1978 Triple Crown Winner

Some horses earn their place in the record books; Affirmed earned his in the imagination. A bright chestnut foaled in 1975 at Harbor View Farm in Florida and campaigned by Louis and Patrice Wolfson, he was bred to be a runner — by Exclusive Native, a fast and sound son of Raise a Native, out of the Crafty Admiral mare Won't Tell You — but it was his temperament as much as his pedigree that defined him. Trainer Laz Barrera called him a horse who saved something for the moment a rival drew alongside, and that quality became the thread of his career.

That career was inseparable from one rival in particular: Alydar. The two met ten times across two seasons, and seven of those meetings produced finishes within a length. In 1978, with eighteen-year-old jockey Steve Cauthen aboard, Affirmed won the Kentucky Derby by a length and a half, the Preakness by a neck, and then, in what is still considered one of the greatest races ever run, held off Alydar by a head down the long Belmont stretch to become the eleventh — and, for thirty-seven years, the last — Triple Crown winner before American Pharoah in 2015. He was named Horse of the Year that season and again in 1979, when he beat older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Santa Anita Handicap.

Affirmed retired with 22 wins from 29 starts and earnings then unmatched in the sport, was inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 1980, and went on to a respectable stallion career at Spendthrift and later Jonabell Farm before his death in 2001. His legacy is twofold: a Triple Crown earned by inches against a great adversary, and the proof that a racehorse's character — the willingness to dig in exactly when it counts — can matter as much as anything written on a pedigree page.

Sire Exclusive Native

Grandsire Raise a Native

Dam Won't Tell You

Damsire Crafty Admiral

Sex Stallion

Foaled 1975

Died January 12, 2001

Country United States

Color Chestnut

Breeder Harbor View Farm

Owner Harbor View Farm. Colors: Flamingo, white bars on black sleeves, black cap

Trainer Laz Barrera

Record 29: 22–5–1

Earnings $2,393,818

Major wins: Youthful Stakes (1977), Hollywood Juvenile Championship (1977), Sanford Stakes (1977), Hopeful Stakes (1977), Futurity Stakes (1977), Laurel Futurity (1977), San Felipe Stakes (1978), Santa Anita Derby (1978), Hollywood Derby (1978), Jim Dandy Stakes (1978), Strub Stakes (1979), Santa Anita Handicap (1979), Californian Stakes (1979), Hollywood Gold Cup (1979), Woodward Stakes (1979), Jockey Club Gold Cup (1979)

Triple Crown race wins: Kentucky Derby (1978), Preakness Stakes (1978), Belmont Stakes (1978)

Awards: 11th U.S. Triple Crown Champion (1978), American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (1977), American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse (1978), American Champion Older Male Horse (1979), American Horse of the Year (1978, 1979)

Honors: United States Racing Hall of Fame (1980), #12 – Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park, Affirmed Stakes at Calder Race Course, Affirmed Street in Napa, California