The roster of 3-year-old Thoroughbreds eligible for the 2013 Triple Crown has grown to 382 with the addition of 13 late nominations (pending late mail)
to the coveted series of American classic races that includes the $2 million-guaranteed Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I), the $1 million Preakness (GI) and the $1 million Belmont Stakes (GI).
The most accomplished of the late nominees is Sterling Racing’s
Black Onyx, winner of Saturday’s $550,000 Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes (GIII) for trainer Kelly Breen
at Turfway Park. Also among the late nominees are Sunrise Stables, Gary Tolchin,
Aubrey Flanagan and Bob Smith’s Giant
Finish, third in the Spiral for trainer Tony Dutrow; Undrafted,
third in the Swale (GIII) at Gulfstream Park for owner and National Football League star Wes Welker and trainer Wesley
Ward; and the Al Stall Jr.-trained duo of Claiborne Farm
and Adele Dilschneider’s Departing, winner of the $50,000 Texas
Heritage at Sam Houston Park, and Brittlyn Stable Inc.’s Sunbean,
whose three wins against state-bred competition in Louisiana include the Gentilly Stakes at Fair Grounds.
The deadline for late nominations to the Triple Crown was on-or-before Saturday, March
23. A fee of $6,000 was required to add each horse to the overall list of 2013 Triple Crown-nominated horses.
Early nominations to the three-race series closed Jan. 26 with 369
horses eligible for the 2013 Triple Crown. A nomination fee of $600 was
required for each horse to become eligible prior to the early deadline.
The 2013 Triple Crown will get underway
Saturday, May 4 with the 139
th running of the 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby at
Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. The Preakness,
the 1 3/16-mile second jewel, is set to be run for the 138
th time on
Saturday, May 18 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md. The 145
th running of the Belmont Stakes, the 1 ½-mile final
jewel of the elusive series, is scheduled for
Saturday, June 8 at Belmont Park, in Elmont, N.Y.
Other late nominees include
Infinite Magic, a recent purchase by
Team Valor International with two wins from five starts in Britain that include a recent 1 ¼-mile triumph over the all-weather
surface at Lingfield; the
Mike Maker-trained duo of
Brazilian Court and
Wings of Fortune, each of which has a maiden victory to his credit;
Are You Kidding Me, runner-up in the Summer Stakes (GII) last year on turf at Woodbine for
trainer
Roger Attfield;
Erik the Red, a recent maiden winner for trainer
Linda Rice at Aqueduct; the
Bruce Headley-trained
Storm Fighter, a recent maiden winner at Santa Anita;
Narvaez, who scored his second career
victory in a dead-heat with early Triple Crown nominee
Declan’s Warrior in a recent optional claiming allowance race at Gulfstream Park; and
Hip Four Sixtynine, who scored his first victory in seven races in a maiden race at Fair Grounds on Feb.
23.
All of the late
Triple Crown nominees are colts. Nine of the 13 were bred in Kentucky,
with the others bred in California, Florida, Louisiana and New York.
Graham Motion, who won the 2011 Kentucky Derby with
Animal Kingdom, is the trainer of Infinite Magic and now has seven nominees in his care. Maker’s pair of late nominees also raised his overall
total to seven, while Black Onyx is Breen’s fifth nominee.
Horses not
nominated to the Triple Crown during either nomination phase will have a
final opportunity to become eligible for the series through a
supplemental nomination process. Those horses can become
eligible for one or all of the Triple Crown races with the payment of a
supplemental nomination fee at the time of entry of any of the three
races. A supplemental nominee is eligible to run in the remaining Triple
Crown events after payment of the fee. A supplemental
nomination at the time of entry to the Kentucky Derby requires a payment
of $200,000, but preference is given to original nominees first. The
supplemental fee is $100,000 if paid prior to either the Preakness or
Belmont Stakes.
The 2012 Triple
Crown series attracted 398 early nominations. Twenty more horses were
added during the late nomination phase, which brought total Triple Crown
nominations for 2012 to 418. The final total
was the largest since a record 460 nominations were received in 2007 and
2008.
The Kentucky Derby
field has been limited to 20 starters since 1975 and the horses that
enter the starting gate for its 2013 renewal will be determined for the
first time by points earned in the new
“Road
to the Kentucky Derby Presented by TwinSpires.com” eligibility
system. The field for the Preakness is limited to 14 starters, while
Belmont Stakes permits a maximum field of 16 horses.
A sweep of the
three Triple Crown races – one of the most difficult feats in all of
sports – has been accomplished on only 11 occasions. The roster of
Triple Crown winners includes
Sir Barton (1919),
Gallant Fox (1930),
Omaha (1935),
War Admiral (1937),
Whirlaway (1941),
Count Fleet (1943),
Assault (1946),
Citation (1948),
Secretariat (1973),
Seattle Slew (1977) and
Affirmed (1978).
The current gap of
35 years since the 1978 sweep by Affirmed is the longest stretch
without a Triple Crown in the history of the series. The previous record
was the 25 years between the 1948 Triple Crown
earned by
Citation and
Secretariat’s dramatic and dominant sweep in 1973.
Reddam Racing’s
I’ll Have Another became the 51
st horse to take two of the three Triple Crown races with triumphs in the 2012 renewals of the Kentucky Derby
and Preakness. The
Doug O’Neill-trained colt was expected to be a
heavy favorite to complete the Triple Crown sweep, but he was withdrawn
from consideration from the Belmont Stakes after being injured a few
days before the series’ final jewel.
| Late Nominations to 2013 Triple Crown |
| Horse |
Owner |
Trainer |
| Are You Kidding Me |
John Bates, Ron Kirk, Greg McDonald and Riordan, Shaw & Sones |
Roger Attfield |
| Black Onyx |
Sterling Racing |
Kelly Breen |
| Brazilian Court |
Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey |
Mike Maker |
| Departing |
Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider |
Al Stall Jr. |
| Erik the Red |
Lady Sheila Stable |
Linda Rice |
| Giant Finish |
Sunrise Stable, Gary Tolchin, Aubrey Flanagan and Bob Smith |
Anthony Dutrow |
| Hip Four Sixtynine |
J-LU LLC |
Bobby Barnett |
| Infinite Magic |
Team Valor International |
H. Graham Motion |
| Narvaez |
Stipa Racing Stable Inc. |
Agustin Bezara |
| Storm Fighter |
Golden Eagle Farm |
Bruce Headley |
| Sunbean |
Brittlyn Stable Inc. |
Al Stall Jr. |
| Undrafted |
Wes Welker |
Wesley Ward |
| Wings of Fortune |
Richard S. Reed, Tiffany Zammit and Quade, Bruce & Joyce |
Mike Maker |