Triple Crown winners: How they fared after Belmont Stakes

American Pharoah will be the first horse to run a race as a Triple Crown winner in 38 years when he contests Sunday’s $1.75 million William Hill Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.

Three of the 10 horses who raced after sweeping the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont were defeated in their first post-Triple Crown start. However, all 10 lost again at some stage before retirement. The 11th Triple Crown winner, Count Fleet (1943), was injured and never raced after the Belmont.

The shortest turnaround between races was 14 days, which has occurred three times. The longest between the Belmont and a Triple Crown winner’s next start was War Admiral’s 143 days. American Pharoah is racing 57 days since running into the record books.

Here’s how Triple Crown winners fared post-Belmont (in reverse order):

Horse (TC year); 1st start back (days off); post-TC record (last start)

Affirmed (1978) —Won, Jim Dandy (59 days) 8-3-1 in 13 starts (10/6/79)

Notes: DQed in Travers; ended career at age 4 with 7 consecutive wins

Seattle Slew (1977) — 4th, Swaps (22 days) 5-2-01 in 8 starts (11/10/1978)

Notes: Lost for first time in Swaps; two defeats at age 4 by neck and nose

Secretariat (1973) — Won, Arlington Invitational (21 days) 4-2-0 in 6 starts (10/28/1973)

Notes: Didn’t race at 4, but last five starts were against older horses

Citation (1948) — Won, Stars & Stripes (23 days) 14-8-2 in 25 starts (7/14/1951)

Notes: We’ll never see another TC winner go 9-for-9 at 3 after Belmont

Assault (1946) — Won, Dwyer (14 days), 11-4-6 in 27 starts (12/09/1950)

Notes: Lost 6 in a row after Dwyer until beating Stymie in Pimlico Special

Count Fleet (1943) — Injured; did not race after Triple Crown

Notes: Last start was winning Belmont by 25 lengths over two rivals

Whirlaway (1941) — Won, Dwyer (14 days), 18-11-3 in 33 starts (06/23/1943)

Notes: Went 6-3-0 in 9 post-Belmont starts at 3; big 4-year-old season

War Admiral (1937) — Won, allowance (143 days), 13-1-0 in 15 starts (02/18/1939)

Notes: One of only two post-TC defeats was to Seabiscuit in match race

Omaha (1935) — 3rd, Brooklyn (14 days), 4-2-1 in 7 starts (07/02/1936)

Notes: Went to England at age 4, going 2-for-4 with seconds by nose, neck

Gallant Fox (1930) — Won, Dwyer (21 days), 5-1-0 in 6 starts (09/17/1930)

Notes: Lost to Jim Dandy in Travers; won only two starts against older horses

Sir Barton (1919) — 2nd, Dwyer (29 days), 9-5-5 in 21 starts (11/10/1920)

Notes: Lost 4 of first 5 starts after Belmont; but Triple Crown hadn’t been invented

Source: Churchill Downs, Daily Racing Form