The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of one and a quarter miles (2.0 km) at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds and fillies 121 pounds.
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies 121 pounds (55 kg). It is the second jewel of the Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes.
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. 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 mile and a half stakes record of 2:24.
Edgar S. Prado is a Peruvian-born American jockey, a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey in thoroughbred horse racing.
Woody Stephens was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame trainer.
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.
The Woodlawn Vase is an American trophy given annually to the winning owner of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
Triple Crown Productions was an ad hoc production company that produced the series of Triple Crown races for thoroughbred horses.
Lazaro Sosa Barrera was a Cuban-born American Hall of Fame thoroughbred racehorse trainer.
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.
Prince Palatine (1908–1924) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was named for County Palatine of Lancaster near where his breeder William Hall Walker had been raised.
Burgoo King (1929–1946) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first two legs of the U.S. Triple Crown series but who did not run in the final race, the Belmont Stakes.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association Moment of the Year award, first awarded in 1999, celebrates or honors one moment that occurred during a given year that most thoroughly exemplifies the spirit and ethos of the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States.
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.
The Kentucky Derby Trophy is a set of four trophies that are awarded to the winning connections of America's most famous race: the grade one $3,000,000 Kentucky Derby. The owner receives a gold trophy while the trainer, the jockey and the breeder win a silver half size replica of the main gold trophy. The trophy itself has been run for since the 50th running of the Kentucky Derby in 1924. Churchill Downs Race Course of Louisville, Kentucky has annually presented a gold trophy to the winning owner of the famed "Run for the Roses."
The August Belmont Trophy is awarded annually to the winning owner of the Belmont Stakes now run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The silver bowl, created by Paulding Farnham in 1896-97, was awarded to the 1896 Belmont Stakes winner upon its completion. The trophy remained with the Belmont family until 1926 when they donated it as a perpetual trophy, and since that time has been presented to the winning owner of the race for ceremonial purposes only. A silver plate is inscribed and given to the winning owner to keep.
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 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 Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing is an informal name for the winning of four major Thoroughbred horse races in one season in the United States. The term has been applied to at least two different configurations of races, both of which include all three races in the Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. The fourth race is either the Travers Stakes or the Breeders' Cup Classic.
