When Arcangelo sailed across the finish line in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets on June 10, 2023, he gave Jena Antonucci a historic victory as the first woman to train the winner of a U.S. Triple Crown race.
Into each horse’s career comes a fateful moment, a decision or an injury or some outside force that changes the trajectory of their career. For Sir Barton, it was a cough caught from a stablemate. Gallant Fox’s came when Earl Sande agreed to ride the Belair colt in every start of his Triple Crown season in 1930.
The trajectory of each Triple Crown winner’s career is unique to that horse and his moment. Each shares victories in the three classics, but how they got there and what they did afterward speaks to their individual talents and the people connected to them. Though the list has 13 names, one member of this elite club did something that no other has done: ventured overseas to try a new surface on a worldwide stage: Omaha.
The letters meant so much to Penny Chenery, breeder and owner of 1973 Triple Crown champion Secretariat. They were written by ambitious girls from coast to coast, telling her she served as a role model for them.
