Paris receives Secretariat monument

Paris, Ky. (WKYT) - A crowd gathered in Paris Monday night to welcome home Secretariat.

“The closer we got to Paris, the more people were warm and fuzzy, you know, and you know they’d wave and they’d honk,” Jocelyn Russel, Artist of Secretariat Monument, said.

The monument, “Twice the Heart,” was transported to Kentucky from Utah by Russell and Dan Cummins Auto Group.

This is the fifth monument Russell created of Secretariat. The monument depicts Secretariat running in the field at Claiborne Farms.

“He’s not dressed in his racing regalia, he has a halter on, and he’s in his paddock, and he’s living his best life in retirement,” Lauren Biddle of the Secretariat Park Foundation said.

Tuesday at 7 a.m., the monument will be installed at the new Secretariat Park, which will open on November 11th.

“This year marks the 50th anniversary of Secretariat’s Triple Crown Winnings. For Paris, our story is the 50th anniversary of him coming home to Claiborne Farms to retire,” Biddle said.

The park is funded by business owners and community members who want to honor Secretariat.

“It is privately funded by the people in the community, the entire park, all the businesses, and the private citizens have chipped money in to make this happen, it’s a really big deal,” Josh Cummins, owner at Dan Cummins Auto Group, said.

The horseshoes and halter on the monument are molded from those that belonged to Secretariat.

The thoroughbred’s accomplishments are known worldwide, and the park will honor him in the town where he retired and was laid to rest.

“Secretariat is a legend and has been a legend in this community, in Kentucky, and now the world for so many years,” Cummins said.

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