What is the most you have ever spent on a single horseshoe? Lets hope the amount is nowhere even close to the winning bid at a recent auction, which was well into five figures when the hammer dropped.
The recent ‘Backstretch Banter’ column for nj.com has shined its light on the fact that a horseshoe was recently sold for a whopping $33,359 at a Lelands auction.
The shoe, which originally hailed from the collection of the late Jim Gaffney, was worn by Secretariat, the iconic Thoroughbred.
As the Backstretch Banter – and official lot page – explains, the shoe was worn by Secretariat between his two-year-old and three-year-old racing campaigns.
Gaffney was an exercise rider for the Meadow Stable and was a key part of Secretariat’s day-to-day doings in 1972 and 1973. It was during this time when Gaffney obtained the shoe, which was part of a pair that he ultimately gifted to author William Nack in the summer of 1990.
According to the lot page, the shoe is one of only a handful of authenticated Secretariat-worn racing plates in existence and is officially catalogued in the Secretariat Archive Registry.
The shoe was kept in protected storage while in the continued possession of Gaffney and Nack. It came with a letter of authenticity on the stationery of the Secretariat Meadow Stable from Leonard Lusky, the president of secretariat.com
(With files from lelands.com and nj.com)
(A shot of the Secretariat horseshoe that recently sold at auction for $33,359 – Image courtesy lelands.com)