Rank The 12 Triple Crown Winners
 

Yeah, I know, this is completely unfair to our most recent winner, but with all the hoopla of how AP simply doesn't stack up to being a TC winner, it is time to bring iron to metal.

How do you rank the 12 Triple Crown Winners?

In order, here they are:

Sir Barton
Gallant Fox
Omaha
War Admiral
Whirlaway
Count Fleet
Assault
Citation
Secretariat
Seattle Slew
Affirmed
American Pharaoh

Secretariat
American Pharoah
Citation
Seattle Slew
War Admial
Count Fleet
Affirmed
Whirlaway
Sir Barton
Omaha
Assault
Gallant Fox




bam

Is this based only on the TC, up through the TC, or for their careers???

Cool thread Husker...

1) SECRETARIAT
2) Citation
3) War Admiral......the only TC winner who appears in American Pharoah's bloodline. :eek:
4) Seattle Slew
5) Gallant Fox
6) Affirmed
7) Whirlaway
8) Count Fleet......placed him kind of low because he had trouble with big fields.
9) American Pharoah.....he could move up a couple notches with a solid fall campaign.
10) Omaha
11) Assault
12) Sir Barton

Are you sure about that? Secretariat is right there in his bloodline through his dam (4th gen I believe, I'd have to look at it again).

You're correct......how did I miss Big Red ? :faint:

My guess is earnings themselves would probably not be a good guage to rank them because of the purses shifting/changing over time...

According to the link down below, it claims the final times for alot of the races even long before Speed Figures, were unreliable.

For what it's worth, it does however try to rank the top 5 and I assume using final times... Here is the Top 5

1. SECRETARIAT. It wasn't even close. He holds record times in all three legs of the Triple Crown, and his combined time for the three races is six seconds faster than the next competitor.

2. AFFIRMED. His 1:54.4 in the Preakness matches the second-fastest for any Triple Crown winner, and his 2:26.8 in the Belmont over a muddy track also is impressive.

3. SEATTLE SLEW. Score one for the modern winners. They completed the series faster than any combination of their older counterparts. Seattle Slew, also, ran a 1:54.4 in the Preakness, three seconds faster than the other Triple Crown winners outside of Secretariat and Affirmed. (American Pharoah, by comparison, ran the Preakness in 1:58.46 over a sloppy track.)

4. COUNT FLEET. Remarkably, he actually was injured before the 1943 Kentucky Derby, but won it anyway with the sixth-fastest winning time among Triple Crown winners. He then dominated the Preakness by eight lengths and the Belmont by 25 (after winning the Withers in between). That margin stood as the Belmont record until Secretariat beat it in 1973.

5. WAR ADMIRAL. The son of Man o'War in some ways raced in the shadows of his more famous sire. He delayed the start of the 1937 Kentucky Derby for eight minutes, but once he was ready to start, he led from wire to wire. At the Belmont, he stumbled at the start and cut about a quarter inch off his left right hoof, but still led wire to wire in what was then a course-record time of 2:28 3/5. He led all three legs of the Triple Crown wire-to-wire.

Here is the Full Link.

John
~¿o

I think Secretariat should be number one on everyone's list. That should be a default rank. I know how people brag about Citation and how great he was but he faced the least competition in all of the races. His time is the worst of any Preakness winner.

Secretariat

Citation

Gallant Fox

Seattle Slew

War Admiral

Affirmed

Whirlaway

Count Fleet

Sir Barton

Omaha

Assault

American Pharoah

Too bad Man O War missed the Derby . I would have had a hard time
deciding but I think weights he carried would win me over .

Apparently Sam Riddle was not going to run War Admiral in the Derby either but he saw that William Woodward had a father/son pair who won the Preakness/Belmont winner and they were Triple Crown winners so he decided to run War Admiral in the Derby to stick it to Woodward. Jealousy got the racing world a 4th Triple Crown winner.

It wasn't muddy that day. I was there.

Riddle was more small town and Woodward was big banker who had racing ties on 2 continents .
Yes it sure worked out didn't it .

i rate based on career accomplishment:

1. Citation
2. Affirmed
3. Whirlaway
4. Gallant Fox
5. War Admiral
6. Seattle Slew
7. Secretariat
8. Assault
9. Omaha
10. Count Fleet
11. Sir Barton
12. American Pharoah (he can move up though)

And before anyone says anything, I ding Secretariat for (1) not running at 4, (2) mostly running in restricted company, and (3) mostly beating stiffs.

But if i were to rank them on impressiveness IN THE TRIPLE CROWN, he would be in the top 2 and possibly number 1.

we get it already, you are a Citation fanboy who will do anything to denigrate Secretariat so that Citation appears on top. Give it a rest. Can't you lift up Citation without trying to lower everyone else???

For the record, Secretariat raced six times against open company in his final four months of racing. What more could he have done after the Belmont to satisfy you, if indeed he could have done anything to satisfy you? It wasn't his decision to not race at 4, and frankly we didn't need to see him at four to figure out he was great. Beating stiffs? Please... :faint: