The Virginia property where Triple Crown winner Secretariat was born has been sold at a foreclosure auction for more than $5 million.
Mark Lovell, owner of Tennessee-based Universal Fairs, successfully bid $5.35 million for the State Fair of Virginia and its home, the 360-acre Meadow Event Park site where Secretariat was born in 1970. He also agreed Tuesday to pay $321,000 in auction house fees.
The property, about 20 miles north of Richmond, includes Secretariat's preserved foaling shed and yearling barn.
Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973 and died in 1989.
State Fair of Virginia Inc. acquired the property in 2003 for $5.3 million and moved the annual fair from Richmond, where it had been held since 1854. Despite record attendance last year, the nonprofit defaulted on about $80 million in financing.
