Is my rescue related to secretariat?

That's funny (not that she was put down...that's very sad). One of the horses up for adoption at the rescue where I got my OTTB was offered a TON for a contract to star in the Secretariat film, but his owners at the time rejected the offer. They ended up using a non-Thoroughbred for the movie, go figure.

Yeah, that was super sad, but Sienna was a sick little (not really - 17 hands) girl:( She had some sort of liver disease that was never caught until she coliced very badly and was sent to the equine hospital

But that is hilarious! Didn't they use a Quarter Horse?

Actually, what you want in a Thoroughbred is up close stakes winners (sire AND dam). In your horse, the link to Secretariat is through Nearco which is 5 generations back.

I owned a grand daughter of Affirmed (by Silver Stark who was a stakes winner). Her name was Rutile. She was OK.. and ended up on the track but I do not think she won anything.

Secretariat in the maternal line is nice to see.. as is Riva Ridge and Hoist the Flag. Storm Cat was a sire that had winning offspring. Seattle Slew also had winning offspring.

When you get into breeding successful race horses there is a LOT of Seattle Slew.. and a lot of Storm Cat.

Not quite right. There were five horses used in Secretariat, four TBs and one QH, and the QH looked very much like a TB.

There's never just one horse used in a horse movie, although the close up shots are of the one horse picked as the 'star'. Cass Ole was the star of The Black Stallion, but there were many other Arabians and even some French horses used in the movie.

If I recall correctly, at least one of the Black Stallion stand-ins was a mare.

A lot of thoroughbreds are related, a lot are inbred. I know a horse who is a great great grandson of Secretariat, great grandson of Mr. Prospector, great great great grandson of Bold Ruler on both sides, and great great great grandson of Northern Dancer and Gallant Man. Also if you go further back he's a direct descendant of Man O' War, and Bend Or. The Bend Or line explains why he has Bend Or sopts on him

**spots

I can always pick out the QH in Secretariat. He's a bit shorter than the rest, and they only use him when they need huge bursts of speed. He's slightly bigger build than the other horses, and he runs with his nose pointed straight out ahead and tail arched out behind him sort of like a arab

My mare is related to Northern Dancer and Native Dancer also! She was a racehorse and won a few races and then put out as a broodmare.
She's beautiful and is due a foal anyday now (which we'll be keeping) and my son bought her for the price her previous owner would have got for meat at the slaughterhouse (their words, not ours)! So sad that she'd come to the end of her usefulness for them! But lucky for us