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 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 to common use.
James E. "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons was the first trainer to win the Triple Crown more than once; he trained both Gallant Fox and Omaha for the Belair Stud. Gallant Fox and Omaha are also the only father-son pair to each win the Triple Crown. Bob Baffert became the second trainer to win the Triple Crown more than once, training American Pharoah and Justify. Belair Stud and Calumet Farm are tied as owners with the most Triple Crown victories with two apiece; Calumet's winners were Whirlaway and Citation. Eddie Arcaro rode both of Calumet's Triple Crown champions and is the only jockey to win more than one Triple Crown. Willie Simms is the only African-American jockey to win all three races that would compose the triple crown. During the 1898 Preakness Stakes he rode a different horse, Sly Fox and won the race.
Secretariat holds the stakes record time for each of the three races. His time of 2:24 for 1+1⁄2 miles in the 1973 Belmont Stakes also set a world record that still stands.[1]
Development
The three Triple Crown races had existed long before the series received its name: the Belmont Stakes was first run in 1867, the Preakness in 1873,[2] and the Kentucky Derby in 1875.
On December 31, 1912, Johnson N. Camden Jr. proposed a Triple Crown of Kentucky races to be held at Lexington, Louisville, and Latonia,[3] then later a "Quadruple Stake" to include the Douglas Park racetrack.[4] Neither of these appear to have materialized.
The term "triple crown" in reference to the current three races was in use at least by 1923, although Daily Racing Form writer Charles Hatton is commonly credited with originating the term in 1930.[5]
The order in which the races are run has varied. From 1932 through 2019, the Kentucky Derby was run first, followed by the Preakness, and then the Belmont.[6] Running the three races in a five-week span was instituted in 1969.[7] The Preakness was run before the Kentucky Derby 11 times, most recently in 1931.[8][9] Two times— May 12, 1917, and May 13, 1922 — the Kentucky Derby and Preakness were run on the same day.[7]
Scheduling has occasionally been affected by global events. During World War II, the 1945 Kentucky Derby was moved from May 5 to June 9, with the Preakness and Belmont following on June 16 and 23, respectively.[10] In 2020, the Triple Crown was altered from its usual sequence due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The adjusted schedule started with the Belmont Stakes on June 20, at the shortened distance of 1+1⁄8 miles (9 furlongs). The Kentucky Derby ran on September 5, and finally the Preakness on October 3.[6] 2020 also marked the first time for the Belmont Stakes to be run as the opening leg of the Triple Crown.[11]
Each Triple Crown race is open to both colts and fillies. Although fillies have won each of the individual Triple Crown races, none has won the Triple Crown itself.[12] Despite attempts to develop a "Filly Triple Crown" or a "Triple Tiara" for fillies only, no set series of three races has consistently remained in the public eye, and at least four different types of races have been used. Two fillies won the series of the Kentucky Oaks, the Pimlico Oaks (now the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes), and the Coaching Club American Oaks, in 1949 and 1952, but the racing press did not designate either accomplishment as a "Triple Crown". In 1961, the New York Racing Association created a filly Triple Crown of in-state races only, but the races changed over the years. Eight fillies won the NYRA Triple Tiara between 1968 and 1993.[13]
Gelded colts may run in any of the three races today, but they were prohibited from entering the Belmont between 1919 and 1957. Geldings have won each of the individual races,[14][15] but like fillies, no gelding has ever won the Triple Crown. The closest was Funny Cide, who won the Derby and the Preakness in 2003.[16]
Each of the races is held on a dirt track, rather than the turf surfaces commonly used for important races elsewhere in the world.
2024–2026 changes
In 2024, the Belmont Stakes will be run at Saratoga Race Course at the shorter distance of 1+1⁄4 miles due to the construction of a new grandstand and racing surface at Belmont Park.[17] The final leg of the Triple Crown is also expected to be moved to Saratoga in 2025.[18] Meanwhile, the 2026 Preakness Stakes is expected to be run at Maryland's Laurel Park while Pimlico Race Course undergoes planned renovations.[19]
Inaugurated in 1875, the race was originally 1+1⁄2 miles (2,400m) until 1897 when it was shortened to its current distance. It is the only one of the three races to have run continuously from its inception. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57kg) and fillies121 pounds (55kg). The field has been limited to 20 horses since 1975.
