Champion juvenile Hansen, Breeders' Cup runner-up Union Rags, and almost 400 other three-year-old were among the horses nominated to the 2012 Triple Crown, a 9.1% increase from 2011. Only 11 horses have ever won the Triple Crown, the last occurring in 1978 when Affirmed defeated his rival Alydar in all three races. The 33-year drought without a Triple Crown winner is the longest in history.
Not only has the Triple Crown eluded horses for the past three decades, but it's become in the last few years it's become rare that a horse even wins more than one leg of the series. Since Big Brown was defeated in the Belmont Stakes there have been ten different winners of the ten Triple Crown races. The last time we saw a similar stretch was between 1924 to 1929, when there were 18 different winners over 18 Triple Crown races. Gallant Fox broke the streak by winning the Triple Crown in 1930.
Previous Triple Crown winners:
Sir Barton - 1919
Gallant Fox - 1930
Omaha - 1935
War Admiral - 1937
Whirlaway - 1941
Count Fleet - 1942
Assault - 1946
Citation - 1948
Secretariat - 1973
Seattle Slew - 1977
Affirmed - 1978
The 2012 Triple Crown will take place over a period of five weeks, beginning with the Kentucky Derby on May 5th, continuing on with the Preakness on May 19th, and concluding with the Test of Champions, the Belmont Stakes, on June 11th.
Complete 2012 Triple Crown Nominations List