As the world turns its eyes to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby, few remember the man who stood quietly behind one of the greatest champions the sport has ever known.

Edward “Shorty” Sweat was born in 1939 in Holly Hill, South Carolina, one of nine children of a sharecropper. He grew up in a cinder-block house without running water, heated only by a small woodstove. With just a sixth-grade education, his future seemed destined for the cotton and tobacco fields.

Eddie "Shorty" Sweat and Secretariat.

Fortunately for him, the town was also home to the Thoroughbred horse farm of Lucien Laurin, who would later become a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer. One day in 1957, Laurin noticed the 18-year-old Black man studying the horses through the fence surrounding the property and offered him a job. Sweat accepted, becoming a full-time groom in exchange for a small salary and a promise of 1% of the horses’ eventual winnings.

He quickly became Laurin’s most trusted groom. He formed a particularly close bond with a powerful chestnut colt named Secretariat—known to the stable as “Big Red.”

“I guess a groom gets closer to a horse than anyone,” Sweat once told a reporter. “The owner, the trainer—they maybe see him once a day. But I lived with Secretariat.” 

Sweat often slept on a cot outside the stall to monitor the horse’s moods and needs.

In 1973 Secretariat became the first Triple Crown winner since 1948. His 31-length Belmont victory remains one of the greatest in racing history.

 In 1973, Secretariat became the first Triple Crown winner since 1948. His 31-length Belmont victory remains one of the greatest in racing history. He also holds the record for the fastest Kentucky Derby-winning time. While Secretariat graced the covers of Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated, Sweat was featured in Ebony and Jet—a rare moment of national attention for a man in his role.

After retirement, Secretariat stood at stud for 16 years in a deal worth $6 million (about $45 million today), siring 663 foals, including 59 winners that collectively earned $29 million. No stallion on the planet was worth more. 

In 1999, he became the first Thoroughbred featured on a U.S. postage stamp.

Yet the man who was the horse’s closest companion received little recognition—and even less reward. Despite being promised 1% of Secretariat’s winnings, Sweat never received it. He spent his life traveling the racetrack circuit. Still, he never complained—not about the money, the hours or the time spent away from his wife and children.

When Sweat died in 1998 at age 58, a few track workers came to pay their respects—mainly exercise riders and training-center staff—but no owners or trainers came. He left his family two acres of land. The 1% of the promised race winnings—about $13,000—never materialized. 

Eddie Sweat always took great pride in his association with perhaps the greatest racehorse of all time: “I guess you could say I was his main man.”