Bet on the 2019 Triple Crown

Triple Crown immortality is horse racing's greatest honor. Countless horses have tried and only 12 have succeeded, none since 2015.

In order to win a Triple Crown, a horse must win three long races in five weeks, at three different tracks, in three different states.The Triple Crown starts with the "Run for the Roses", the Kentucky Derby, on the first Saturday of May. The Preakness follows two weeks later. The Belmont Stakes is five weeks after the Kentucky Derby in early June.

In 1930, Gallant Fox won all three important races, and sportswriter Charles Hatton brought the phrase "Triple Crown".

Triple Crown Winners

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Owner
2015	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert	Zayat Stables, LLC
1978	Affirmed	Steve Cauthen	Laz Barrera	Harbor View Farm
1977	Seattle Slew	Jean Cruguet	William H. Turner, Jr.	Karen L. Taylor
1973	Secretariat	Ron Turcotte	Lucien Laurin	Meadow Stable
1948	Citation	Eddie Arcaro	Horace A. Jones	Calumet Farm
1946	Assault	Warren Mehrtens	Max Hirsch	King Ranch
1943	Count Fleet	Johnny Longden	G. Donald Cameron	Fannie Hertz
1941	Whirlaway	Eddie Arcaro	Ben A. Jones	Calumet Farm
1937	War Admiral	Charley Kurtsinger	George Conway	Samuel D. Riddle
1935	Omaha	Willie Saunders	Jim Fitzsimmons	Belair Stud
1930	Gallant Fox	Earl Sande	Jim Fitzsimmons	Belair Stud
1919	Sir Barton	Johnny Loftus	H. Guy Bedwell	J. K. L. Ross

As of 2012, the current drought of 34 years since Affirmed won in 1978, is the longest drought between Triple Crown winning horses. Since 1978, eleven horses have won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Of those, Real Quiet has come the closest to winning the Triple Crown, losing the Belmont Stakes by a nose in 1998. Charismatic led the Belmont in the final furlong in 1999 but broke his leg in the final stretch and fell back to third. The three most recent to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness but lose the Belmont were War Emblem in 2002, Funny Cide in 2003, Smarty Jones in 2004 and of course Big Brown in 2008. War Emblem tripped at the start of the Belmont, Funny lost the Belmont in the slop to fresh horses, and Smarty lost by only a length. In addition, several horses have won two of the three races since the last Triple Crown win, most recently Afleet Alex in 2005, who lost the Kentucky Derby but won the Preakness and Belmont.

Only one horse, Alydar, has placed (second place) in all three races. He was defeated by Affirmed in all three races in 1978 by a combined margin of two lengths. In addition, Mane Minister finished 3rd in each race in 1991, and Hawkster finished 5th in each race in 1989.

One trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, has won the Triple Crown with two different horses, Thunder Gulch and Timber Country, winning the three races in 1995. While this is not declared a Triple Crown officially, it is unique as a trainer that he is the only trainer to win the three races in a calendar year with different horses.

2006 was the first time since 2000 that three different horses won the races: Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby (but then suffered an eventually fatal injury during the Preakness), Bernardini won the Preakness, and Jazil won the Belmont Stakes. It happened again in 2007, with Street Sense winning the Kentucky Derby, Curlin winning the Preakness and the filly Rags to Riches winning the Belmont. Rags to Riches is 2006 Belmont winner Jazil's half sister. This trend has continued for the past three years with different horses winning each of the jewels in the Triple Crown. 2011 was no different even though Animal Kingdom went into the Preakness looking very strong, Shackleford took home the win in the 2011 Preakness Stakes.

Here are a list of winners for each of the Triple Crown races from 1985 to present.

Year	Kentucky Derby	Preakness Stakes	Belmont Stakes
2011	Animal Kingdom	Shackleford	Ruler on Ice
2010	Super Saver	Lookin at Lucky	Drosselmeyer
2009	Mine That Bird	Rachel Alexandra	Summer Bird
2008	Big Brown	Big Brown	Da' Tara
2007	Street Sense	Curlin	Rags to Riches
2006	Barbaro	Bernardini	Jazil
2005	Giacomo	Afleet Alex	Afleet Alex
2004	Smarty Jones	Smarty Jones	Birdstone
2003	Funny Cide	Funny Cide	Empire Maker
2002	War Emblem	War Emblem	Sarava
2001	Monarchos	Point Given	Point Given
2000	Fusaichi Pegasus	Red Bullet	Commendable
1999	Charismatic	Charismatic	Lemon Drop Kid
1998	Real Quiet	Real Quiet	Victory Gallop
1997	Silver Charm	Silver Charm	Touch Gold
1996	Grindstone	Louis Quatorze	Editor's Note
1995	Thunder Gulch	Timber Country	Thunder Gulch
1994	Go for Gin	Tabasco Cat	Tabasco Cat
1993	Sea Hero	Prairie Bayou	Colonial Affair
1992	Lil E. Tee	Pine Bluff	A.P. Indy
1991	Strike the Gold	Hansel	Hansel
1990	Unbridled	Summer Squall	Go And Go
1989	Sunday Silence	Sunday Silence	Easy Goer
1988	Winning Colors	Risen Star	Risen Star
1987	Alysheba	Alysheba	Bet Twice
1986	Ferdinand	Snow Chief	Danzig Connection
1985	Spend A Buck	Tank's Prospect	Creme Fraiche