Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)
The races are traditionally run in May and early June of each year, although global events have resulted in schedule adjustments, such as in 1945 and 2020.
Only 13 horses have ever won the Triple Crown: Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), Affirmed (1978), American Pharoah (2015), and Justify (2018).
James E. "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons was the first trainer to win the Triple Crown more than once; he trained both Gallant Fox and Omaha for the Belair Stud.
Bob Baffert became the second trainer to win the Triple Crown more than once, training American Pharoah and Justify.
[1] The three Triple Crown races had existed long before the series received its name: the Belmont Stakes was first run in 1867, the Preakness in 1873,[2] and the Kentucky Derby in 1875.
On December 31, 1912, Johnson N. Camden Jr. proposed a Triple Crown of Kentucky races to be held at Lexington, Louisville, and Latonia,[3] then later a "Quadruple Stake" to include the Douglas Park racetrack.
The adjusted schedule started with the Belmont Stakes on June 20, at the shortened distance of 1+1⁄8 miles (9 furlongs).
[18] Meanwhile, the 2026 Preakness Stakes is expected to be run at Maryland's Laurel Park while Pimlico Race Course undergoes planned renovations.
Eddie Arcaro is the only jockey to ride two horses to the Triple Crown, both for Calumet: Whirlaway and Citation.
The horse Sir Barton was foaled in the United States but had a Canadian owner, J. K. L. Ross, at the time of his Triple Crown win.
In 1995, D. Wayne Lukas became the first and only major figure (owner, jockey, or trainer) to win all three Triple Crown races with different horses, Thunder Gulch in the Derby and Belmont, Timber Country in the Preakness.
[26] Jockey Julie Krone became the first (and currently only[27]) woman to win a Triple Crown race when she won the 1993 Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair.
Whirlaway, in addition to winning the 1941 Triple Crown, also won the Travers Stakes that year, the first and only horse to date to accomplish that feat.
American Pharoah, in addition to winning the 2015 Triple Crown, also won the Breeders' Cup Classic that year.
As the Breeders' Cup was not established until 1984, American Pharoah was the first (and currently only) horse to sweep those four races, a feat now known as the Grand Slam.
[28][29] Arcangelo won the 2023 Belmont Stakes, making Jena Antonucci the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race.
However, following the 1948 win of Citation, there was a considerable gap of 25 years before Secretariat ended the drought of Triple Crown champions in 1973.
[31] In 2003, Gary Stevens stated in an interview with Charlie Rose that he did not believe there would be another Triple Crown winner because of the tendency for owners to put fresh horses in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
[32] California Chrome co-owner Steve Coburn was particularly critical of the Triple Crown system in post-Belmont remarks in 2014; he considered the system to be unfair, arguing that there would never be another Triple Crown winner in his lifetime unless only horses that competed in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness competed at the Belmont.
The first live national television broadcast of a Triple Crown race occurred with the 1947 Belmont Stakes on CBS.
[52] Originally, the three races largely organized their own nominations procedure, marketing and television broadcast rights.
The NYRA felt that they did not get a fair share of the revenue, particularly when the Belmont had the highest ratings of all three races in the years where a Triple Crown was on the line.
[a][56] With the contract term ending, the NYRA went to ESPN on ABC for the 2006 Belmont, while the broadcasts of the Derby and Preakness remained with NBC.
