page_title: Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)
section_title: Gaps between wins
hierarchical_section_title: Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) / Gaps between wins
caption_attribution_description: English: Start of the Belmont Stakes 2014. California Chrome, in number 2 spot, stumbles at the start due to being stepped on by the number 3 horse, (see red circled area) an incident that may have cost him the race
context_page_description: In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a title awarded to a three-year-old Thoroughbred horse who wins the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three races were inaugurated in different years, the last being the Kentucky Derby in 1875. The Triple Crown Trophy, commissioned in 1950 but awarded to all previous winners as well as those after 1950, is awarded to a Triple Crown winner. The races are traditionally run in May and early June of each year, although global events have resulted in schedule adjustments, such as in 1945 and 2020.
  The first winner of all three Triple Crown races was Sir Barton in 1919. Some journalists began using the term Triple Crown to refer to the three races as early as 1923, but it was not until Gallant Fox won the three events in 1930 that Charles Hatton of the Daily Racing Form put the term into common use.
  In the history of the Triple Crown, 13 horses have won all three races: Sir Barton, Gallant Fox, Omaha, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Count Fleet, Assault, Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, American Pharoah, and Justify.
context_section_description: After the first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, in 1919, there was not another winner until Gallant Fox in 1930, a gap of 11 years. Between 1930 and 1948, seven horses won the Triple Crown, with five years being the longest gap between winners. However, following the 1948 win of Citation, there was a considerable gap of 25 years before Secretariat ended the drought of Triple Crown champions in 1973. Between 1973 and 1978, there were three Triple Crown winners.
  After Affirmed's Triple Crown in 1978, the longest drought in Triple Crown history began in 1979 with Spectacular Bid's failed Triple Crown attempt at the Belmont Stakes, and lasted until American Pharoah won in 2015. Between 1979 and 2014 thirteen horses won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, but either failed to win the Belmont Stakes or could not start in the race. Of those, Real Quiet came the closest to winning the Triple Crown, losing the Belmont Stakes by a nose in 1998. 
  Spectacular Bid finished 3rd in 1979.
  Pleasant Colony finished 3rd in 1981.
  Alysheba finished 4th in 1987.
  Sunday Silence finished 2nd in 1989.
  Real Quiet finished 2nd in 1998.
  Charismatic finished 3rd in 1999.
  War Emblem finished 8th in 2002.
  Funny Cide finished 3rd in 2003.
  Smarty Jones finished 2nd in 2004.
  Big Brown did not finish in 2008.
  I'll Have Another did not start (injury) 2012.
  California Chrome finished 4th in 2014.
  In the 1979-2015 period, horses who contested all three races, losing the Kentucky Derby but winning the Preakness and the Belmont were Risen Star in 1988, Hansel in 1991, Tabasco Cat in 1994, Point Given in 2001, and Afleet Alex in 2005. In 1972, Riva Ridge and 1984, Swale and in 1995, Thunder Gulch ran all three races, winning the Derby and the Belmont, but not the Preakness.
  The 37-year gap between the Triple Crown wins of Affirmed and American Pharoah drew criticism of the system. As far back as 1986, reporters noted that horses who were fresh for the Belmont had an advantage.  In 2003, Gary Stevens stated in an interview with Charlie Rose that he did not believe there would be another Triple Crown winner because of the tendency for owners to put fresh horses in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. California Chrome co-owner Steve Coburn was particularly critical of the Triple Crown system in post-Belmont remarks in 2014; he considered the system to be unfair, arguing that there would never be another Triple Crown winner in his lifetime unless only horses that competed in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness competed at the Belmont. By 2014, six of the previous eight Belmont winners had not competed in either of the first two legs of the Triple Crown.  Additionally, from 2006 to 2014, the Belmont winner was a horse who had not competed in the Preakness.
caption: California Chrome (second from right) was stepped on by the number 3 horse while leaving the starting gate at the 2014 Belmont Stakes
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