The 12th horse with a chance to win racing's Triple Crown, since Affirmed accomplished that feat back in 1978, will be I'll Have Another. Here is a quick look at how the past 11 horses have fared.


- 2008: Big Brown finishes last to Da' Tara, the longest shot on the board. Big Brown fails to respond when jockey Kent Desormeaux asks for more speed in the last turn. At that point, Desormeaux eases him up.

- 2004: Smarty Jones extends his lead approaching the quarter pole and maintains a clear lead inside the furlong marker. Fights gamely into the deep stretch then yields grudgingly to finish second, a length behind Birdstone.

- 2003: Funny Cide leads to the far turn, relinquishes the lead to Empire Maker at the three-sixteenths pole, battles along the inside to the top of the stretch then weakens, finishing third, five lengths back.

- 2002: War Emblem stumbles badly out of the gate then bumps Magic Weisner at the start in an 11-horse field. Takes brief lead nearing the half-mile pole. Remains a factor to the turn but gives way, finishing eighth, 19 1/2 lengths back.

- 1999: Charismatic takes the lead briefly at the turn but Lemon Drop Kid and Vision and Verse fly by him on the outside and he finishes third, 1 1/2 lengths back.

- 1998: Four lengths ahead with an eighth-mile remaining, Real Quiet is nipped by a nose at the wire by Victory Gallop in a nine-horse field.

- 1997: Silver Charm fails to hold off Touch Gold in the final eighth-mile and finishes second, three-quarters of a length back, in a seven-horse field.

- 1989: Sunday Silence can't match Easy Goer in the final quarter-mile and finishes second, eight lengths back in a 10-horse field.

- 1987: Checked sharply on the final turn, Alysheba finishes fourth, 14 lengths behind winner Bet Twice in a 10-horse field.

- 1981: Pleasant Colony, never better than third, finishes a little more than 1 1/2 lengths behind Summing, with Highland Blade second in an 11-horse field.

- 1979: The 1-5 favorite, Spectacular Bid leads with a quarter-mile left, but weakens to finish third in an eight-horse field, 3 1/4 lengths behind Coastal and another head behind Golden Act.
No idea if I'll Have Another has what it takes. But sooner or later some horse is gonna break the streak.

I will never forget the Affirmed-Alydar Triple Crown rivalry. Those two horse were as evenly matched as it gets. That Belmont run was particularly exciting. Affirmed was about two lengths better over those three races combined. I was a young, beer-drinking fool who had a lot of money riding on Affirmed in the Belmont. A horse's nose can be a beautiful thing.

The great-great grandson of Triple Crown winner War Admiral, Affirmed battled with Alydar in all three races, beating his rival by 1 1/2 lengths in the Derby, a neck in the Preakness, and a nose in the Belmont.