Meet the 13 Horses That Won Racing’s Triple Crown

Last updated: August 8, 2026

By: Miles HenryFact Checked

Thirteen horses have won the American Triple Crown: Sir Barton was first in 1919, and Justify was the most recent in 2018. To make the list, a three-year-old Thoroughbred must win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes in one demanding five-week stretch – a test of class, recovery, soundness, pace, and luck that even exceptional horses rarely survive. Here is every winner, plus the racing details that make each sweep worth remembering.

All 13 Triple Crown Winners

All 13 American Triple Crown winners, listed by year with their jockeys and trainers. Click a horse’s name to jump to his profile.

#	Horse	Year	Jockey	Trainer
1	Sir Barton	1919	Johnny Loftus	H. Guy Bedwell
2	Gallant Fox	1930	Earl Sande	Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons
3	Omaha	1935	Willie Saunders	Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons
4	War Admiral	1937	Charley Kurtsinger	George Conway
5	Whirlaway	1941	Eddie Arcaro	Ben Jones
6	Count Fleet	1943	Johnny Longden	Don Cameron
7	Assault	1946	Warren Mehrtens	Max Hirsch
8	Citation	1948	Eddie Arcaro	Ben Jones
9	Secretariat	1973	Ron Turcotte	Lucien Laurin
10	Seattle Slew	1977	Jean Cruguet	Billy Turner
11	Affirmed	1978	Steve Cauthen	Laz Barrera
12	American Pharoah	2015	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert
13	Justify	2018	Mike Smith	Bob Baffert

1. Sir Barton (1919)

Career record: 31 starts – 13 wins, 6 places, 5 shows | Trainer: H. Guy Bedwell | Jockey: Johnny Loftus | Color: Chestnut

Sir Barton was not the horse most people expected to make history in 1919. He entered the Kentucky Derby as a pace-setter for his stablemate Billy Kelly, the champion two-year-old of 1918 and the race favorite. Sir Barton had never won a race before that day, but he changed the plan by going wire to wire and winning the Derby by five lengths. Billy Kelly finished second.

Four days later, Sir Barton won the Preakness Stakes, again leading from start to finish. He then captured the Withers Stakes before completing the sweep in the Belmont Stakes, where he set a new track record for the mile and three-eighths distance. The achievement would later become known as the Triple Crown, but the term was not coined until Gallant Fox’s sweep in 1930.

2. Gallant Fox (1930)

Career record: 17 starts – 11 wins, 3 places, 2 shows | Trainer: Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons | Jockey: Earl Sande | Color: Bay

Gallant Fox was the horse whose 1930 sweep gave the Triple Crown its name. When sportswriter Charles Hatton described it that way, the term stuck – and Sir Barton’s 1919 sweep was retroactively recognized as the first. Gallant Fox arrived at the Preakness already dominant, having opened his three-year-old season with a four-length win in the Wood Memorial. Trainer Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons brought jockey Earl Sande out of retirement to ride him, and the pairing carried Gallant Fox through one of the greatest spring campaigns in racing history.

His Triple Crown campaign ran in a different order than today’s sequence – he won the Preakness first, then the Kentucky Derby eight days later, then completed the sweep at the Belmont. His three victories spanned 29 days. Fitzsimmons would later guide Omaha to the Triple Crown five years after Gallant Fox.

Gallant Fox lost only once as a three-year-old – the 1930 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, where he went off at 1-2 on a sloppy track and was beaten by 100-1 longshot Jim Dandy. The upset became one of the races that helped build Saratoga’s “Graveyard of Champions” reputation, and Jim Dandy has his own stakes race there today.

3. Omaha (1935)

Career record: 22 starts – 9 wins, 7 places, 2 shows | Trainer: Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons | Jockey: Willie Saunders | Color: Chestnut

Omaha remains the only son of a Triple Crown winner to win the Triple Crown himself. His sire was Gallant Fox, who had completed the sweep five years earlier, and both horses were trained for Belair Stud by Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons. That father-son Triple Crown connection has never been repeated in American racing.

