by D Server

Created on: March 05, 2009   Last Updated: March 07, 2009

The Triple Crown in America did not exist until the 1920's, when the Ketucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont were almost casually designated as the three races. In those days, the order of the three was different then it is now, the spacing of the races was different and iit probably wasn't until Gallant Fox in 1930 that a horse actively sought the Triple Crown. The first winner of the series was Sir Barton in 1920, though his connections did not know they would be considered so historic. Later in the year, he lost a match race to the more famous and talented Man O' War, who was the top three year old the year before but had not run in all three of the races.

The American Triple Crown is loosely based on the English Triple Crown, which consists of a mile race-the 2000 Guineas, run in May-the Espom Derby or Darby, at a mile and a half in June-and the St. Leger at a mile and fifteen-sixteenths, run in the fall. The races are so spread out and at such various distances that very rarely do horses even attempt it. The last to win it was Nijinsky in 1970. He was undefeated at the time, considered one of the great horses ever and so his stable decided to try for the Triple Crown in the St. Leger. They won the race, though the effort at such a long distance probably wore him down. He lost his last two starts, including the Arc De Triomphe in Paris, which was the stable's real goal for the fall.

None of the top horses in Europe in the subsequent decades have made an attempt at the Triple Crown. And in other major European racing countries, including Ireland and France, their equivalent of the English St. Leger, the Irish St. Leger and the Prix Royal Oak, have in recent times been opened to older horses, not just three year olds.

While the Triple Crown in Europe has become an anachronism, it has flourished in the U.S. Although the Kentucky Derby has certainly been the most important race of the three, the Preakness and Belmont also attrract great attention and huge crowds. If there is a horse going for the Triple Crown, extremely large crowds will show up at Belmont Park. More than 120,000 were on hand to watch Smarty Jones come close to sweeping the series in 2004. about twice the size of a crowd for the race when there is no Triple Crown at stake.

Unlike in Europe, the American Triple Crown races have a narrow time frame which makes it easier for the public to become interested and stay interested. There are just five weeks between the Kentucky Derby and the end of

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