Kentucky Derby Lucky Losers – Forego (1973)

Sep 29, 2025 Jennifer Kelly

When you think about the 1973 Kentucky Derby, two names probably spring to mind: Secretariat and Sham. Sham moved into the lead on the far turn with Secretariat following on the outside, the two hooking up in the stretch before the ninth Triple Crown winner passed Sham to win by two lengths in record time. All eyes were on the first two and rightly so, but behind them in fourth was a bay gelding clad in the yellow and black of Martha B. Farish Gerry’s Lazy F Ranch.

Though he might have been fourth behind Secretariat that day, Forego went on to have a Hall of Fame career all his own. This three-time Horse of the Year parlayed that losing turn under the Twin Spires into six storied seasons of sensational performances.

Big Boy Hopes

Forli had been an Argentine wonder horse, winning the country’s Triple Crown, and then came north to the United States as property of Arthur B. ‘Bull’ Hancock and Claiborne Farm. He won the Coronado Handicap in California and then was injured in his third American start. His racing career over, Forli stood at Claiborne Farm, where, in 1969, he covered Martha Gerry’s Lady Golconda, a stakes winner herself. On April 30, 1970, she foaled a large bay colt, his forehead adorned with a few wisps of white and a gray snip on his muzzle. Combining Forli and Lady Golconda, Gerry named him Forego, “to go before.”

Even as a foal, Forego was a big boy. Eventually, he would grow to just over 17 hands and 1,225 pounds with a 77-inch girth; Secretariat, by contrast, was 16.1 hands with a 76-inch girth. Forego’s hips were so wide that he almost did not fit into a starting gate stall. His size, combined with his aggressiveness, led trainer Sherrill Ward to recommend gelding the son of Forli. Due to his size and his temperament, Ward and Gerry decided to forgo racing Forego at age two and then scheduled his debut for the middle of January 1973.

He won two of his first three starts before trying the Hutcheson (G3) at Gulfstream Park, where he was second behind Shecky Greene. Gerry and Ward decided to try the classics with Forego, sending him to the Florida Derby (where he was second), the Blue Grass Stakes (fifth), and then the Kentucky Derby. Because of his size and relative inexperience, Forego had a hard time changing leads in the ten-furlong Run for the Roses, nearly sending jockey Pete Anderson into the infield when he tried to change leads and ended up veering into the rail. Despite that, he was able to make up enough ground to finish in the top four. Forego started ten more times that season, finishing 1973 with nine wins in eighteen starts, including victories in the Roamer (G2) and the Discovery (G3) Handicaps.

Big Horse, Immortal Champion

At the end of 1973, Secretariat stepped off a van and into his stud career while the gelded Forego continued to build on his successful first season with more of the same in 1974. His success came despite suspect ankles and joints that caused him issues throughout his career. His time on the racetrack was marked by bouts with swelling in his rear ankle. Ward had to shoe him with steel rear shoes rather than aluminum to keep his foot from spreading. He also had an enlarged sesamoid in his left front, but somehow, despite all of these impediments, Forego learned to soldier on and race, overcoming ever-increasing weights to win and win often.

With his home base in New York, the gelding dominated many of Gotham’s traditional features. He won the Woodward Stakes four times, starting with age four and through his seven-year-old season, carrying anywhere from 126 to 135 pounds. He also won three consecutive Brooklyn Handicaps, with similar imposts, alongside consecutive wins in the Metropolitan Handicap, toting 133 in his final victory in that race. His other graded wins came in races like the Carter, Widener, Gulfstream Park, and Seminole Handicaps, as well as the 1976 Marlboro Cup, where he carried 137 pounds and jockey Bill Shoemaker to victory over Honest Pleasure.

Eventually, though, Father Time caught up to him. When he retired at age eight in 1978, he had calcium chips around his pasterns and sesamoids and a partial dislocation of the pastern joint. He retired just short of Kelso’s all-time earnings mark with three Horses of the Year titles plus five other Eclipse awards, including four consecutive Champion Older Horse titles. The gelding spent the first part of his retirement at John Ward’s Home Place farm in Lexington and then moved to the Kentucky Horse Park, where he lived until age 27, a fractured pastern bone finally stopping the last great weight carrier in American racing.

Although he happened to be part of a crop of horses that included Secretariat, Mr. Prospector, and La Prevoyante, Forego built a career that featured many winning days, aside from that losing turn under the Twin Spires, creating a legend that lives in the minds of racing fans to this day. Trainer Frank Whitely, who conditioned the Hall of Famer after Sherrill Ward’s retirement in 1975, said of the great gelding: “There may have been a braver horse than Forego, but I’ve never seen him, and I don’t suppose I ever will.”