His 1935 campaign was not a straight line from the Kentucky Derby to the Belmont. Omaha won the Derby in heavy rain and followed with a six-length Preakness victory, but then lost the Withers Stakes to Rosemont while favored. Two weeks later, he came back in the Belmont over a sloppy track and pulled clear of Firethorn to win by 1½ lengths, completing the Triple Crown.

4. War Admiral (1937)

Career record: 26 starts – 21 wins, 3 places, 1 show | Trainer: George Conway | Jockey: Charley Kurtsinger | Color: Brown

War Admiral was the son of Man o’ War, but he made his own case for greatness in 1937. He won all eight starts as a three-year-old, becoming the first Triple Crown winner to complete his three-year-old season undefeated. The Preakness was no easy formality: Pompoon pushed him through a hard stretch run, and War Admiral prevailed by a head.

At the Belmont, War Admiral showed both speed and toughness. He broke Man o’ War’s 17-year-old track record for a mile and a half, winning in 2:28 3/5 despite injuring his right forefoot after stumbling at the start. He returned that fall to win the Washington Handicap and Pimlico Special, finishing the season 8-for-8 and earning Horse of the Year honors.

The Seabiscuit loss became the race everyone remembered, but it was only one afternoon in a remarkable career. War Admiral had already proven his class with an undefeated Triple Crown season and a Belmont performance that surpassed even his famous sire’s track record.

5. Whirlaway (1941)

Career record: 60 starts – 32 wins, 15 places, 9 shows | Trainer: Ben Jones | Jockey: Eddie Arcaro | Color: Chestnut

Whirlaway’s Kentucky Derby win in 1941 remains one of the great rallies in race history. He trailed by 14 lengths down the backstretch before beginning a long move around the field. Under Eddie Arcaro, he surged through the stretch to win by eight lengths, tying the Derby margin record and setting a Kentucky Derby record of 2:01 2/5 that stood for 21 years.

Talent was never Whirlaway’s problem; getting him to focus was. He had a habit of drifting wide, and he even drifted into the rail during races as a two-year-old. Trainer Ben Jones used customized headgear to help keep his attention forward, while Arcaro learned how much horse to let him have. The result was a colt whose wild, come-from-behind style became his trademark rather than his weakness.

Whirlaway also did more after the Triple Crown than most winners ever had the chance to do. He won the Travers Stakes later that summer, making him the only Triple Crown winner to capture Saratoga’s signature race. He raced 60 times overall, more than any Triple Crown winner, and made 22 starts in 1942 while his campaign also helped raise money for racing’s War Relief Fund. He retired with 32 wins and was the first Thoroughbred to earn more than $500,000.

6. Count Fleet (1943)

Career record: 21 starts – 16 wins, 4 places, 1 show | Trainer: Don Cameron | Jockey: Johnny Longden | Color: Bay

Count Fleet was already a champion before he began his Triple Crown season. As a two-year-old, he won 10 of 16 starts and set a world record for a two-year-old at a mile when he captured the Champagne Stakes in 1:34 4/5. He came back at three to win all six starts, sweeping the Kentucky Derby by three lengths, the Preakness by eight, and the Belmont by 25 lengths. He also captured the Withers Stakes by five lengths during that undefeated campaign.

Only two horses entered the 1943 Belmont Stakes to challenge Count Fleet, and neither could stay close. He won by 25 lengths in 2:28 1/5, setting a new stakes record; his margin stood as the Belmont record until Secretariat won by 31 lengths in 1973. The victory came at a cost. Count Fleet injured an ankle during the Belmont and never raced again, ending the career of a horse who had just completed one of the most dominant Triple Crown performances in history.

