Leg 1 · First Saturday in May
1¼ miles · Dirt · $5M total · $3.1M to winner
Kentucky Derby
Churchill Downs · Louisville, KY
The most-watched horse race in America. Three-year-olds only, run on dirt, 20-horse field. Trifectas + superfectas pay massively because of the field size — but the chalk wins more often than its odds imply.
Full race profile →Leg 2 · Third Saturday in May
1 3/16 miles · Dirt · $2M total · $1.2M to winner
Preakness Stakes
Pimlico Race Course · Baltimore, MD
Run two weeks after the Derby on a tighter track at Pimlico. The Derby winner usually returns and starts as the favorite; only 13 horses have won both legs since 1875.
Full race profile →Leg 3 · Early June
1½ miles · Dirt · $1.5M total · $900K to winner
Belmont Stakes
Belmont Park · Elmont, NY
The longest of the three at 1½ miles. Has shattered Triple Crown bids more often than not — only 13 horses since 1919 have completed the sweep, including American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018).
Full race profile →Triple Crown winners since 1973
Three horses have completed the Triple Crown in the modern era: Secretariat (1973), American Pharoah (2015) ending a 37-year drought, and Justify (2018) — the only undefeated Triple Crown winner since Seattle Slew in 1977. Affirmed (1978) was the last winner before American Pharoah's historic sweep.