The Triple Crown and Animal Kingdom
The Triple Crown is still in play this year for Derby winner Animal Kingdom so I thought I would share some Triple Crown musings. The first Triple Crown winner - the winner of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes - was Sir Barton in 1919 although the term Triple Crown had not yet been coined at the time. The term Triple Crown was used by sportswriter Charles Halton in 1930 when writing about the second Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox. There have only been 11 Triple Crown winners. Following Gallant Fox were Omaha in 1935, War Admiral in 1937, Whirlaway in 1941, Count Fleet in 1943, Assault in 1946, Citation in 1948, Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978. After Seattle Slew and Affirmed won back to back Triple Crowns, Spectacular Bid looked like he would make it a triple - Triple Crown the following year winning both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but he finished third in the Belmont and began a very long drought between Triple Crown winners. Although no horse has been able to win the Triple Crown since 1978 there have been many others after Spectacular Bid that have won the first two legs only to fail at the Belmont. All of these horses won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness then failed to win at Belmont. Pleasant Colony in 1981, Alysheba in 1987, Sunday Silence in 1989, Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998, Charismatic in 1999, War Emblem in 2002, Funny Cide in 2003, Smarty Jones in 2004 and what was supposed to be a mortal lock, Big Brown in 2008. Can Animal Kingdom break the longstanding Triple Crown drought? I believe he has two very big things working in his favor. He has received very little hype so disappointing the crowd is not a factor and he is very lightly raced so he is moving forward in his ability at just the right time of his three year old season. With expectations low and Animal Kingdom fresh and improving I think he has an excellent chance of winning the Triple Crown!
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