Information About the Triple Crown Horse Race

Comprising the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, the modern version of the Triple Crown, while following a century and a half of rich horse-racing tradition, continues to evolve and change from its original incarnation as a series of regional races. The first series of races was not run in the order seen today; the Belmont came first, then the Preakness and, finally, the Kentucky Derby. The Derby is the only one of the races that has continuously run every year since its inception, with gaps showing in both the Preakness and Belmont. Racing fans consider winning the Triple Crown the greatest accomplishment of any 3-year-old Thoroughbred horse.

  1. The Kentucky Derby

    • Animal Kingdom, #16, crosses the finish line to win the 2011 Kentucky Derby.

      Traditionally held the first Saturday in May, the "Run for the Roses," as the Kentucky Derby is called, began in 1875 as the dream of Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., grandson of explorer William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame. He built Churchill Downs, originally called the Louisville Jockey Club, in Louisville, Kentucky, to house 1 1/4-mile race modeled after horse races he witnessed in Europe. Since 1921, the best 3-year-old Thoroughbreds in the racing world step out on the oval dirt track to the tune of Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home" and, beginning with the 1896 race, the winner comes home wearing a garland of red roses. Colts and geldings carry consistent weights of 126 lbs., while fillies carry 121 lbs. Steeped in tradition, the Kentucky Derby continues to rank as one of the most watched sporting events in the world.

    The Preakness Stakes

    • Shackleford, #5, after winning the 2011 Preakness Stakes.

      Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness Stakes, opened in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1870, making it the second oldest horse-racing track in the United States behind Saratoga. Known as "Old Hilltop" after a small elevation in the infield used by spectators to watch the races close up, Pimlico began hosting the Preakness Stakes in 1873. Run on a dirt track for 1 3/16 miles, the Preakness showcases 3-year-old geldings and colts at 126 lb. carrying-weight and fillies at 121 lb. carrying-weight the third Saturday in May, two weeks after the Derby. This test of speed and endurance, named after the first winner of the Dinner Party Stakes, the first stakes race run at Pimlico in 1870, honors its winner with a blanket of Black-Eyed Susans. The owner's name is engraved on a solid-silver, Tiffany-made vase, considered to be the most valuable trophy in American sports.

    The Belmont Stakes

    • Ruler On Ice, #3, ran on a sloppy track to win the 2011 Belmont Stakes.

      The Belmont Stakes, the oldest of the three Triple Crown races, first ran in 1867 out of Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Named for August Belmont, Thoroughbred owner and president of the American Jockey Club at the time, the 1 ½-mile dirt-track endurance race convenes three weeks after the Preakness on the second Saturday in June. Called to the post by the theme song from "New York, New York," the horses carry the same weights as in the other Triple Crown races. The winning horse wears a blanket of white carnations, leading to this race being nicknamed "The Run for the Carnations." Secretariat, arguably the greatest racehorse of his generation, won the 1973 Belmont by 31 lengths and was pulling away from the field, winning the Triple Crown, and setting a speed and endurance record that remains unbroken by this date of 2011.

    Triple Crown History

    • The three races -- the Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont -- were seen only as multiple stakes races run fairly close together in early Triple Crown history. Sir Barton, the first winner in 1919 of all three, was not named as a "Triple Crown" winner until 1950 when the Thoroughbred Racing Association officially recognized the grouping of races as the Triple Crown. Prior to that date, horse owners and racing enthusiasts viewed the three races as a championship test for developing 3-year-olds, not the crown jewel of horse racing that it is today. As of 2011, only 10 thoroughbreds, all colts, have won the Triple Crown since 1919, the last being Affirmed in 1978. Big Brown, the last horse to come close by winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, did so in 2008, but never finished the Belmont Stakes after being eased up by his jockey.