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As good as Secretariat may be, he still has to prove his worth to Sham and his trainer, Frank ("Pancho") Martin. Before the Wood, Martin brazenly and unsuccessfully offered any takers the opportunity to bet $5,000 against his horse in a head-to-head contest with Secretariat. A Cuban who trains Sham for New York Contractor Sigmund Sommer, Martin is banking on the fact that no son of Bold Ruler has ever won a Derby, or any Triple Crown race for that matter. The Derby distance of 1¼ miles is too great, some believe, for Bold Ruler's progeny. And if Sham is not the horse to prove that, perhaps it will be longer shots like Royal and Regal or Forego.
Further complicating the guessing for bettors is the fact that Laurin trains both Secretariat and Angle Light. Therefore the two horses will have to be paired as a single entry, as they were in the Wood. Despite that victory, Angle Light is not considered a serious Derby threat, but could become a critical factor on the chance that he fouls another horse during the race. That would mean the disqualification of both Secretariat and Angle Light. Laurin, who trains Angle Light for Edwin Whittaker of Toronto, last week asked the Kentucky state racing commission to allow the horses separate entry status. His request was denied.
Superstitious horseplayers also remember the famous paired entry in the 1948 Derby. Coaltown, a lightly regarded horse, finished a strong second. Coaltown's stablemate, Citation, won the Derby, then went on to capture the Triple Crown—the last horse to do so.