. In 1966, Sweat was part of the Laurin stables' first American Classic win when Amberoid
Amberoid
Amberoid was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1966 American Classic, the Belmont Stakes....
captured the Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
. Six years later, Sweat gained national media attention for his abilities in handling Thoroughbreds when sportswriter William Nack
William Nack
William Nack is an American journalist and author. He wrote about sports, politics and the environment at Newsday for 11 years before joining the staff of Sports Illustrated in 1978 as an investigative reporter and general feature writer. Since leaving S.I. in 2001, Nack has freelanced for numerous...
spent many hours with him during 1972 and 1973 outside the Laurin stable stalls of Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
winner Riva Ridge
Riva Ridge
Riva Ridge was a thoroughbred racehorse, the winner of the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. A son of First Landing out of Iberia , he was owned and bred by the Meadow Stable of Christopher Chenery. The horse's name came from Chenery's son-in-law, John Tweedy, who was a soldier in World War...
and the horse who would become an American legend, Secretariat
Secretariat (horse)
Secretariat was an American Thoroughbred racehorse, that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years, setting new race records in two of the three events in the Series—the Kentucky Derby , and the Belmont Stakes —records that still stand today.Secretariat was sired by Bold...
. In a Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
feature article, Nack said he took notes compulsively, endlessly, feeling for the texture of the life around the horse. Secretariat was voted the 1972 American Horse of the Year, an extraordinary feat for a two-year-old, and leading up to and through the horse's winning of the 1973 Triple Crown
United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...
, all of the key people involved with Secretariat received massive national and international attention. Interviewed and photographed countless times, Sweat appeared on television and was on the covers of both Ebony
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...
and Jet
Jet (magazine)
Jet is an American weekly marketed toward African-American readers, founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois...
magazines. Eddie was also the 1st groom to ever have groomed Kentucky Derby winners two years in a row, Riva Ridge in 1972 and Secretariat in 1973.
Following Lucien Laurin's retirement, Sweat worked for his son, Roger Laurin
Roger Laurin
Roger Laurin is a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses in the United States and Canada. He has trained Champions Numbered Account, the 1971 American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly, and Chief's Crown, the 1984 American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner.-A family business:Roger...
, and in 1984 once again received considerable national media attention with Chief's Crown
Chief's Crown
Chief's Crown was an American-bred Thoroughbred race horse who won the 1984 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Two-Year-Old Male Horse. He later became a successful sire.-Background:...
. The colt won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile
Breeders' Cup Juvenile
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships....
, was voted the Eclipse Award
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
as American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, and was the betting
Parimutuel betting
Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...
favorite for all three of the 1985 Triple Crown races.
Death
Sweat made his home in St. Albans, QueensSt. Albans, Queens
St. Albans is a middle class community in the New York City borough of Queens around the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, about two miles north of JFK Airport. It is southeast of Jamaica, west of Cambria Heights and north of Springfield Gardens and Laurelton.The neighborhood...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, a short drive from the Belmont Park
Belmont Park
Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...
racetrack. After 41 years in the business, he died of leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
in 1998.
Legacy
Widely recognized for his talent, dedication, and important contributions to Secretariat's racing career, Sweat was the subject of a 2006 book by Lawrence Scanlan, titled The Horse God Built: Secretariat, His Groom, Their Legacy. There is a life-size statue at the Kentucky Horse ParkKentucky Horse Park
Kentucky Horse Park is a working horse farm and an educational theme park opened in 1978 in Lexington, Kentucky. It is located off Kentucky State Highway 1973 and Interstate 75 in northern Fayette County in the United States...
of Eddie Sweat leading Secretariat and jockey Ron Turcotte
Ron Turcotte
Ron Joseph Morel Turcotte, CM is a Hall of Fame thoroughbred race horse jockey best known as the rider of Secretariat, winner of the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973....
to the winner's circle after winning the 1973 Kentucky Derby. He was featured in the 2009 movie "Secretariat."
Popular culture
In the 2010 film SecretariatSecretariat (film)
Secretariat is a 2010 biographical film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mayhem Pictures, and directed by Randall Wallace. The film chronicles the life of thoroughbred race horse Secretariat, winner of the Triple Crown in 1973...
, Eddie Sweat was portrayed by actor Nelsan Ellis
Nelsan Ellis
Nelsan Ellis is an award-winning American film and television actor and playwright. He is well known for his role as Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO series True Blood, which he has been playing since 2008.-Early and personal life:...
.
Further reading
- Scanlan, Lawrence. The Horse God Built: Secretariat, His Groom, Their Legacy (2006) HarperCollinsHarperCollinsHarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
ISBN 978-0002007931 - Nack, WilliamWilliam NackWilliam Nack is an American journalist and author. He wrote about sports, politics and the environment at Newsday for 11 years before joining the staff of Sports Illustrated in 1978 as an investigative reporter and general feature writer. Since leaving S.I. in 2001, Nack has freelanced for numerous...
. Secretariat: The Making of a Champion (2002) Da Capo Press ISBN 978-0306811333
External links
- November 5, 1984 Los Angeles Times article titled "Eddie Sweat's a Baby Sitter for Some Elite Race Horses"
- May 1, 1993 Boston Globe article on Eddie Sweat
- May 3, 1985 St. Petersburg Times open article on Eddie Sweat
- October 28, 1973 Video at YouTube of Secretariat and Eddie Sweat
- Webshots photo collection of Eddie Sweat