1973 Kentucky Derby entered the homestretch, Secretariat passed Sham in the final furlong and distanced himself to consolidate his lead. Secretariat would go on to win the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in the succeeding weeks, thus becoming the ninth horse to complete the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Thirteen horses entered the Derby, which could have at most twenty participants. Horse owners had to pay a final entry fee of $2,500 to have their horses officially entered. The field was larger than anticipated because of new entries following Secretariat's loss at the Wood Memorial Stakes in New York. The Wood Memorial had
2017 Belmont Stakes of both Always Dreaming, the 2017 Kentucky Derby winner, and Cloud Computing, the winner of the 2017 Preakness Stakes, decided to bypass the Belmont. Classic Empire would have been the favorite of the remaining contenders for the race, but was withdrawn on June 7 because of a recurrent foot abscess. Classic Empire, the champion two-year-old colt of 2016, finished fourth in the Derby and second in the Preakness. Another leading contender was Epicharis, a Japanese-bred horse who qualified on the 2017 Road to the Kentucky Derby but who bypassed that race to focus on the Belmont. The New York Racing