via sportsillustrated.com
Triple Crown Winners
Since 1919,
when Sir Barton became the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and
Belmont Stakes, only 11 horses have won racing’s most prestigious prize, the
Triple Crown. Affirmed, in 1978, was the last horse to achieve the remarkable
feat of winning all three races, at three different distances, at three
different tracks, in the space of five weeks. The current 32-year gap between
Triple Crown winners is the longest drought in the series’ history; in 1973
Secretariat ended a 25-year hiatus dating back to Citation’s 1948 triumph. In
all, 21 horses, including seven in the past 13 years, have come into the
Belmont Stakes with victories in the Derby and Preakness winners, only to fall
short in the 1 ½-mile “Test of the Champion.”
I'll Have Another won by 1 1/2 lengths in the
Derby and by a neck in the Preakness. I'll Have Another will either be the 12th
Triple Crown winner of all time or the 12th since Affirmed to come up short.
