What Is The Triple Crown?

The term has been thrown around a lot in horse racing this week as American Pharoah seeks the Triple Crown, so for the unaware what does that mean exactly?

No greater honor can be given to three-year-old horses than calling them a Triple Crown winner.

For five weeks in the spring, the three-year-old horses race in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, then two weeks later they race at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland at the Preakness Stakes and three weeks after that they race in the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The Kentucky Derby is the most famous and most prestigious of the Triple Crown races, the Preakness is the shortest at 1 3/16 miles long and the Belmont is the oldest race and the longest at a grueling 1.5 miles long.

Winning all three is like a runner taking the gold medal in the Olympics in the 100-meter dash and the mile. The first two legs are more or less sprints to the finish while the Belmont, nicknamed The Test of the Champion has seen 23 Triple Crown bids come to an end, including 14 since Affirmed won the last Triple Crown in 1978.

American Pharoah will try to end the drought after winning the Derby and Preakness and is the heavy favorite with 2-3 odds for the eight-horse race. Do you think he’ll be able to do what so many before him couldn’t? Do you think horse racing needs a Triple Crown winner to become more than just a niche sport for a few weeks in the spring?

Here are the 11 previous Triple Crown winners:

1919: Sir Barton

1930: Gallant Fox

1935: Omaha

1937: War Admiral

1941: Whirlaway

1943: Count Fleet

1946: Assault

1948: Citation

1973: Secretariat

1977: Seattle Slew

1978: Affirmed

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