The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing in the United States consists of a series of three races: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes. You probably knew that.
Do you know what a Thoroughbred is though? Only Thoroughbred horses are allowed to enter a Triple Crown race. Many people have the misconception that “thoroughbred” is a description, a synonym for “purebred.” Nope. It’s a specific breed of horse developed for racing. All Thoroughbreds are descended from three foundation sires, the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk. Those three stallions were imported into England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and bred with English mares.
A horse must be three years old to enter a Triple Crown race. All three races must be won in the same year. But what if the horse turns three years old, say, after the Kentucky Derby, but before the Preakness? It wouldn’t be possible for that horse to win all three races the same year. That doesn’t seem fair.
It turns out, though, it doesn’t work that way. All Thoroughbred horses have the same birthday, January 1st. That’s in the Northern Hemisphere anyway. It’s August 1st in the Southern Hemisphere. Regardless of what day a Thoroughbred horse is actually born, it’s considered to be a year older every January 1st (or August 1st down south.) So a horse must be three years old by this reckoning to be eligible for the Triple Crown races.
A third interesting aspect of the Triple Crown races concerns how much weight each horse must carry, 126 pounds for male horses, 121 pounds for fillies. Race officials called stewards will weigh what a horse is going to carry, including the jockey, saddle, and equipment, and add weight if necessary. In the old days, this extra weight was in the form of lead weights placed in a pouch under the racing saddle. More recently, these have been replaced by weighted gel pads that fit under the saddle.
England, Ireland, Canada and Australia each have their own version of the Triple Crown, with England’s being the original. Very few horses in England are bred for both speed and stamina anymore, so there hasn’t been an English Triple Crown winner since 1970.
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