Author: Lindsay Griffin
Every year, top racehorses are crowned champions.
However, of all of those champions, only thirteen also don the most coveted prize in United States Thoroughbred racing: the Triple Crown, comprised of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.
These are our Triple Crown winners and their stories. If you want for information about the Triple Crown you can find it here: https://www.twinspires.com/triple-crown
Sir Barton (1919)
The first Triple Crown winner took the series more than a decade before the three races were officially linked. He also entered the Kentucky Derby as a maiden, meaning that he had never won a race at that point.
The son of *Star Shoot struggled with soundness throughout his career and had the misfortune of crossing paths with the great Man o’War, whom he lost to in a match race. He had a few minor successes at stud before being repurposed as an Army Remount stallion.
Gallant Fox (1930)
A bay colt by *Sir Galahad III, Gallant Fox was a stakes winner at age two who blossomed into a dominant champion at three. His Derby win was the first ever launched from a starting gate, as opposed to a web barrier.
He also has the distinction of being the only Triple Crown winner whose victories came in a different order than the others, as the Preakness was, at the time, run before the Kentucky Derby. His defeat in the Travers Stakes (by 100-1 shot Jim Dandy) was regarded as one of the greatest upsets in racing history, but he redeemed himself by defeating older horses in the Saratoga Cup.
Omaha (1935)
Gallant Fox’s stud career reached its peak in his very first crop, for that was when Omaha was born.
Omaha was a huge chestnut colt who looked very little like his sire. Known for his come-from-behind style, Omaha went to England at age four and lost the famed Ascot Gold Cup by a nose to the staying filly, Quashed.
He returned to the United States at the conclusion of his racing career, and he was not a success at stud.
War Admiral (1937)
War Admiral didn’t look at all like his famous sire, Man o’War, but he was by far Big Red’s most accomplished offspring. He became known for his courage when, at the start of the Belmont Stakes, he stumbled and cut his foot but carried on winning the race anyway.
He continued his success at age four, winning many major races, but he lost year-end championship honors when Seabiscuit defeated him in a match race. His daughters became notable producers.
Whirlaway (1941)
Whirlaway was known for his long, flowing tail and his erratic come-from-behind running style. The son of *Blenheim II won the Kentucky Derby by a record-tying eight lengths.
Later in his career, he raced to support war bonds as World War II lived up to its name, and he lost by a scant nose in a popular match race with younger champion Alsab. With 60 career starts, he was by far the most experienced Triple Crown winner. His stud career was disappointing.
Count Fleet (1943)
Count Fleet was a dominant champion at ages two and three; his rating of 132 on the Experimental Free Handicap for two-year-olds is a record to this day. His Run for the Roses became known as the “Streetcar Derby,” due to wartime gasoline rationing.
He won the Belmont Stakes by 25 lengths, but in doing so he suffered a career-ending injury and never raced again. He had a long and fruitful stud career, siring two Kentucky Derby winners and two Horse of the Year champions.
Assault (1946)
Known as the “Club-Footed comet” due to a disfiguring hoof injury suffered in his youth, this son of Kentucky Derby winner Bold Venture tied Whirlaway’s eight length win in the Derby.
After his Triple Crown triumph, Assault had victories against even more difficult competition; his handicap division contemporaries included champions Armed, Gallorette, and Stymie. He raced until the age of seven, and upon retirement was discovered to have severe fertility problems. He never sired any registered Thoroughbreds.
Citation (1948)
Citation was one of racing’s all-time greats. He was one of three champions foaled at Calumet Farm in 1945 and sired by their standout sire Bull Lea.
After a championship juvenile season, Citation won the Triple Crown as part of a sixteen-race winning streak that was only broken when a back injury necessitated a layoff of more than a year.
He did not return with quite the same brilliance as he had earlier in his career but was still good enough to take some major California stakes races and become racing’s first million-dollar winner. He had a disappointing stud career.
Secretariat (1973)
A gorgeous red chestnut who evoked memories of Man o’War, Secretariat was dominant enough to not only be named champion at age two, but Horse of the Year. A surprising loss in his final Kentucky Derby prep led some to believe that the Bold Ruler colt was all hype, but “Big Red” laid those concerns to rest with stakes and track records in each Triple Crown race, with his Belmont tour de force serving as a thirty-one-length exclamation point.
The remainder of Secretariat’s career was up and down- two puzzling losses interspersed among impressive victories against older rivals in dirt and turf- but it resulted in another easy Horse of the Year honor. Syndicated to a record six million dollars as a stallion, Secretariat had the most impact as a sire of exceptional broodmares and his life story eventually turned into a movie.
Seattle Slew (1977)
The first horse to take the Triple Crown while undefeated was this dark bay son of Bold Reasoning. Even after winning the Triple Crown, many were quick to dismiss Slew as “the best of a bad lot,” and they felt vindicated when he felt his first defeat in the Swaps Stakes.
A long layoff ensued, during which Slew nearly died of a virus, but he returned better than ever as a four-year-old. After dominating the handicap division, won a well-publicized matchup with younger Triple Crown champion Affirmed in the Woodward Stakes before suffering a gutsy loss in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.
He became an influential sire, and his male line carries on today through his son A.P. Indy, who, due to his being out of a Secretariat mare, represents the union of two spectacular Triple Crown winners.
Affirmed (1978)
Affirmed’s Triple Crown story is unique in that it is inextricably tied to his rivalry with another horse, Alydar. The two traded blows as two-year-olds, with Affirmed getting the better of Alydar on five occasions but losing to him twice. Preparing for the Triple Crown, the son of Exclusive Native took a break from Alydar, but the two reunited in the Kentucky Derby. Alydar was favored, but it was Affirmed who got to the wire 1 ½ lengths in front.
Alydar made it closer in the Preakness and the Belmont, but Affirmed won all three by a combined margin of less than two lengths. A win (via disqualification) over Affirmed in the Travers in the pair’s final meeting was a small consolation, but Alydar was never the same.
Affirmed, however, continued to soar as a four-year-old, setting a new earnings record of over two million dollars in the process of securing his third straight end-of-year championship. He sired champion Flawlessly and Canadian Triple Crown winner Peteski, but did not go on to have lasting impact at stud.
American Pharoah (2015)
Thirty-seven years was a long wait, but a bay colt by Pioneerof the Nile made it all worth it. The juvenile champion of 2014, American Pharoah came into the Kentucky Derby having only lost once in his career- in his racing debut- and won with authority.
Racegoers tried not to get their hopes up after his Preakness win, as there had been many a Triple Crown teased and dashed over the decades, but his easy Belmont win brought the racing world to its knees.
He followed his series with a gutsy Haskell win, a shocking Travers upset defeat by Keen Ice, and a final, decisive victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. At stud, he has sired stakes winners such as American Theorem, As Time Goes By, Forbidden Kingdom, and Four Wheel Drive.
Justify (2018)
The enigmatic Justify will always be one of racing’s great question marks. The only American Triple Crown winner ever to debut at age three instead of two, Justify went from unraced, to Triple Crown champion, to retired in just under four months.
The chestnut son of Scat Daddy had a career that consisted of six victories from six starts, by far the shortest of any horse listed here, and his speedy retirement will always leave fans wondering what kind of a racehorse he would have developed into. His first crop to race included stakes winners Justique, Just Cindy, and Champions Dream, a 2023 Triple Crown hopeful.
