The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Horse Racing

The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing is a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year. Kentucky Derby, run over 1 and 1/4 miles (2.01 km) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky; Preakness Stakes, run over 1 and 3/16 miles (1.91 km) at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland; Belmont Stakes, run over 1 and 1/2 miles (2.41 km) at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. The Triple Crown starts with The Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday of May. The Preakness follows two weeks later. The Belmont Stakes is three weeks after The Preakness in early June. In the U.S., the term “Triple Crown” is the usual reference for these three horse races, a term shared with a hitter who leads his league in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in during a single Major League Baseball regular season. While Daily Racing Form writer Charles Hatton is commonly credited with originating the term to reference these races in 1930, they were referred to by that name at least as early as 1923.