Penny Chenery

Penny Chenery
Born	New Rochelle, New York, United States
Education	The Madeira School Smith College Columbia Business School
Occupation(s)	Racehorse owner & breeder
Known for	Secretariat Riva Ridge
Board member of	Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association
Spouse(s)	John Bayard Tweedy, Sr.
Children	Sarah, Christopher "Beast", Kate, and John, Jr.
Parent(s)	Christopher Chenery & Helen Bates
Relatives	siblings: Hollis, Margaret

Template:Infobox Awards Helen Bates "Penny" Chenery Tweety (born January 27, 1922, in New Rochelle, New York) is an American sportswoman who bred and raced Secretariat, the 1973 winner of the Triple Crown. The youngest of three children, she graduated from The Madeira School in 1939 and earned a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College, then studied at the Columbia Business School, where she met her future husband, John Tweedy, Sr., a Columbia Law School student. Married in May 1949, the couple had four children. In 1973 horseracing telecasts, CBS called her Penny Tweety, not Penny Chenery.

Meadow Farm Stable

A Virginia native, Chenery was part of the family that owned Meadow Farm, a thoroughbred racing operation and horse breeding business in Caroline County founded by her father, Christopher Chenery. Her father was admitted to New Rochelle Hospital in late February 1968 and remained there for nearly five years until his death in January 1973. Always profitable, the stable began losing money in the latter part of the 1960s, exacerbated by Christopher Chenery's illness. Therefore, Penny Chenery's siblings planned to sell the operation on his passing. However, Penny Chenery had other ideas. The housewife of eighteen years and mother to four children took over management of the 2798-acre farm. In 1969, she was confronted with a difficult problem when trainer Casey Hayes decided to retire after more than 25 years with her father. Chenery consulted with longtime family friend and business associate Bull Hancock of Claiborne Farm, and on his advice hired Roger Laurin to train and manage the Meadow Stable horses. Laurin cut costs and returned the operation to profitability before accepting an offer to train for the powerful Phipps family stables. Penny Chenery then hired his father, Lucien, and in 1972 they guided the Meadow Farm's colt Riva Ridge to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and the two-year-old Secretariat to 1972 American Horse of the Year honors. The following year, Secretariat captured the imagination of racing fans worldwide when he became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years. Both horses were inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

The Breeding of Secretariat

Although Christopher Chenery was recorded as the official breeder of Secretariat, well-known racing columnist Bill Nack wrote in his book on the racehorse that Penny Chenery made the decision to breed their mare Somethingroyal to Bold Ruler twice. The first mating in 1968 produced the filly The Bride. The second breeding, in 1969, resulted in Secretariat.

In 1983, Penny Chenery, Martha F. Gerry, and Allaire du Pont became the first women to be admitted as members of The Jockey Club. From 1976 to 1984, Chenery served as president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Also in 1976, she became a member of the Executive Committee of the American Horse Council, the horse industry trade association in Washington, DC. In 1983, she became the first woman elected as a member of The Jockey Club and has also served as a member of the judges' panel for the Dogwood Dominion Award. In addition, she helped found the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, an organization dedicated to saving Thoroughbred horses no longer able to compete on the racetrack from possible neglect, abuse and slaughter.

In addition to breeding Secretariat, Chenery bred Saratoga Dew, who became the first New York-bred horse to ever win an Eclipse Award when the filly was voted the 1992 American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly.

In 2003 the Arlington Park track established the annual "Penny Chenery Distinguished Woman in Racing Award". In 2006, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association honored her with the Eclipse Award of Merit for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in thoroughbred racing. In 2009, she was awarded the Smith College Medal for extraordinary professional achievement and outstanding service to her community.

A long-time resident of Westchester County, New York, Chenery now lives near her children in Boulder, Colorado.

Chenery is portrayed by actress Diane Lane in the 2010 motion picture Secretariat, released on October 8, 2010. Chenery herself appears in a cameo role in the film.

References

• Nack, William. Secretariat: The Making of a Champion (2002) Da Capo Press ISBN 978-0306811333

External links

• Secretariat.com - Penny Chenery
• YouTube.com - video featuring Penny Chenery and the story of Secretariat