Originally published June 6, 2003. 

The record book tells us that 46 thoroughbreds have won two legs of the Triple Crown, but that’s also a bit misleading. The truth is, only 27 horses have come to New York with both the Derby and Preakness to their credit. Of those, only 11 completed the sweep by capturing the Belmont Stakes.

On Saturday, Funny Cide will be the 28th horse to go for the Triple Crown, but the first gelding and the first New York-bred (he was conceived in Kentucky, but born in New York before being returned to Kentucky).

He also will be attempting to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. That ties the 25-year gap between Citation (1948) and Secretariat (1943) as the longest the sport has gone without a Triple Crown winner.

The Triple Crown winners are 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.

Of course, it must be noted first that the Triple Crown wasn’t really invented until the 1930s. So Sir Barton, the First Triple Crown winner in 1919, and Gallant Fox, who won all three classics in the spring of 1930, are credited with winning something that didn’t even exist at the time they competed.

In Gallant Fox’s case, the sequence wasn’t even the same. He won the Preakness on May 9, the Derby on May 17, and the Belmont on June 7. Not until later did the Derby’s date become carved in stone as the first Saturday in May.

It’s also important to eliminate horses who didn’t win the first two legs. In 1988, for example, Risen Star won the Preakness and Belmont, but he can’t be considered a Triple Crown contender because he finished third in the Derby.

Likewise, Swale won the 1984 Derby and Belmont, but he didn’t come to New York as a Triple Crown contender because he had finished seventh in the Preakness.

In the early 1930s, when writer Charlie Hatton of the Daily Racing Form first coined the term "Triple Crown," owners E.R. Bradley and M.L. Schwartz didn’t even send Burgoo King (1932) and Bold Venture (1936), respectively, to the Belmont, even though both had won both the Derby and Preakness.

So that leaves the "Sweet 16" who won both the first two legs of the Triple Crown, but failed to complete the sweep in Belmont’s mile-and-a-half "Test of Champions."

They are Pensive (1944), Tim Tam (1958), Carry Back (1961), Northern Dancer (1964), Kauai King (1966), Forward Pass (1968), Majestic Prince (1969), Canonero II (1971), Spectacular Bid (1979), Pleasant Colony (1981), Alysheba (1987), Sunday Silence (1989), Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), Charismatic (1999), and War Emblem (last year).

In a way, it’s fortunate that Forward Pass finished second to Stage Door Johnny in the 1968 Belmont. He had finished second to Dancer’s Image in the Derby, but was declared the winner when a then-illegal medication was detected in the Dancer’s post-race urine test. Had he won the Belmont, that would have made him a Triple Crown winner with a big asterik by his name.

Of the other 15, three — Tim Tam, Majestic Prince, Charismatic — never ran again after the Belmont, due to physical problems suffered during the Triple Crown grind. But Northern Dancer went on to become the sport’s all-time most successful breeding stallion, and Carry Back, Spectacular Bid, Alysheba, and Silver Charm went on to have long and distinguished careers.

Three of the Derby and Preakness winners — Sunday Silence, Alysheba, and Majestic Prince — were drilled by horses who had finished second to them in the Derby and/or Preakness. In 1989, Sunday Silence lost the Belmont by eight lengths to Easy Goer; In the 1987 Belmont, Alysheba finished fourth to Bet Twice, beaten by more than 14 lengths; and in 1969, Majestic Prince finished second by 5 1/2 lengths to Arts and Letters.

Both Canonero II and Majestic Prince had physical problems before the Derby. But their owners, consumed by Triple Crown fever, overruled their trainers and ran them anyway, with unfortunate results.

Of the 16 who fell short in the Belmont, here are the five who came closest:

1. Real Quiet, 1998 — Seemed to have the Belmont won, only to have the onrushing Victory Gallop nip him by a nose at the wire.

2. Pensive, 1944 — The Derby and Preakness winner had the lead with a a quarter mile to go, but gave way to Bounding Home and couldn’t catch him after a gritty stretch duel that left Pensive a half-length short of the Triple Crown.

3. Silver Charm, 1997 — He had the lead with 50 yards to go, but jockey Gary Stevens didn’t see Chris McCarron and Touch Gold coming down the middle of the track until it was too late. Touch Gold won by 3/4 of a length.

4. Charismatic, 1999 — He had the lead with a quarter-mile to go, but suffered a leg injury that ended his career. He still finished third, beaten less than two lengths by Lemon Drop Kid. As soon as Charismatic crossed the wire, jockey Chris Antley pulled him up and held his injured foreleg off the ground until medical help could arrive, possibly saving the colt’s life.

5. Pleasant Colony, 1981 — Breaking from the No. 11 post on the far outside, he raced wide the whole trip and finished third to Summing, beaten by less than two lengths. Only one horse has won the Belmont from the No. 11 post since 1905.

So Bob Baffert, who trained both Real Quiet and Silver Charm, reigns as the Belmont’s "Heartbreak Kid." He missed again last year with War Emblem, winner of the Derby and Preakness, but that colt’s chances were ruined when he stumbled badly out of the starting gate. He finished eighth to Sarava.

This year, for only the second year since 1996, Baffert won’t have a Belmont entrant. He won the race in 2001 with Point Given, who also won the Preakness but was only fifth to Monarchos in the Kentucky Derby.

So Funny Cide will either become racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner or the 17th Triple Crown candidate to fail in the Belmont Stakes.

The gelding’s owner, Sackatoga Stable, and trainer, Barclay Tagg, have never had a Belmont entrant. Their jockey, Jose Santos, has won victory (Lemon Drop Kid in 1999) and two seconds (Kissin Kris in 1993 and Skip Away in 1996) to show for 11 Belmont rides.

But Funny Cide’s 9 3/4-length win in the Preakness, second longest in the race’s history, and his subsequent impressive workouts indicate that he’s ready to make racing history on the first Saturday in June.

William F. “Billy” Reed, a free-lance writer based in Louisville, Ky., has covered Thoroughbred racing for 39 years. He is a former sports editor of The Courier-Journal in Louisville and a former senior writer with Sports Illustrated. He has covered the last three Triple Crown winners and 21 runnings of the Belmont Stakes.