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
Aberdeen Stakes Aberdeen Stakes The Aberdeen Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually from 1913 through 1947 at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Open to two-year-olds of either sex, it was run on dirt over a distance of four-and-a-half furlongs. At one time an important event for juveniles, 1915 winner George Smith and 1919 winner Paul Jones both went on to win the Kentucky Derby. The Aberdeen Stakes was last run in 1947, a year in which Saggy won and set a new World Record for the fourand-a-half furlong distance on dirt around one turn. Most