Sir Barton

The Derby winner of the day is Sir Barton. Sir Barton won the Kentucky Derby in 1919, and followed that with winning the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland, then the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont New York, making him the first winner of the American Triple Crown. Actually he won another race between the Preakness and Belmont, the Withers Stakes, but that race is not part of the Triple Crown of Horse Racing. Back in 1919 when Sir Barton accomplished this remarkable feat, the Triple Crown was not known as such. The term Triple Crown, when referring to the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont, wasn’t used until 1930.

Sir Barton went on to be voted the Horse of the Year, the highest honor in racing, in 1919. He retired from racing in 1920, and in 1922 he began his career as a stud at Audley Farm in Berryville Virginia where he achieved only moderate success.

Sir Barton died from colic in 1933 and was buried on a ranch in the foothills of the Laramie Mountains. Later his remains were moved to Washington Park in Converse County, Wyoming where a memorial was erected in his honor as America’s first Triple Crown winner.