Secretariat’s descendant dies in Round Lake stable fire

Thoroughbred descendants of Triple Crown victors Secretariat and Seattle Slew were two of six horses that died in a Round Lake barn fire Saturday.

The stable’s owner, Urbano Hernandez, was about 600 feet from the barn on his 9-acre property when he spotted the smoke early Saturday afternoon.

“I began running, and when I got into the barn the flames were six to seven feet high,” he said Sunday night. “It was uncontrollable.”

Hernandez was able to free three of the nine horses inside the barn, but his two prized horses died of smoke inhalation.

Secretariat’s grandson, 14-year-old Secret Slewrisky, and Hernandez’s other race breeding horse A.P. Indy Prince, died alongside four cutting horses. One of the cutting horses was pregnant, Hernandez said.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation Sunday, although Hernandez could not help but think back on a small fire he started on Friday.

“I did have a little fire the day before,” he said. “I guess it wasn’t over. The wind picked up the hotter tissues of the wood. It was the wind, I would say.”

Hernandez said the remaining horses were in good shape Sunday night, but were visibly shaken from the fire.

Secret Slewrisky was one of the last descendants of Secretariat, who won the first Triple Crown in 25 years when he crossed the line at the Belmont Stakes in 1973.

“There’s not too many around anymore, so for us that was a very important acquisition we made last year,” Hernandez said.

A.P. Indy Prince was 4 years old and the great-grandson of Seattle Slew, the 1977 Triple Crown winner.

“I’m in shock right now,” he said. “I have to sit down and recoup from what I went through.”

Hernandez said he suffered a few minor burns while saving the horses, but was feeling OK Sunday night.

Firefighters responded to the blaze at the barn in the 24000 block of West Nippersink Road at 1:22 p.m., but the barn was badly damaged by the time it could be extinguished.

What started as a hobby for Hernandez, who works in landscaping, breeding horses has became his passion. In the wake of the loss of his treasured studs, he is not sure if he will be able to continue with the state of the economy.

“Whoever is in this business, I would make sure, never take anything for granted,” he said.