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Triple Crown Productions was an ad hoc production company that produced the series of Triple Crown races for thoroughbred horses.
In 1985, a group of people wanted to increase the stature of the Triple Crown on television. Other than the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes were considered the two "other" races. ABC Sports, which had broadcast the Derby since 1975, wanted to televise all the races as a three race package. CBS Sports, which showed the other two races, had much lower ratings for them, with the possible exceptions of years in which the Crown was at stake like 1973, 1977, and 1978.
In 1977, ABC was awarded the contract to televise the Preakness. TCP was formed in 1985 after CBS terminated its contract with NYRA. ABC Sports won the rights to broadcast all three races, as well as many prep races. Ratings went up after the package was centralized.
Triple Crown Publications was charged with marketing the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes as a single entity. Incorporated in September 1985, Triple Crown Productions opened its offices at Churchill Downs in January 1986 and inaugurated a common nomination form and fees for all three races. Early nominations were set at a fee of $600 for each horse nominated at the closing of mid-January and late nominations for $3,000 (now $6,000) closing six weeks prior to the Derby. Supplemental entries were also set at $150,000 for the Derby and $100,000 for the Preakness and Belmont if nominating a horse after the second nomination close.
In 1986 Triple Crown Productions in an effort to get more publicity for the three race series sought a sponsor. The very next year, beginning in 1987, Chrysler Motors agreed to offer a three tiered bonus called the "Chrysler Triple Crown Challenge" and a "Triple Crown Bonus." The first two phases of the bonus would have two distinct payouts to the owners of horses running in the Triple Crown series.
The first part of the bonus would be paid out to any horse that could sweep all three legs of the Triple Crown. That bonus brought the combined purse winnings of all three race purses and the extra series bonus to equal $5,000,000 to the winner along with the special Triple Crown Trophy commissioned by the Thoroughbred Racing Association. A second phase of the bonus was to be paid out as a flat $1,000,000 to any horse that started and finished in all three races and had the highest combined total finish. The requirement to "finish all three races" affected the 1993 result, as Sea Hero was declared the winner in 1993 despite Prairie Bayou ending up with more points, as Prairie Bayou broke down during the Belmont Stakes and failed to finish.
Chrysler also offered a third phase to the "Triple Crown Challenge." The automobile company offered a bonus and showcased its vehicles in track infields and on network television, and gave away a new Chrysler vehicle to the winning jockey of every Triple Crown race. If the same jockey won a second race during the same annual series then the Chrysler vehicle would be given to the winning trainer. The $5,000,000 Triple Crown bonus was never paid, as there were no Triple Crown winners between 1978 and 2014.
An enduring feature of the Challenge was the establishment of a point system to determine which horse had the highest combined Triple Crown total finish. Points were awarded equally in all three Triple Crown races. Ten points were earned by a win.Five points were earned by a place finish, three points were earned for a show finish and one point was awarded to a fourth-place finish. The horse that earned the highest number of points and started in all three races was awarded the million dollars. See table below for Highest combined Triple Crown finish in each year since 1987. The $1,000,000 bonus was discontinued after seven years.
In the first year of the challenge, a win was worth five points, second was worth three, third was worth one, and no points were awarded for fourth. Had the system used in later years been in effect, Alysheba's two firsts and a fourth (21 points) would have been enough to beat Bet Twice's two seconds and a first (20 points), but under the original system, Bet Twice had 11 points to Alysheba's 10.
