The Triple Crown Races: Everything You Need to Know

Last updated: April 13, 2026

By: Miles HenryFact Checked

The Triple Crown consists of three races — the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes — run over five weeks every spring. A horse that wins all three in the same season has achieved the rarest sustained performance in American sport. Since the term was formally applied in 1930, only 13 horses have done it.

After 30 years owning and racing horses at Fair Grounds, Delta Downs, and Evangeline Downs, I can tell you that the Triple Crown races represent a level of sustained competitive excellence that the rest of the sport measures itself against. I’ve had horses compete at stakes level — I know what it takes to prepare a horse for one elite race. The idea of preparing for three in five weeks, with the distance increasing each time and the competition reshuffling, is a different challenge entirely. What follows is the complete guide to the races, the records, and the 13 horses who met that challenge.

The Three Races Compared

The Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby has been run at Churchill Downs in Louisville every year since 1875, making it the longest continuously held major sporting event in the United States. It runs 1¼ miles on a dirt track and is restricted to three-year-old Thoroughbreds. The field is capped at 20 horses, determined by a points system based on qualifying races run earlier in the year. The purse is currently $5 million, with $3.1 million going to the winner.

The Derby is known as “The Run for the Roses” — the winner is draped in a blanket of red roses in the winner’s circle, a tradition dating to 1896. It runs on the first Saturday in May and draws one of the largest single-day crowds in American sport, routinely exceeding 150,000 people at Churchill Downs. The race takes approximately two minutes, which is why it’s called “the greatest two minutes in sports.”

The Kentucky Derby is the most important qualifying signal for the Triple Crown. A horse that wins the Derby is considered a legitimate Triple Crown contender. The question is always whether that horse — now carrying the weight of public expectation and having just run a hard race — can come back two weeks later at Pimlico ready to run again.

The Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is run at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore two weeks after the Kentucky Derby. At 1 3/16 miles, it is actually the shortest of the three Triple Crown races — slightly shorter than the Derby — which means fresh horses enter with a real chance. A horse that did not run the Derby, or that finished well back, can rest fully and target the Preakness specifically. This is why the Preakness field often looks different from the Derby field and why Derby winners have lost here to horses nobody considered Triple Crown threats two weeks earlier.

The Preakness debuted in 1873 — two years before the Kentucky Derby — and was named after a colt called Preakness who won the Dinner Party Stakes on Pimlico’s opening day in 1870. The winner is draped in a blanket of black-eyed Susans — Maryland’s state flower — in the winner’s circle. The race is also associated with the “Alibi Breakfast,” a pre-race gathering dating to the 1930s where trainers, owners, and jockeys would informally discuss their horses’ chances.

The Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes earns its nickname “The Test of the Champion” honestly. At 1½ miles on a dirt track at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, it is the longest race any of these horses will run all year — and they run it three weeks after the Preakness, five weeks after the Derby. A horse attempting the Triple Crown arrives at Belmont having already run two of the hardest races of its life in the previous five weeks. The Belmont has ended more Triple Crown bids than any other race in history.

The race was first run in 1867, making it older than both the Derby and the Preakness. It was originally run at Jerome Park before moving to Morris Park and eventually to Belmont Park in 1905, where it has remained. The traditions include fans singing “New York, New York” before the race — a custom that began after the track’s renovation and has become one of the race’s defining moments. The official drink is the Belmont Jewel, a bourbon cocktail introduced in 2011.

When a horse arrives at the Belmont with a chance at the Triple Crown, the atmosphere changes. The crowd is larger, the media attention is more intense, and the weight of racing history sits on every step the horse takes. Since 1930, many horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes — but only 13 have gone on to win the Belmont and complete the Triple Crown. The rest — horses like Smarty Jones (2004), California Chrome (2014), and I’ll Have Another (2012) — fell short at the final hurdle.

Why the Triple Crown Is So Hard to Win

The Triple Crown’s difficulty is structural, not just a matter of finding a great horse. Three specific factors combine to make it nearly impossible:

The compressed schedule. Five weeks is not enough recovery time between three demanding races for most horses. A hard Derby performance leaves physical and mental fatigue that two weeks cannot fully resolve. By the time a horse reaches the Belmont, it has run three of the hardest races of its career in the previous five weeks — at an age when most horses are still developing physically.

