On this day: October 4
POSTED: 05:01 PM PDT Oct 03, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PDT Oct 03, 2012
Work begins on Mount Rushmore, Sputnik is launched into space, the pope visits America for the first time, Janis Joplin is found dead of an overdose, all on this day.
Courtesy of Churchill Downs
1989: Secretariat, the racehorse that in 1973 became the first U.S. Triple Crown champion in 25 years and is considered to be one of the greatest Thoroughbreds of all time, is euthanized at the age of 19 after a month of treatment fails to cure laminitis, a painful and often incurable hoof condition.