This is a listing of the horses that finished in either first, second, third, or fourth in the Triple Crown Challenge, based on finishes in all three legs of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
| Year | First Place | Second Place | Third Place | Fourth Place | Bonus Sponsored by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | |||||
| 2022 | Rich Strike +10 Points | Early Voting +10 Points | Mo Donegal +10 Points | Nest +5 Points | no bonus offered |
| 2021 | Rombauer + 13 points | Medina Spirit + 13 points | Essential Quality + 11 points | Hot Rod Charlie + 8 points | no bonus offered |
| 2020 | Authentic + 15 points | Tiz the Law + 15 points | Swiss Skydiver + 10 points | Tacitus + 6 points | no bonus offered |
| 2019 | Country House + 10 points | War of Will + 10 points | Sir Winston + 10 points | Tacitus + 6 points | no bonus offered |
| 2018 | Justify + 30 points | Good Magic + 6 points | Bravazo + 5 points | Tenfold + 3 points | no bonus offered |
| 2017 | Always Dreaming + 10 points | Cloud Computing + 10 points | Tapwrit + 10 points | Classic Empire + 6 points | no bonus offered |
| 2016 | Exaggerator + 15 points | Nyquist + 13 points | Creator + 10 points | Destin + 5 points | no bonus offered |
| 2015 | American Pharoah + 30 points | Frosted + 6 points | Firing Line + 5 points | Tale of Verve + 5 points | no bonus offered |
| 2014 | California Chrome +21 points | Tonalist +10 points | Ride On Curlin +5 points | Commanding Curve +5 points | no bonus offered |
| 2013 | Oxbow +15 points | Orb +14 points | Palace Malice +10 points | Itsmyluckyday +5 points | no bonus offered |
| 2012 | I'll Have Another +20 points | Bodemeister +10 points | Union Rags +10 points | Paynter +5 points | no bonus offered |
| 2011 | Animal Kingdom +15 points | Shackleford +12 points | Ruler on Ice +10 points | Nehro +6 points | no bonus offered |
| 2010 | Lookin at Lucky +10 points | Super Saver +10 points | Drosselmeyer +10 points | First Dude +8 points | no bonus offered |
| 2009 | Mine That Bird +18 points | Rachel Alexandra +10 points | Summer Bird +10 points | Musket Man +6 points | no bonus offered |
| 2008 | Big Brown +20 points | Da'Tara +10 points | Denis of Cork +8 points | Macho Again +5 points | no bonus offered |
| 2007 | Curlin +18 points | Street Sense +15 points | Rags to Riches +10 points | Hard Spun +5 points | no bonus offered |
| 2006 | Bernardini +10 points | Barbaro +10 points | Jazil +10 points | Bluegrass Cat +10 points | no bonus offered |
| 2005 | Afleet Alex +23 points | Giacomo +13 points | Scrappy T +5 points | Closing Argument +5 points | Visa USA |
| 2004 | Smarty Jones +25 points | Birdstone +10 points | Rock Hard Ten +5 points | Lion Heart +5 points | Visa USA |
| 2003 | Funny Cide +23 points | Empire Maker +13 points | Midway Road +5 points | Ten Most Wanted +5 points | Visa USA |
| 2002 | War Emblem +20 points | Sarava +10 points | Proud Citizen +8 points | Magic Weisner +6 points | Visa USA |
| 2001 | Point Given +20 points | Monarchos +13 points | A P Valentine +10 points | Congaree +6 points | Visa USA |
| 2000 | Fusaichi Pegasus +15 points | Red Bullet +10 points | Commendable +10 points | Aptitude +10 points | Visa USA |
| 1999 | Charismatic +23 points | Lemon Drop Kid +10 points | Menifee +10 points | 3 way tie +3 points | Visa USA |
| 1998 | Real Quiet +25 points | Victory Gallop +20 points | Classic Cat +4 points | Indian Charlie +3 points | Visa USA |
| 1997 | Silver Charm +25 points | Free House +11 points | Touch Gold +11 points | Captain Bodgit +8 points | Visa USA |
| 1996 | Editor's Note +13 points | Louis Quatorze +11 points | Skip Away +10 points | Grindstone +10 points | Visa USA |
| 1995 | Thunder Gulch +23 points | Timber Country +13 points | Colonial Affair +10 points | Star Standard +6 points | Chrysler Corporation |
| 1994 | Tabasco Cat +20 points | Go for Gin +20 points | Strodes Creek +8 points | Concern +3 points | Chrysler Corporation |
| 1993 | Prairie Bayou +15 points | Sea Hero +10 points | Colonial Affair +10 points | Wild Gale +6 points | Chrysler Corporation |
| 1992 | Pine Bluff +13 points | A. P. Indy +10 points | Lil E. Tee +10 points | Casual Lies +8 points | Chrysler Corporation |
| 1991 | Hansel +20 points | Strike the Gold +15 points | Mane Minister +9 points | Corporate Report +6 points | Chrysler Corporation |
| 1990 | Summer Squall +15 points | Unbridled +15 points | Go and Go +10 points | Thirty Six Red +5 points | Chrysler Corporation |
| 1989 | Sunday Silence +25 points | Easy Goer +20 points | Rock Point +3 points | Awe Inspiring +3 points | Chrysler Corporation |
| 1988 | Risen Star +25 points | Winning Colors +13 points | Brian's Time +8 points | Forty Niner +5 points | Chrysler Corporation |
| 1987 | Bet Twice +11 points | Alysheba +10 points | Cryptoclearance +4 points | Gulch +1 point | Triple Crown Productions |
In 1996, as Chrysler ended its association as sponsor of the Triple Crown, Visa stepped in. Carl Pascarella, president of Visa, a horse owner himself, took the relationship far beyond where it was during the Chrysler era. Visa looked upon the sponsorship as a true partnership. In the winter and spring, Visa produced and aired television commercials focusing on its sponsorship of the three grade I races comprising the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, and then increased the marketing budget dramatically following the Preakness if a horse was eligible to win the Visa Triple Crown Challenge. Visa helped market racing in ways that racing could not afford to do on its own.