The fresh competition. The Preakness and Belmont both attract horses that specifically skipped the Derby to arrive rested. Trainers know that a Derby winner is tired. Sending in a fresh horse against a fatigued favorite is sound strategy, and it works often enough that it consistently disrupts Triple Crown bids. The Derby winner is always the betting favorite at the Preakness — and the betting favorite doesn’t always win.

The distance progression. The three races get longer in sequence — 1¼ miles, then 1 3/16 miles (shorter, which helps fresh horses), then 1½ miles. The Belmont’s distance is punishing for horses that have already been racing hard. Only horses with genuine distance ability — not just speed — can handle the Belmont at its best.

All 13 Triple Crown Winners

Since Sir Barton won all three races in 1919 — before the term “Triple Crown” was formally coined by sportswriter Charles Hatton in 1930 — thirteen horses have achieved the feat. The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame recognizes all thirteen. The list is short enough to know by heart, and every name on it represents a different story about how that particular combination of horse, trainer, jockey, and timing came together.

The 37-Year Drought and Its End

After Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978 — completing a three-race battle with Alydar that remains the closest and most competitive Triple Crown series ever run — American racing entered a drought that lasted 37 years. Thirteen horses won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness during that span and failed at the Belmont: Spectacular Bid (1979), Pleasant Colony (1981), Alysheba (1987), Sunday Silence (1989), Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), Charismatic (1999), War Emblem (2002), Funny Cide (2003), Smarty Jones (2004), Big Brown (2008), I’ll Have Another (2012), and California Chrome (2014).

American Pharoah ended the drought in 2015 under trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Victor Espinoza. His Belmont win by 5½ lengths was the moment 37 years of near-misses resolved — and the crowd noise at Belmont Park that day was reportedly audible from outside the track. Three years later, Justify became the 13th Triple Crown winner, completing the feat in just 112 days from his first career start — the fastest any horse had gone from debut to Triple Crown in the modern era.

Secretariat’s Triple Crown Records

Secretariat’s 1973 Triple Crown stands apart from every other in history for a specific reason: he holds the track record in all three races, and all three records still stand as of 2026 — more than 50 years later. No other Triple Crown winner has set a record in even one of the three races that has lasted this long. Secretariat set all three in the same five-week span.

For the full analysis of what made Secretariat’s times so extraordinary and why they haven’t been approached, see our complete breakdown: Was Secretariat the Fastest Horse to Ever Race?

FAQs About the Triple Crown Races

The Verdict

The triple crown races are the most demanding five-week stretch in American sport. Three races, increasing in distance, with compressed recovery time and fresh competition entering at each leg — it was designed, whether intentionally or not, to be nearly impossible to sweep. Thirteen horses in over a century have managed it. Every one of those thirteen represents a specific combination of talent, preparation, durability, and timing that came together once and produced something the record books still reflect.

After 30 years around horses, I still watch every Triple Crown bid with the same tension I felt watching the first one. The Derby tells you if a horse is great. The Preakness tells you if that greatness holds under pressure. The Belmont tells you everything else.

For the complete list of every Triple Crown winner with full career details, see What Horses Won the Triple Crown. For the race that defined what the Triple Crown could look like at its absolute peak, see Was Secretariat the Fastest Horse to Ever Race?

Miles Henry

About Miles Henry

Racehorse Owner & Author | 30+ Years in Thoroughbred Racing

Miles Henry (legal name: William Bradley) is a professional horseman based in Folsom, Louisiana. He holds Louisiana Racing License #67012 and has spent over three decades managing Thoroughbreds at premier tracks including Fair Grounds, Delta Downs, and Evangeline Downs.
Expertise & Hands-On Experience: Beyond the track, Miles has decades of experience in specialized equine care, covering everything from hoof health and nutrition to training protocols for Quarter Horses, Friesians, and Paints. Every guide on Horse Racing Sense is rooted in this “boots-on-the-ground” perspective.
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