Started in 1873 and continuously run since 1894, it is the shortest of the three races. Pimlico was the home of the race from 1873 to 1889 and again from 1908 until the present. The Preakness was not run from 1891 to 1893. Weights are the same as for the Derby. Field is limited to 14 horses.
Begun in 1867, it is the oldest of the three races, though not held in 1911 and 1912 due to anti-gambling legislation in New York. The race was held at various New York tracks until 1905 when Belmont Park became the permanent location. Distance varied from 1+5⁄8 to 1+1⁄8 miles (2,600 to 1,800m) until set at 1+1⁄2 miles (2,400m) in 1926, making it the longest of the three. Weight assignments are the same as the other two races. Field is limited to 16 horses.
The sixth winner, Count Fleet, in the 1943 Kentucky DerbyThe seventh winner, Assault in 1946 at Westchester HandicapAmerican Pharoah, the 12th winner, at the 2015 Preakness Stakes
† During his 2018 bid for the Triple Crown, Justify used the colors of WinStar Farms (white, green and black star) for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The colors of China Horse Club (red, yellow stars and sleeves) were used in the Belmont Stakes.
At completion of the 2016 season, the three Triple Crown races have attracted 4,224 entrants. Of these, 292 horses have won a single leg of the Triple Crown, 52 horses have won two of the races (23 the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, 18 the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, and 11 the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes), and 13 horses have won all three races. Pillory won both the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in 1922, a year when it was impossible to win the Triple Crown because the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes were run on the same day.
10 of the 13 winners have been "homebreds", owned at the time of their win by their breeders.[21]
Jim Fitzsimmons and Bob Baffert are the only two trainers to have two horses win the Triple Crown, with Fitzsimmons training the sire/son combination of 1930 winner Gallant Fox and 1935 winner Omaha and Baffert training 2015 winner American Pharoah and 2018 winner Justify. The wins by Fitzsimmons were also the first time that an owner and the first time that a breeder, Belair Stud holding both duties, had a repeat win of the Triple Crown. Calumet Farm is the only other owner with two Triple Crown horses, 1941 winner Whirlaway and 1948 winner Citation. Eddie Arcaro is the only jockey to ride two horses to the Triple Crown, both for Calumet: Whirlaway and Citation. Those two horses' trainers, Ben Jones and Jimmy Jones, were father and son.
All 13 horses were foaled in the United States. Most owners, trainers, and jockeys were American-born, though there were a number of exceptions: jockey Johnny Longden was born in England and raised in Canada; Ron Turcotte was Canadian. French-born jockey Jean Cruguet; and jockey Victor Espinoza, from Mexico. Jockey Willie Saunders is considered a Canadian jockey because he spent part of his childhood there, but was born in Montana. Laz Barrera, trainer of Affirmed, was from Cuba; Secretariat's trainer, Lucien Laurin was Canadian. Owner Fannie Hertz was married to John D. Hertz, who was born in Slovakia; owner Ahmed Zayat was born in Egypt. The horse Sir Barton was foaled in the United States but had a Canadian owner, J. K. L. Ross, at the time of his Triple Crown win. Justify's large ownership group included individuals from both the United States and China.
At 18, Steve Cauthen became the youngest jockey to win the Triple Crown, riding Affirmed in 1978. At 52, Mike Smith became the oldest jockey to win the Triple Crown, riding Justify in 2018.
Other notable achievements
Only one horse, Alydar, placed (finished second) in all three races. He was defeated each time by Affirmed in 1978 by a combined margin of two lengths. His trainer John Veitch is the only trainer to have done this with one horse. In 1995, D. Wayne Lukas became the first and only major figure (owner, jockey, or trainer) to win all three Triple Crown races with different horses, Thunder Gulch in the Derby and Belmont, Timber Country in the Preakness. Lukas also is the only trainer to have won six consecutive Triple Crown races, adding his 1995 wins, having won the 1994 Preakness and Belmont with Tabasco Cat and the 1996 Derby with Grindstone.[24]
Like Veitch, only with two different horses, Bob Baffert also had second-place finishes in all three legs of the Triple Crown, both owned by Ahmed Zayat: in 2012, Bodemeister finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness stakes to I'll Have Another, then Paynter was entered and finished second to Union Rags.[25] Baffert and Zayat teamed up again for the 2015 Triple Crown victory of American Pharoah.
