TRIPLE CROWN WINNERS - Jim Colyer

In all of horse racing, only 3 races matter. They are The Kentucky Derby, The Preakness Stakes and The Belmont Stakes. They make up racing's Triple Crown. Of all the thoroughbred horses, only 11 matter. They are the 11 who have won The Triple Crown. In order, these horses are Sir Barton 1919, Gallant Fox 1930, Omaha, 1935, War Admiral 1937, Whirlaway 1941, Count Fleet 1943, Assault 1946, Citation 1948, Secretariat 1973, Seattle Slew 1977, Affirmed 1978. There were 3 Triple Crown Winners in the 1930's, 4 in the 1940's and 3 in the 1970's. A horse is a horse. Even though I have their pictures on the site, you could put either name on either horse and I would not know the difference. 1919 Sir Barton - Sir Barton was the first Triple Crown winner. This was before the 3 races were called The Triple Crown. It was recognized as a great feat. Sir Barton was upstaged by Man o' War. Man o' War beat Sir Barton by 7 lengths in a match race in 1920. Man o' War won The Preakness and The Belmont in 1920. He missed The Kentucky Derby because his owner, Samuel Riddle, thought Churchill Downs was too far west. Man o' War won 20 of 21 races. He was beaten by a horse called Upset by 1/2 length. He beat Upset 6 times. Man o' War was known as Big Red. He was a big horse with a voracious apetite. He was hugely popular. He was the Babe Ruth of horses. He once went off at 1-100. He won a race by 100 lengths. He did well at stud. 1937 Triple Crown Winner, War Admiral, was one of his progeny. He died in 1937 at age 30. Man o' War may be the greatest thoroughbred of all time to this day but he did not win The Triple Crown. 1930 Gallant Fox - Gallant Fox was the second Triple Crown winner. He sired the 1935 Triple Crown winner, Omaha. 1935 Omaha - "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons trained Omaha. His horses won 2,275 races. 1937 War Admiral - War Admiral won 21 out of 26. Like Sir Barton, he is most remembered for losing a match race to a more popular horse. Seabiscuit beat War Admiral by 4 lengths in 1938. Samuel Riddle owned War Admiral. He chose to run him in The Kentucky Derby so as not to make the mistake he made with his father. 1941 Whirlaway - Whirlaway was owned by Calumet Farm and was the first of Calumet's 8 Kentucky Derby winners and 2 Triple Crown winners. Whirlaway was ridden by Eddie Arcaro. To his discredit, he became the third Triple Crown winner to lose a match race. Alsab beat him by a nose. 1943 Count Fleet - Count Fleet won 16 of 21 races. The Belmont Stakes won his final race. An ankle injury ended his career. 1946 Assault - Assault stepped on a stake as a foal. His right fore hoof was malformed. He was called The clubfooted Comet. Assault was sterile. He raced til he was 7. 1948 Citation - Citation was Calumet Farm's second Triple Crown winner. Eddie Acaro was the jockey. Citation won 32 of 45 races and was horse racing's first millionaire. He was one of the 3 greatest horse ever and the last Triple Crown winner for 25 years. 1973 Secretariat - Secretariat was a phenomenon, one of the 3 greatest along with Man o' War and Citation. I was at Churchill Downs when he won The Kentucky Derby in 1973. I bet $75 on him to show. I was cautious because of the way horses had burned me in the past. You can not trust the best of them. Secretariat was owned by Penny Tweedy and Lucien Lauren. Ron Turcott was the jockey. Secretariat set a record in the Derby. He ran the 1 1/4 miles in 1:59-2/5. His record stands. He is the only horse to ever run the Debery in under 2 minutes. It was in The Belmont Stakes that Secretariat attained immortality. He won it by 31 lengths, utterly destroying Sham. Secretariat set a record for The Belmont. He ran the 1 1/2 miles in 2:24. Secretariat was explosive. On a good day, he could have beaten Man O' War. Both horses ran 21 races. Man o' War won 20 to Secretariat's 16. Secretariat was a beautiful horse and the darling of Baby Boomers. That he was beaten by Onion proved no horse is infallible. Jockey Ron Turcott later fell from a mount and was paralysed. 1977 Seattle Slew - By 1977, I was living and working in the State of Tennessee where there is no horse racing. I was lucking. Still, I knew Seattle Slew was a good horse. He went off 1-to-2 in The Kentucky Derby. He was Horse of the Year in 1977. He raced as a 4-year-old and beat Affirmed twice. Seattle slew sired Swale, the 1984 Derby winner. A guy I worked with saw the humor when Swale dropped dead of a heart attack. 1978 Affirmed - Affirmed can not be mentioned without Alydar. Theirs was the greatest rivalry in racing history. They met 10 times. Affirmed won 7. Affirmed was disqualified in their last meeting. Affirmed beat Alydar by 1-1/2 lengths in The Kentucky Derby and by a neck in The Preakness Stakes. In the Belmont, the rivals ran side by side down the stretch. At the wire, it was Affirmed by a head. I was at Churchill Downs the day Affirmed won The Kentucky Derby. I drove up from Tennessee. I knew nothing about the two horses. Someone told be to bet Alydar because of Calumet Farm. I lost $280 that day, hard earned money. It would be 15 years before I returned to the track and when I did, it was with my father and young son. I let Michael bet $2 a race for four races just to show him no one beats the horses. Affirmed went on to become the first $2 million winner. Alydar did better at stud and got the last laugh. Michael and I went to the 2005 Derby. We were in the infield. He did not care for the mob and is looking into tickets for next year. The 3-year-old classics. What cities? What tracks?
Contact: jim@jimcolyer.com