7. Assault (1946)

Career record: 42 starts – 18 wins, 6 places, 7 shows | Trainer: Max Hirsch | Jockey: Warren Mehrtens | Color: Chestnut

Assault’s story began before his racing career. As a weanling at King Ranch in Texas, he stepped on something sharp – commonly identified as a surveyor’s stake – that pierced his right front foot. The injury left him with a misshapen hoof and an altered way of going at slower gaits. He wore a special shoe on that foot for the rest of his life and eventually became known as the “Club-Footed Comet.”

At a gallop, however, Assault showed no sign of the problem. He became the first – and still only – Texas-bred horse to win the Triple Crown, sweeping the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes in 1946. His Kentucky Derby was especially decisive: after saving ground under Warren Mehrtens, he found room on the rail and drew away to win by eight lengths.

Assault’s Triple Crown was not the end of his career. He raced through 1950, won 18 times from 42 starts, and earned $675,470. In 1948, he won the Brooklyn Handicap over rival Stymie and briefly surpassed Whirlaway as North America’s all-time leading money winner.

8. Citation (1948)

Career record: 45 starts – 32 wins, 10 places, 2 shows, 1 fourth | Trainer: Ben Jones | Jockey: Eddie Arcaro | Color: Bay

Citation was already a champion before his Triple Crown season began. He won eight of nine starts as a two-year-old, then returned at three to win 19 of 20 races in 1948. His 15-race winning streak included the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. By the end of 1948, Citation had won 27 of his first 29 starts.

Calumet Farm had such depth in 1948 that Eddie Arcaro had a choice between riding Citation and his stablemate Coaltown in the Kentucky Derby. Arcaro chose Citation, while Coaltown finished second. Citation gave Arcaro his second Triple Crown after Whirlaway in 1941 and made Ben Jones a two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer. Arcaro rode both of Jones’s Triple Crown winners.

An osselet injury sidelined Citation for all of 1949, but he returned in 1950 to extend his winning streak to 16 races. He raced until age six, won 32 times from 45 starts, and became the first Thoroughbred to earn more than $1 million. Citation’s career was not simply a brilliant two-year run; he remained a top-level horse through four demanding seasons.

9. Secretariat (1973)

Career record: 21 starts – 16 wins, 3 places, 1 show | Trainer: Lucien Laurin | Jockey: Ron Turcotte | Color: Chestnut

Secretariat ended a 25-year Triple Crown drought and produced the most dominant Belmont Stakes performance in racing history. His Kentucky Derby time of 1:59 2/5 was the first sub-two-minute Derby and remains the track record. In the Preakness, he defeated Sham by 2½ lengths in 1:53, a time later recognized as the stakes record after years of debate over the official clocking. At the Belmont, he won by 31 lengths in 2:24 flat, still the American record for a mile and a half on dirt.

Secretariat’s fractions were extraordinary for two different reasons. In the Kentucky Derby, he ran each successive quarter-mile faster than the last – a rare pattern over a mile and a quarter. In the Belmont, he did not keep accelerating all the way around; instead, he set a rapid early pace, reached the mile in 1:34 1/5, and hit the quarter pole in 1:59 – faster than his Kentucky Derby record at the same mile-and-a-quarter distance. He then carried that speed another quarter-mile to finish in 2:24 flat.

10. Seattle Slew (1977)

Career record: 17 starts – 14 wins, 2 places, 0 shows | Trainer: Billy Turner | Jockey: Jean Cruguet | Color: Dark Bay

Seattle Slew was purchased as a yearling for $17,500, a modest price for a colt who would become one of racing’s great champions. He was the first horse to complete the Triple Crown while undefeated and remained the only one until Justify matched the achievement in 2018.

His story did not end with the Triple Crown. Early in his four-year-old season, Seattle Slew became seriously ill, and his survival was uncertain. He recovered, returned to training, and went on to defeat 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed in the Marlboro Cup at Belmont Park. Seattle Slew won by three lengths in the first meeting between two Triple Crown winners, then added victories in the Woodward Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup later that fall.