Jockey Julie Krone became the first (and currently only[27]) woman to win a Triple Crown race when she won the 1993 Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair.
Whirlaway, in addition to winning the 1941 Triple Crown, also won the Travers Stakes that year, the first and only horse to date to accomplish that feat. American Pharoah, in addition to winning the 2015 Triple Crown, also won the Breeders' Cup Classic that year. As the Breeders' Cup was not established until 1984, American Pharoah was the first (and currently only) horse to sweep those four races, a feat now known as the Grand Slam.[28][29]
11 Triple Crown Winners in 2012 honored at Belmont Park, before additional wins in 2015 and 2018.
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 when he finished third in the Belmont. It lasted until American Pharoah won in 2015, a gap of 37 years.
Between 1979 and 2014, thirteen horses won both the Derby and Preakness, but not the Belmont. Of those, Real Quiet came the closest, losing the Belmont Stakes by a nose in 1998. Another dramatic near-miss was Charismatic, who led the Belmont Stakes in the final furlong in 1999, but fractured his left front leg in the final stretch and fell back to third. Five other horses lost the Kentucky Derby but won the Preakness and the Belmont, and three won the Derby and the Belmont, but not the Preakness.
California Chrome (second from right) was stepped on by the number 3 horse while leaving the starting gate at the 2014 Belmont Stakes
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.[31] 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.[32] 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.[33] Additionally, from 2006 to 2014, the Belmont winner was a horse who had not competed in the Preakness.[34][35]
Since all three events were inaugurated, as of 2023, 23 horses have won the Derby and Preakness but not the Belmont (ten of which placed):
1932: Burgoo King did not enter the Belmont due to lameness.[36]:78, 182
1936: Bold Venture did not enter the Belmont due to lameness.[36]:78, 182
1944: Pensive was the first horse to contest but lose the Belmont after winning the first two legs. He placed second to Bounding Home,[36]:78 who had neither run in the Derby nor the Preakness.[2]
1958: Tim Tam, defeated by six lengths by Cavan, who had neither contested the Derby nor Preakness.[2]
1961: Carry Back, "sore" after the race, was seventh of nine entries, 14+1⁄2 lengths behind the winner, a longshot named Sherluck.[2]
1979: Spectacular Bid, third in Belmont, was alleged to have stepped on a safety pin the morning of the race, though another theory blamed rider error by an inexperienced young jockey moving him too soon.[39] He finished 3+1⁄4 lengths behind Coastal and a neck behind the second-place horse, Golden Act.[40]
1999: Charismatic, third in Belmont, 1+1⁄2 lengths behind Lemon Drop Kid and second-place Vision and Verse. Charismatic was pulled up soon after the finish, vanned off with a bone fracture. He survived and was retired to stud.[45]
2002: War Emblem stumbled at the gate in Belmont and finished eighth out of 11. Winner Sarava scored an upset at record odds of 70–1.[46]
2008: Big Brown was pulled up in the home stretch of the Belmont, eased to a last-place finish. The winner was Da' Tara. A hoof problem had limited Big Brown's training and may have been a factor in his defeat.[49]
2012: I'll Have Another was scratched from the Belmont the day before the race due to a tendon injury.[39]
2014: California Chrome finished in a dead heat for 4th in the Belmont. Another horse stepped on him leaving the gate, and he ran the race with an injury to his heel and a scrape on his tendon.[50]
Another 30 horses have won the Belmont after winning only one of the first two legs.
