Riva Ridge

Riva Ridge (April 13, 1969 – April 21, 1985) was a Thoroughbred racehorse, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes in 1972. A son of First Landing out of Iberia (by Heliopolis), he was owned and bred by the Meadow Stable of Christopher Chenery. Secretariat, the Triple Crown champion in 1973, was owned and bred by the same stable.

Riva Ridge's name came from Chenery's son-in-law, John Tweedy, who was a soldier in World War II at the important strategic victory by the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division in 1945 at Riva Ridge on February 18 in the North Apennine mountains of Italy.

Racing career

A winner of the Eclipse Award at age two and four, Riva Ridge was ridden mainly by Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte, who rode stablemate Secretariat a year later. After his win as the 9:5 favorite at the Kentucky Derby, many expected Riva Ridge to win the elusive Triple Crown. Although a 1:5 odds-on favorite at Pimlico in Baltimore, the Preakness was his first race in wet conditions and he finished fourth, after rain made the going sloppy. In the 1½-mile (2.4 km) Belmont Stakes, Riva Ridge defeated nine other horses with a seven-length victory.