The US Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing is the pinnacle of American horse racing, beginning with the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in May, and ending with the Belmont Stakes in June.
To win the Triple Crown a horse must win those three Grade 1 races in five weeks, at three different dirt racecourses, in Kentucky, Maryland, and New York. Open only to three-year-old thoroughbreds, a horse has only one chance in its life to take the Triple Crown.
Collectively, the Triple Crown races are worth $9 million in purse money and attract hundreds of millions of dollars in horse racing betting handle each year. Betting the Triple Crown is the most popular form of horse racing betting in the US, because the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes are the three races everyone wants to win and will be extremely popular markets across the top horse racing betting sites.
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How To Bet On The Triple Crown
Triple Crown betting attracts hundreds of millions of dollars in bets each year. Each race in the Triple Crown has its own betting markets, which include the ‘win’, ‘place’, and ‘show’ standard horse racing wagers, and also these exotic bets:
- Exacta - Pick the first and second horse home in any race, in the correct order.
- Trifecta – Predict the first three horses home in the right order.
- Superfecta - Select the first four to finish the race in the right order.
- Quinella - This bet boxes an Exacta, meaning you still win as long as the two picks finish in the first two, regardless of their order. You can also box a Trifecta and Superfecta.
- Future Wager - Before the Kentucky Derby, you can bet on the Kentucky Derby Future Wager market. This allows punters to bet early on the potential Derby horse they think will earn a place in the race, and go on to win. Typically, Future Wagers offer larger payouts than betting the same horse on the day of the race, because they are placed before the horse has been confirmed to run.
You can bet on the Triple Crown races at the racecourses on raceday and online, including on betting sites outside the US, with many bookies offering Triple Crown betting markets, such is the international appeal of the Three Jewels.
What Are The Triple Crown Races?
Three races make up the US Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, each run at a different racecourse, in a different state, and over a different distance, with just two constants: they are all open only to three-year-old thoroughbreds and are run on dirt tracks.
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The Kentucky Derby - Purse $5million
Held at Churchill Downs Racecourse in Louisville, Kentucky on the first Saturday in May, the Kentucky Derby is run over a distance of 1 1/4 miles on Churchill Downs’s dirt oval and is known as The Run for the Roses because the winner is draped in a blanket of roses. The field is limited to 20 runners, all of which earn their berth through the Road to the Kentucky Derby series in the US, Europe and the Middle East, and Japan.
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The Preakness Stakes - Purse $2million
Held at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland on the third Saturday in May in 2026, the Preakness Stakes was run over a distance of 1 3/16 miles on dirt and is known as The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans because the winner is draped in a blanket of black-eyed susan flowers. The field is limited to 14 runners, with starting places determined according to the official conditions and eligibility rules of the race.
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The Belmont Stakes - Purse $2million
Held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York on the first or second Saturday in June in 2026, the Belmont Stakes was run over 1 1/4 miles and is known as The Test of the Champion. In 2026, it was run on Saratoga’s dirt course, with the winner presented with the traditional blanket of carnations. The field and starting places are determined according to the official conditions and eligibility rules of the race.
Top Triple Crown Betting Tips
The Triple Crown is three separate races, that if won together achieve a horse and its connections the highest honour in US horse racing. Most Triple Crown betting focusses on each race individually. These betting tips can help you with your horse racing betting strategy:
- The draw – Post-position trends vary depending on the venue, field size, and track layout. In 2026, the Preakness Stakes was held at Laurel Park and the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, so historical statistics from Pimlico and Belmont Park did not directly apply.
- Triple Crown form - Kentucky Derby starters set out to win the Triple Crown and very few Preakness Stakes winners did not run in the Derby. It pays to follow Kentucky Derby form in the middle jewel, but watch out for shocks in the Belmont Stakes and think outside the box.
- The Belmont Stakes – In 2026, the final Triple Crown race was held at Saratoga over 1 1/4 miles rather than on Belmont Park’s track, nicknamed Big Sandy. A horse still needed stamina to perform well in the race.
- Pool bets - If you only have $2 to bet, your potential winnings are limited, but if you and several friends have $2 each to bet, suddenly you have a bigger stake to place on your Triple Crown bet. Get together, work out a bet you all like, then pool your stakes for one big bet.
Triple Crown History
The term Triple Crown was popularised by Daily Racing Form journalist Charles Hatton in the 1930s. In England, the term was being used to describe a similar series, beginning with the 2,000 Guineas, running on to the Epsom Derby and concluding with the St. Leger, each race longer than the next, and only open to three-year-old thoroughbreds
Hatton saw the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes as US horse racing’s equivalents, and as he continued to refer to the trio collectively as the Triple Crown, owners and trainers began to specifically target these contests.
By the 1940s, newspapers routinely used the term and The Triple Crown title was officially inaugurated in December 1950 at the annual awards dinner of the Thorougbred Racing Associations in New York. They retroactively awarded the title to the first horse to achieve the Triple Crown of victories, 1919 winner Sir Barton, and at following dinners did the same for others to have won the three races pre-1950.