Horse racing in North America inevitably revolves around the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, which are staged in May and early June and collectively constitute the Triple Crown, and the Breeders’ Cup, which is staged in late October or early November.
That said, one of the most famous racehorses in American history, Man O’War, did not win the Triple Crown, for the simple reason that he did not even contest the Kentucky Derby. Owned by Samuel D. Riddle and trained by Louis C. Feustel, he did, however, win both the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes during his three-year-old campaign in 1920 and, as a four-year-old, easily beat the first ever Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, by seven lengths in the Kenilworth Park Gold Cup at Kenilworth Park in Windsor, Ontario. All told, he won 20 of his 21 races.
By any metric, the only horse that can rival Man O’War as the greatest horse in American history is Secretariat, who did win the Triple Crown, in 1973, and still holds the record for the fastest time in each of the constituent races. Owned by Christopher Chenery and his daughter, Penny, under the Meadow Stable banner, and trained by Lucien Laurin, ‘Big Red’, as the horse was popularly known, beat Twice A Prince by an eye-watering 31 lengths in the Belmont Stakes and, in so doing, took more than two seconds off the previous American record for a mile and a half on dirt.
Although not in the same league as Man O’War or Secretariat, the talented, but enigmatic, John Henry was another to capture the attention of racing enthusiasts, not least because of his rags-to-riches story. A $25,000 purchase as a three-year-old, the unfashionably-bred gelding went on to win 39 of his 83 starts, including 17 at Grade 1 level, and just over $6.5 million in prize money. He was Horse of the Year twice, in 1981 and 1984.
Fast forward three decades and the 2010 Horse of the Year, Zenyatta, may have failed, by a head, to retire unbeaten, but won 19 consecutive races between November 2007 and October 2010 and over $4.7 million in prize money. Her most notable victories came in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic in 2008 and the Breeders’ Cup in 2009, both at Santa Anita Park in California.