June 11
TRIPLE CROWN DAY
Racing back to 1919 ... Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes in New York to become the first horse to capture the Triple Crown. It was on this day that the Belmont Stakes was first run as part of thoroughbred racing’s most prestigious trio of events. Sir Barton had already won the first two jewels of the Triple Crown -- the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky and the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Maryland. The Triple Crown is for three-year-olds only and has only been achieved by twelve horses other than Sir Barton: Gallant Fox in 1930; Omaha in 1935; War Admiral in 1937; Whirlaway in 1941; Count Fleet in 1943; Assault in 1946; Citation ridden by Eddie Arcaro in 1948; the famous Secretariat in 1973; Seattle Slew in 1977; Affirmed in 1978; American Pharoah in 2015; and Justify (2018).
Jim Fitzsimmons, the trainer of Gallant Fox and Omaha; and Bob Baffert, who trained American Pharoah and Justify are the only trainers to have two winners in the Triple Crown circle.
Eddy Arcaro (on Whirlaway and Citation) is the only jockey to have won the Triple Crown twice.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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