1973 Belmont Stakes a sloppy track. However, Knightly Dawn was scratched prior to race day. The horse's scratch also reduced the winner's share from $150,200 to $90,120. There was much speculation going into the Stakes over Secretariat's bid for the Triple Crown. Since 1948, when Citation achieved the feat, there had been six horses that had won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes before failing in the Belmont Stakes. When comparing Secretariat to those six horses' health and fitness before the Belmont Stakes, writer Bonifice felt Secretariat was in the best shape, almost as good as when he entered the Kentucky
Belmont Derby Belmont Derby The Belmont Derby is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred race horse run over a distance of miles on the turf at Belmont Park in July. The purse for the event is US$1,200,000. In 2014, the race became a feature portion of the Stars and Stripes Racing Festival at Belmont Park. The race was renamed from the Jamaica Handicap, moved from October to July, increased in distance from miles to miles, and had the purse increased from $500,000 to $1,250,000. The original race name was named after the Jamaica District in Queens, New York. The