# With the Triple Crown try coming up - Ask the Horse Racing Fan **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 4, 2014, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-the-triple-crown-try-coming-up-ask-the-horse-racing-fan/690040 "2014-06-04T16:25:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 33
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-the-triple-crown-try-coming-up-ask-the-horse-racing-fan/690040/33 "2014-06-06T15:52:42Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > I’m not really a fan, so just a simple history question out of curiosity. Since the last Triple Crown winner…“Affirmed”, I think that’s what ESPN said it was…which horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and how did they finish at Belmont? And for that matter, what is it that makes a horse that’s so dominant in two races come up short or completely flame out in the third? I can understand being great at _one_ type of race and flopping in another, but _two?_ From memory (not that tough a task, I was present for most of these): 1979 - Spectacular Bid, 3rd - He got a safety pin caught in his hoof the morning of the Belmont, plus his jockey moved him to challenge a hopeless longshot early. Probably the best horse to win the first two and lose the Belmont; he won all 9 races the following year and set several track records in doing so. 1981 - Pleasant Colony, 3rd - Improved a ton in the race before the Derby and appeared to be knocked out by the 3 huge efforts going into the Belmont. 1987 - Alysheba, 4th - Uncharacteristically showed speed and tired; the winner had finished a close 2nd in the first two legs so wasn’t a surprise; another horse who was dominant the next year. 1989 - Sunday Silence, 2nd - Had equally-talented archrival, Easy Goer, who loved racing at Belmont and ran the second-fastest Belmont ever that day. Had either of these two horses not had to face each other, they probably would have both won Triple Crowns. 1997- Silver Charm, 2nd - Happened to win the first two legs against a couple of closely matched rivals, and just got run down late by one of them here. 1998 - Real Quiet, 2nd - Just got beaten a nose by equally-talented rival who had finished second in the first two legs after opening up a lead coming out of the turn. By the way, if California Chrome loses tomorrow, I think this is the most likely scenario. 1999 - Charismatic, 3rd - Like Pleasant Colony, improved a ton 1 race before the Derby, and was overused in his 3 straight big efforts. Broke a leg very late in the race; finished anyway but was saved when his jockey jumped off just past the finish. 2002 - War Emblem, 8th? - Pure frontrunner who stumbled out of the gate and was immediately taken out of his game. There are quite a few horses with a front-running running style who quit when unable to reach the lead. 2003 - Funny Cide, 3rd - Was too keen for the race; had a very fast workout that week and tried to lead all the way; beaten by talented rivals, including the Derby favorite who had finished 2nd in that race. 2004 - Smarty Jones, 2nd - Beaten by race tactics. Hounded by two rivals in the early portions of the race and ran way too fast in the middle part of the race as a result; still opened a lead coming out of the turn but couldn’t hold off a fresh challenger who had stayed out of the early fray. 2008 - Big Brown, eased out of the race - Who knows? Take your pick of a) loosened a shoe on the first turn; b) went nuts in the “detention barn” where stakes horses must wait during the day while they are watched; or c) did not receive his monthly dose of (then-legal) steroids for the first time. 2012 - I’ll Have Another, scratched - Scratched the day before the Belmont (and retired) with a flareup of a chronic leg injury. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-the-triple-crown-try-coming-up-ask-the-horse-racing-fan/690040)._