After racing, Seattle Slew at stud became as influential as he had been on the track. He was North America’s leading freshman sire in 1982 and leading sire overall in 1984. His offspring included Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Swale and Hall of Famer A.P. Indy, whose descendants continue to influence major American bloodlines today.

11. Affirmed (1978)

Career record: 29 starts – 22 wins, 5 places, 1 show | Trainer: Laz Barrera | Jockey: Steve Cauthen | Color: Chestnut

Affirmed’s Triple Crown was the closest three-race battle any Triple Crown winner had faced. Alydar, trained by John Jacobs for Calumet Farm, finished second in all three races, and the margin narrowed each time: 1½ lengths in the Kentucky Derby, a neck in the Preakness, and a head in the Belmont. At Belmont, the two colts ran side by side through the stretch, with Steve Cauthen keeping Affirmed in front by the smallest of margins.

The rivalry had been building since their two-year-old seasons. Affirmed and Alydar met 10 times, with Affirmed winning seven, but their Triple Crown series defined both horses. Alydar accounted for three of Affirmed’s five career second-place finishes, while Affirmed denied him victories in all three Triple Crown races. Few champions have had to beat the same elite rival three times in five weeks to claim the Triple Crown.

Affirmed remained a top horse after the Triple Crown, earning Horse of the Year honors in both 1978 and 1979. He retired with 22 wins from 29 starts and $2,393,818 in earnings, becoming the first North American Thoroughbred to earn more than $2 million.

12. American Pharoah (2015)

Career record: 11 starts – 9 wins, 1 place, 0 shows | Trainer: Bob Baffert | Jockey: Victor Espinoza | Color: Bay

American Pharoah ended the longest drought in Triple Crown history when he won the 2015 Belmont Stakes by 5½ lengths. No horse had completed the sweep since Affirmed in 1978, and 13 horses had won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness only to fall short at Belmont. Under Victor Espinoza, American Pharoah controlled the race from the start and pulled away through the Belmont stretch to give the sport its 12th Triple Crown winner. He was named 2015 Horse of the Year and retired with a 9-1-0 record from 11 starts.

American Pharoah nearly changed hands before he ever raced. In 2007, Ahmed Zayat bought back Pioneerof the Nile after the colt failed to meet his reserve price at auction. Six years later, Zayat bought back American Pharoah for $300,000 after the yearling also failed to reach his reserve. The second buyback produced the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years – and American Pharoah added the Breeders’ Cup Classic later that fall, becoming the first horse to win the modern Grand Slam of American racing.

13. Justify (2018)

Career record: 6 starts – 6 wins, 0 places, 0 shows | Trainer: Bob Baffert | Jockey: Mike Smith | Color: Chestnut

Justify went from an unraced maiden to Triple Crown winner in 112 days. He made his first career start on February 18, 2018, then completed the sweep at the Belmont Stakes on June 9 with his sixth straight victory. His entire racing career lasted six starts, and every one ended in a win.

Justify also broke the so-called “Apollo Curse.” He became the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby without racing as a two-year-old, ending a 136-year stretch in which every Derby winner had started as a juvenile. He was the second Triple Crown winner, after Seattle Slew, to enter the series without a loss – and the first to retire with a perfect record.

Justify was retired after ankle inflammation raised concerns about continuing his racing career, leaving the Belmont Stakes as his final race. His Triple Crown gave Bob Baffert a second winner after American Pharoah in 2015, joining Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons and Ben Jones as the only trainers with two Triple Crown champions.

Earlier Triple Crown winners often had long, demanding careers: Whirlaway made 60 starts and Citation 45. Justify took a different path. He retired after only six undefeated races, reaching the highest level of the sport just 112 days after his first start.

For official race results and historical profiles of every winner, see the New York Racing Association’s Triple Crown winners archive.

FAQs About Triple Crown Winners