Who was the last horse to win the Triple Crown?
By Zoe West
Designed as the ultimate test of a racehorse, winning the Triple Crown is not easy. To this point, only 12 have done it, the most recent of those was American Pharoah.
Some decades have seemed to produce far more than their share of excellent racehorses, while others have been woefully bare. Obviously this does not dictate whether any horse wins the Triple Crown or not but it can lead to depressing gaps between winners, and greater excitement when a horse finally pulls it off.
After the Triple Crown moniker was put in place (in 1930) wins followed, not reliably, but with some regularity. In between 1930 and 1948 there were __ triple crown winners. Not quite enough to make it an expected outcome, but regular enough. However, just when the Triple Crown was looking like it wasn’t that difficult a test, there was a big gap. After Citation (in 1948) the next horse to win the Triple Crown was Secretariat in 1073.
The seventies were also a deep decade for Triple Crown winners, in ’73, ’76, and ’78. Then there was another long gap. In fact, it got to the point that many people were wondering whether some vital piece, either of the thoroughbred breed or the series set-up, had changed. Wondered if there would ever be a Triple Crown winner again. The second of those doubts is certainly true, the suffocating mature of the media and pressure has only grown over time. And the first one is arguable, the fear that there would never be a Triple Crown winner again proved false.
In 2015, after a gap of 37 years, the Triple Crown draught was ended by American Pharoah. His sweep proved that the Triple Crown is still an achievable goal, even if it seems more difficult than ever. Now the question is, did his victory usher in another decade (or so) of relatively regular wins, or was that just an outlier, and another long draught tis about to begin.
Next: 20 short stories about the 2018 Kentucky Derby horses
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