Who Was The Greatest Triple Crown Winner? Who Would Be The Least Respected?

By Author: Lee Lane-Edgar
Total Articles: 365
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Most horse racing experts will agree that the greatest Triple Crown winner was probably Secretariat, although a few dissenters may cast their vote for the great Citation, the #2 and #3 ranked greatest American thoroughbreds of all time, according to Blood Horse magazine.
In a fantasy Triple Crown race featuring all 11 winners, would Secretariat be a lock? I am not so sure. People forget that Citation won 28 of his first 30 races, which is an absolutely amazing statistic. Some of the official comments next to these wins read “going away, easily, handily, galloping, much the best, eased up, and in hand”. In fact six times the comment read “easily”, a comment that is rare to see even once in most past performances of even the top horses.
What makes Citations Triple Crown especially remarkable is that he won a 1 ¼ mile race called the Jersey in between the Preakness and Belmont, and by 11 lengths! Perhaps he deserves extra points for winning the Triple Crown series plus one in between.
Of course who can argue with Secretariat as the top choice. This is the horse that set three straight track records in ...
... the Kentucky Derby, Preakness (unofficially), and the Belmont Stakes. His time of 2:24 flat for the Belmont is a record that may stand forever. When Secretariat was on, there was no stopping him. He was a bit more inconsistent however, registering three losses even in his prime as a three year old, without seemingly good excuses.
It is difficult to say who would win for sure. I think Secretariat would win 6 out of 10 races and Citation 4 out of 10 races in which they faced off against each other (as long as Man o’ War was not in the race as well).
As for the weakest Triple Crown winner? It is not Seattle Slew or Count Fleet, both of whom were undefeated through the Belmont Stakes, and who are ranked #9 and #5, respectively, by Blood Horse.
Affirmed was one of the all time greats, and was even greater as a four year old. Whirlaway was inconsistent perhaps due to his quirky nature, but was brilliant when he was right. Gallant Fox, the 1930 winner, won 10 of his last 11 starts and usually won with ease.
That leaves Sir Barton, Omaha, and Assault.
Assault was pretty good, and though after his Triple Crown win, he hit a rough patch, losing six straight, he came back with a vengeance and reeled off seven consecutive wins in big races. Still, how does a Triple Crown winner lose six straight races?
Omaha was solid if not brilliant. After his Belmont win, he went on to win four of his last seven races. But he gets extra props because he did something no other Triple Crown winner has ever done, and that is race in Europe. In fact, he raced his last four races in Europe. He won the Victor Wild Stakes, then the Queen’s Plate, then got beat by just a nose in the Ascot Gold Cup, and then in his final race, the Princess of Wales Stakes, he led 3 furlongs to the wire, was passed in the final furlong, but then came on again to show his courage but came up short by a neck. I admire a horse that goes over and races on grass in Europe at distances of up to 2 ½ miles, and he gets extra points in my book.
That leaves us with Sir Barton, who really didn’t show much at all before the Derby. He did win the Triple Crown of 1919 pretty easily, and did go on two win 9 of his next 21 races, and he did beat the great Exterminator in the Saratoga Handicap as a four year old. He also set the world record for 1 3/16 miles in the Merchants and Citizens Handicap at Saratoga, running it in 155 and 3/5, which is a full 4/5 seconds faster than Shackleford ran this year’s running of the Preakness (156 and 2/5), and that was back in 1919 when times were much much slower.
All in all, I would say Assault gets the vote for weakest Triple Crown runner. What do you think?
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