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The Triple Crown is comprised of three annual horse races: the Kentucky Derby (held on the first Saturday in May), the Preakness Stakes (held on the third Saturday in May), and the Belmont Stakes (held on the second Saturday in June). Though all of the races were established in the late 1800s, the notion of the Triple Crown wasn't conceived until 1930, the year Gallant Fox claimed the honor. The title wasn't official, however, until very recently. In 1987, the three race tracks created the Triple Crown
Challenge and offered a $5 million bonus to any horse that won all three races. It's no easy feat for a horse to win the Triple Crown. To date, only 11 horses have managed it. They are: - Sir Barton (1919)
- Gallant Fox (1930)
- Omaha (1935)
- War Admiral (1937)
- Whirlaway (1941)
- Count Fleet (1943)
- Assault (1946)
- Citation (1948)
- Secretariat (1973)
- Seattle Slew (1977)
- Affirmed (1978)
Seventeen horses have come close, winning the Derby and the Preakness, only to miss their shot by blowing the Belmont. Sadly, Seattle Slew, the
only undefeated Triple Crown champion, died recently at the ripe old age of 28. Now that he is gone, exactly 25 years after the day that he won the Kentucky Derby, there are no Triple Crown champions still living.
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