American Pharoah's run to glory at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday brought horses closer to humans when it comes to the two most hallowed Triple Crowns in sports.
The equine version — winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont — now has been accomplished 12 times. Major League Baseball hitters have accomplished their version of the feat (leading the league in home runs, RBI and batting average) 17 times.
These two Triple Crowns might seem to share a name only, but a look back at history shows that there are some similarities between them. Let's take a look.
Horse racing
Sir Barton, 1919.
Six of the 12 horses to win the Triple Crown came between 1935 and 1948, while three more came between 1973 and 1978.
After Affirmed won in 1978, there was not another winner until American Pharoah's run this weekend — a span of 37 years.
Plenty of horses have come close — 13 horses won the first two legs between Affirmed and American Pharoah but couldn't conquer Belmont — but a combination of bad luck, timing and the 1½-mile distance at Belmont shut out a lot of great horses.
Belmont is clearly the toughest of the three to crack thanks to its distance and coming last in a grueling sequence. Nine times since 1997, horses that won the first two legs failed to win Belmont. Only Point Given (2001) and Afleet Alex (2005) won Belmont and one other Triple Crown race in that span.