Sponsorship and broadcasting
The first live national television broadcast of a Triple Crown race occurred with the 1947 Belmont Stakes on CBS.[51] The following year, the Preakness Stakes was broadcast live and the Kentucky Derby was filmed to be broadcast the following day.[52]
Originally, the three races largely organized their own nominations procedure, marketing and television broadcast rights. In 1985, Triple Crown Productions was created when the owner of Spend a Buck chose not to run in the other two Triple Crown races because of a financial incentive offered to any Kentucky Derby winner who could win a set of competing races in New Jersey. The organizers of the three races realized that they needed to work together.[53]
Efforts to unify the sponsorship and marketing of all three Triple Crown races began in 1987 when ABC Sports negotiated a deal with Chrysler to pay $5million to any horse that swept all three races, and $1million each year there was no Triple Crown sweep to the horse with the highest combined Triple Crown finish.[54] This sponsorship lasted until 1993. The end of the $1million participation bonus was linked to the breakdown of Prairie Bayou at the Belmont Stakes that year and the uncomfortable situation that arose when the Kentucky Derby winner, Sea Hero, was given the bonus following a seventh-place finish.[53]
In 1995, Visa took over the sponsorship with a 10-year contract, naming the series the Visa Triple Crown and offering only the $5million bonus to a horse that could sweep the Triple Crown.[55] Along with sponsorship by Visa, NBC Sports paid $51.5million for broadcast rights to all three races, with the revenue split giving 50% of the total to Churchill Downs and 25% each to Pimlico and to the New York Racing Association (NYRA).[53]
The Visa deal—and the cooperative effort—ended after 2005. The NYRA felt that they did not get a fair share of the revenue, particularly when the Belmont had the highest ratings of all three races in the years where a Triple Crown was on the line.[53] From 2001 through 2013, average viewership for the Belmont was 7million when the Triple Crown was not at stake, whereas viewership averaged 13million when it was.[a][56] With the contract term ending, the NYRA went to ESPN on ABC for the 2006 Belmont, while the broadcasts of the Derby and Preakness remained with NBC.[53] Visa chose to remain as a sponsor of only Kentucky Derby for the next five years.[55] As a result of the divided broadcast, Triple Crown Productions was unable to obtain a new sponsor.[53]
Today Triple Crown Productions LLC, based at Churchill Downs, is responsible for collecting nominations to the annual Triple Crown races.[57]
In February 2011, ABC/ESPN dropped out of the negotiations to renew broadcast rights to the Belmont Stakes. NBC obtained the contract through 2015, once again uniting all three races on the same network.[58][59][60] In 2014, NBC extended their contract for the Kentucky Derby through 2025.[61] NBC then renewed its rights to the Preakness and Belmont through 2022.[62] In January 2022, Fox Sports acquired the broadcast rights to the Belmont Stakes for eight years beginning in 2023.[63]
↑ Dancer's Image was disqualified as the winner of the 1968 Kentucky Derby due to a post-race failed drug test.
↑ I'll Have Another was scratched the afternoon prior to the Belmont due to tendonitis and was unable to attempt to win the race.
↑ Maximum Security was disqualified as the winner of the 2019 Kentucky Derby after he was judged to have interfered with another horse.
1 2 3 Due to concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the three races were held out of order: Belmont Stakes, Kentucky Derby, then Preakness Stakes. The Belmont was run at 1 1/8 mile.
↑ Medina Spirit was disqualified as the winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby for a failed drug test.
[Fy] Denotes a filly. Fillies won the Kentucky Derby in 1915, 1980, and 1988, Preakness Stakes in 1903, 1906, 1915, 1924, 2009, and 2020, and Belmont Stakes in 1867, 1905, and 2007.
RNR Race not run. The Belmont was not run in 1911 and 1912 due to anti-betting legislation passed in New York State. The Preakness did not run 1891–1893.
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 the worldwide classic distance of 1+1⁄2 miles. 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.
Affirmed was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who is the eleventh winner of the American Triple Crown. Affirmed was well known for his famous rivalry with Alydar, whom he met ten times, including Alydar coming second in each of the three 1978 Triple Crown races. After Affirmed won the Triple Crown, there was a 37-year wait until American Pharoah swept the series in 2015.
Mr. Prospector was a Thoroughbred racehorse who became an outstanding breeding stallion and notable sire of sires. A sprinter whose career was cut short by repeated injuries, he won seven of his 14 starts, including the Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack and the Whirlaway Handicap at Garden State Park.
Unbridled was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1990 Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic.