In addition to the mass marketing campaign, Visa changed the bonus dramatically. The second and third phases of the bonus were discontinued. The first phase of the bonus was changed from supplementing the purses to equal five million dollars to a flat payment of $5,000,000. in addition to the race purses. That would mean that the winning connections would earn between $1,800,000 to $2,460,000 for the race purses and add an additional $5,000,000. to that to bring a combined purse up to a $7,000,000. range. Pascarella dearly wanted to hand out the $5-million bonus that goes with a sweep of the Triple Crown, and in six of Visa's nine years there was that possibility.
On May 21, 2005, the Visa credit card company withdrew its sponsorship of the Triple Crown, effective in 2006. It relieved Visa of paying the $5 million bonus to the owner of a horse that won the Triple Crown. Triple Crown Productions has sponsored the races since 2006.
Many believe Visa withdrew its sponsorship as a result of the New York Racing Association's decision to break with the other two tracks on a television contract. On October 4, 2004, NYRA announced that the American Broadcasting Company and ESPN would hold television rights to the Belmont Stakes, breaking from Triple Crown Productions' deal with NBC Sports.[1] NBC Sports holds the broadcasting rights to the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes until 2010. During the entire bonus period no bonus had been paid out since there still has been no Triple Crown winner since 1978. When the NYRA deal ended in 2010, Comcast acquired rights for all three races, in separate contracts, to air on their channels. The Comcast deal is a five-year deal from 2011 to 2015.
Combined broadcast arrangements with ABC continued until 2001, when NBC Sports took over. Under NBC, ratings continued to go up, by as much as 20 percent in some years. It did not hurt that many horses, like Funny Cide and Smarty Jones, were making Triple Crown runs during those years (although all of them failed). From 2002 to 2004, the Belmont had the highest ratings of any horse race on television.
After the 2004 race, the New York Racing Association ended its deal with NBC, citing a conflict over profit-sharing arrangements. ABC won the rights to the Belmont, and TCP was effectively dissolved related to bonuses and broadcast rights. The only function that Triple Crown Production still oversees is joint nomination fees and a small joint marketing effort.
In 2011, NBC Sports once again became the broadcaster of all three Triple Crown races in separate broadcast deals; including an extension to its existing rights to the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, plus establishing a new 5-year deal to broadcast the Belmont Stakes after ABC and ESPN declined to renew their previous contract. All three deals last through 2015, and include supplementary coverage on NBC Sports Network for all three races. The additional coverage included 14-1/2 hours of Kentucky Derby pre-race coverage including an hour and a half live special for the Kentucky Oaks and six and a half hours of Preakness Stakes pre-race coverage including a one-hour live special on the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, both carried on NBC Sports Network. [1] [2]
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies carry 121 pounds (55 kg). The race, nicknamed The Test of the Champion, The Test of Champions and The Run for the Carnations, is the traditional third and final leg of the Triple Crown. It is usually held on the first or second Saturday in June, five weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks after the Preakness Stakes. The 1973 Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown winner Secretariat holds the track record of 2:24.
Robert A. Baffert is an American racehorse trainer who trained the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. Baffert's horses have won a record six Kentucky Derbies, seven Preakness Stakes, three Belmont Stakes, and three Kentucky Oaks.
Charles David "Chic" Anderson was an American sportscaster and public address announcer specializing in Thoroughbred horse racing. He was one of American sports' most famous PA voices, and remains among its most revered race callers. Anderson's narration of the 1973 Belmont Stakes, where he described Secretariat as "moving like a tremendous machine", remains one of horse racing's most memorable calls.
The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on dirt.
Thoroughbred Racing on NBC is the de facto title for a series of horse races events whose broadcasts are produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. Race coverage is currently helmed by, among others, host Mike Tirico, along with analysts Randy Moss and Jerry Bailey, handicappers Eddie Olczyk and Britney Eurton, reporters Kenny Rice, Donna Barton Brothers, Ahmed Fareed and Nick Luck and track announcer Larry Collmus.
