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Dissident begins a global quest for Triple Crown glory

Roar Guru
24th March, 2014
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What do Nijinsky, Affirmed and It’s a Dundeel have in common? If you answered they are three-year-old Triple Crown winners, you are half right. They are in fact the last winners of their country’s respective three-year-old Triple Crowns.

If not for the deeds of Octagonal and It’s A Dundeel, the Australian Triple Crown winners in 1995 and 2013 respectively, Australian racing would be in the same situation as US and UK racing – still waiting since the 1970s for another Triple Crown champion.

Before Octagonal and It’s A Dundeel, the last Australian three-year-old Triple Crown was Imagele in 1972.

That wonderful blue-blood Nijinsky is the last winner of the historic trio of races English races. He completed the 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and St Leger treble in 1970. He remains the only English Triple Crown winner since the end of the second World War.

But the most agonising wait for Triple Crown glory belongs to those in the US. Since Affirmed tasted Triple Crown success in 1978, American racing fans have been teased with numerous near misses at their local Triple Crown.

Spectacular Bid (1979), Sunday Silence (1989), War Emblem (2002), Funny Cide (2003), Smarty Jones (2004), Big Brown (2008) and I’ll Have Another (2012) are just a few who have tasted success in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the first two Triple Crown legs, before failing to win the last leg, the 2400m Belmont Stakes.

The win of Dissident in the Randwick Guineas has launched the 2014 Australian Triple Crown series for 2014. In three Saturdays’ time we will know if he has been strong enough to capture both the Rosehill Guineas and the Australian Derby – the last two legs of the local Triple Crown.

Following fast on the heels of Sydney’s Championships, which conclude on April 19, is the Kentucky Derby – known colloquially as ‘the run for the roses’ – at the beautiful Churchill Downs in the heart of Kentucky. It is the first leg of the US Triple Crown and will be run on the first weekend of May.

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Early May also brings the first leg of the UK Triple Crown – the 2000 Guineas over one mile.

The US Triple Crown will be completed by early June but the English equivalent won’t be complete until the St Leger is run in September, over a gruelling 2937m.

Suffice to say any expectations of seeing one of these Triple Crowns achieved should be tempered with caution. History shows they rarely are conquered. Near misses are much more likely.

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