Kent Jason Desormeaux is an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who holds the U.S. record for most races won in a single year with 598 wins in 1989. He has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes three times each, and the Belmont Stakes once. Aboard Real Quiet, he lost the 1998 Triple Crown by a nose.
Robert A. Baffert is an American racehorse trainer who is considered one of the most successful and influential trainers in the history of horse racing. He has trained two Triple Crown winners: American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018. Baffert's horses have won the Kentucky Derby six times, tying the record with Ben A. Jones for wins by a trainer. He holds the trainer record for Preakness Stakes with eight wins and has won the Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Oaks three times each.
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. NBC's relationship with the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing dates back to 1949 when the NBC Red Network carried the first radio broadcast of the Kentucky Derby.
Calvin H. Borel is an American jockey in thoroughbred horse racing and rode the victorious mount in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, the 2009 Kentucky Derby and the 2010 Kentucky Derby. His 2009 Derby win with Mine That Bird was the third biggest upset in Derby history,, and Borel's winning margin of 6+3⁄4 lengths was the greatest in Derby history since Assault won by 8 lengths in 1946. On May 1, 2009, Borel won the Kentucky Oaks aboard Rachel Alexandra, only the second time since 1993 that a jockey has won the Oaks-Derby combo, and just the seventh time overall a jockey has accomplished this feat in the same year. On May 16, 2009, Borel won the 2009 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico with thoroughbred filly Rachel Alexandra. In doing so, Borel became the first jockey to win the first two jewels of the Triple Crown on different mounts. Borel's nickname is "Bo'rail'" due to his penchant for riding close to the rail to save ground.
Victor Espinoza is a Mexican jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing who won the Triple Crown in 2015 on American Pharoah. He began riding in his native Mexico and went on to compete at racetracks in California. He has won the Kentucky Derby three times, riding War Emblem in 2002, California Chrome in 2014, and American Pharoah in 2015. He also won the Preakness Stakes three times, in those same years and with the same horses. He was the first jockey in history to enter the Belmont Stakes with a third opportunity to win the Triple Crown; his 2015 victory made him the oldest jockey and first Hispanic jockey to accomplish the feat. He joined Ron Turcotte as the only jockeys to win five of the six jewels of the Triple Crown spread over two consecutive years.
Empire Maker was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2003 Belmont Stakes and is the grandsire of the 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
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.
The 2013 Belmont Stakes was the 145th running of the Belmont Stakes, the third jewel in the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. The race was held on June 8, 2013. For the third consecutive year, the race was run without the Triple Crown being at stake as 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb was defeated in the 2013 Preakness Stakes by Oxbow.
The 2014 Preakness Stakes was the 139th running of the Preakness Stakes. The race was scheduled to start at 6:18 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on May 17, 2014, at Pimlico Race Course and was run as the twelfth race on a racecard with thirteen races. The race was won by California Chrome, giving him a chance to win the Triple Crown at Belmont. It is the thirty-fourth time a horse has won the first two legs of the Triple Crown. The Maryland Jockey Club reported a track record total attendance of 123,469, the second highest attendance for American thoroughbred racing events in North America during 2014.
American Pharoah is a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2015. He was the 12th Triple Crown winner in history, and in winning all four races, became the first horse to win the modern Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing. He won the 2015 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and 2015 Champion three-year-old. In 2021 he was inducted into the American Racing Hall of Fame. He was bred and owned throughout his racing career by Ahmed Zayat of Zayat Stables, trained by Bob Baffert, and ridden in most of his races by Victor Espinoza.
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.
The Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing is an informal name for winning four major Thoroughbred horse races in one season in the United States. The term has been applied to two configurations of races, both of which include the races of the Triple Crown—the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes—and either the Travers Stakes or the Breeders' Cup Classic as the final race.
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.
↑ [von Hippel, Paul T.; Rutherford, Caroline G.; Keyes, Katherine M. (2017). "Gender and Weight among Thoroughbred Jockeys: Underrepresented Women and Underweight Men". Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. 3: 237802311771259. doi:10.1177/2378023117712599]
↑ Oakford, Glenye Cain (September 17, 2011). "Spectacular Bid, 27, dead". Daily Racing Form. Archived from the original on August 25, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
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