Editor’s Note: This excerpt is from Belmont Park: A Century of Champions. 

Chestnut colt, 1970, by Bold Ruler–Somethingroyal, by Princequillo
Bred and raced by Meadow Stud, trained by Lucien Laurin
Lifetime record: 21 starts, 16-3-1, $1,316,808

The long dearth of Triple Crown winners ended in the 1970s, the first full decade of the new Belmont Park.

After a twenty-five-year gap since the great Citation, three horses won the Triple Crown from 1973 to 1978. This trio of triples caused some to wonder, as had another foursome in the 1940s, whether winning the ultimate series might become so frequent as to diminish the achievement. Then, in 1979, another great colt, Spectacular Bid, lost in his “bid” for the crown, and unbeknownst to the sport at the time, a new drought had begun. As of 2004, it had exceeded the length of the previous one at twenty-six years and counting