Hansel was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the final two legs of the U.S. Triple Crown races in 1991 and was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Male Horse. Out of the mare Count on Bonnie, his sire was Woodman, a Champion 2-year-old colt in Ireland who was a son of the influential Champion sire Mr. Prospector. Woodman also sired the 1994 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Preakness Stakes winner, Timber Country, as well as the 1999 Canadian Champion 3-Year-Old Colt and Queen's Plate winner, Woodcarver. Hansel's owner was banker Joe Allbritton, who raced him under his Lazy Lane Farm banner.
In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of 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 horse who wins all three races and is thereafter designated as 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.
ABC's coverage of Thoroughbred racing currently consists of a portion of the Breeders Cup. Previously, ABC's coverage also included the Kentucky Derby (1975–2000), the Preakness Stakes (1977–2000), and the Belmont Stakes.
The 1973 Belmont Stakes was the 105th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, held on June 9, 1973. Facing a field of five horses, Secretariat won by 31 lengths, the largest margin of victory in Belmont history, in front of a crowd of 69,138 spectators. His winning time of 2 minutes and 24 seconds still stands as the American record for a mile and a half on dirt. The event was televised and broadcast over the radio.
The 2014 Belmont Stakes was the 146th running of the Belmont Stakes. It was run on June 7, 2014, and was televised on NBC. California Chrome had a chance to complete the third leg of the Triple Crown after his victories in the 2014 Kentucky Derby and the 2014 Preakness Stakes. However, it was Tonalist who won the race. Commissioner placed second and Medal Count took third. California Chrome finished in a tie for fourth with Wicked Strong.
The 2015 Preakness Stakes,, was the 140th running of the Preakness Stakes, promoted as the "middle jewel" of thoroughbred horse racing's traditional Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes. The race was held at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 16, 2015, and was televised on NBC.
The 2015 Belmont Stakes was the 147th in the Belmont Stakes series. The 1+1⁄2-mile (2,400 m) race, known as the "test of the champion" and sometimes called the "final jewel" in thoroughbred horse racing's traditional Triple Crown series, was held on June 6, 2015, three weeks after the Preakness Stakes and five weeks after the Kentucky Derby. The Belmont Stakes was the 11th race of a 13 race card which included 10 stakes races. Post time for race 11 was 6:52 pm EDT.
Thoroughbred Racing on CBS is the de facto title for a series of horse races events whose broadcasts are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States.
The 2017 Belmont Stakes was the 149th running of the Belmont Stakes and the 106th time the event took place at Belmont Park. The 1+1⁄2-mile (2,400 m) race, known as the "test of the champion", is the final jewel in Thoroughbred horse racing's American Triple Crown series. The race was on June 10, 2017, and was broadcast by NBC starting at 5 PM EDT. For the second straight year, the Belmont did not have a Triple Crown at stake, as 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming had lost in the Preakness Stakes. The race was won by Tapwrit.
The 2018 Belmont Stakes was the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes and the 107th time the event took place at Belmont Park. The 1+1⁄2-mile (2,400 m) race, known as the "test of the champion", is the final leg in the American Triple Crown. It is a Grade I stakes race with a purse of $1.5 million, open to three-year-old Thoroughbreds. The race took place on June 9, 2018, and was broadcast on NBC starting at 4 p.m. EDT. Justify won the race with a time of 2:28.18, becoming the thirteenth American Triple Crown winner.
The 2018 Preakness Stakes was the 143rd running of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the American Triple Crown. It was a Grade I stakes race with a purse of $1.5 million for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1+3⁄16 miles (1.9 km). It was held on May 19, 2018, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland and was broadcast on NBC from 5:00 pm to 7:15 pm EDT with coverage of the undercard on NBCSN starting at 2:30 pm.
The 2019 Belmont Stakes was the 151st running of the Belmont Stakes and the 108th time the event took place at Belmont Park. The 1+1⁄2-mile (2,400 m) race, known as the "test of the champion", is the final leg in the American Triple Crown, open to three-year-old Thoroughbreds. Sir Winston won the race, with a time of 2:28.30.
The 2020 Belmont Stakes was the 152nd running of the Belmont Stakes and the 109th time the event took place at Belmont Park. It was run June 20, 2020, and was won by Tiz the Law, the first New York-bred winner of the event since Forester in 1882. The race is one of the three legs of the American Triple Crown, open to three-year-old Thoroughbreds.
The 2021 Belmont Stakes was the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes and the 110th time the event took place at Belmont Park. The 1+1⁄2-mile (2,400 m) race, known as the "test of the champion", is the final leg in the American Triple Crown, open to three-year-old Thoroughbreds. The race was won by Essential Quality.