Hansen, Union Rags, Algorithms top Triple Crown nominations

Champion Hansen and Union Rags, separated by a head in a thrilling 1-2 finish

in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and unbeaten Algorithms, who stepped into the

spotlight with a five-length win over the champion in the Grade 3 Holy Bull

Stakes at Gulfstream Park last Sunday, top a large roster of 397 horses made

eligible during the early nomination phase to compete in the three classic races

that make up American horse racing's elusive Triple Crown.

The first race in the series of classic races for three-year-old

Thoroughbreds -- the $2 million 138th running of the Kentucky Derby -- is set

for May 5 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The second jewel of the

Triple Crown is the 137th running of the $1 million Preakness Stakes, which will

be run on May 19 at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland. The American classic series

concludes with the 144th running of the Belmont Stakes on June 11 at Belmont

Park in Elmont, New York.

All three Triple Crown races will be televised by NBC Sports and are

scheduled to be broadcast on radio by the Horse Racing Radio Network (HRRN).

Brisnet.com is providing

free online past performances of all the 2012 Triple Crown nominees in PDF

format.

The nomination total for the 2012 Triple Crown races is a 9.1 percent

increase over the 364 early nominees for the three-race classic series a year

ago. The

roster of 2012 early Triple Crown nominees is the largest since 2009, when

412 sophomores were made eligible during the early period. This year's early

nomination period, during which each nomination was accompanied by a $600 fee,

closed on January 21.

A late period for nominations -- during which each nomination must be

accompanied by a $6,000 fee -- will conclude on March 24.

Hansen, owned by Dr. Kendall Hansen and the Sky Chai Racing partnership,

completed a perfect three-race campaign with his narrow front-running victory in

the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill. Along with a 13 1/4-length victory in

the Kentucky Cup Juvenile over the synthetic Polytrack at Turfway Park, that

victory earned Hansen the Eclipse Award for champion two-year-old male of 2011.

Trainer Mike Maker's gray son of Tapit suffered the first setback of his young

career in his runner-up finish in the one-mile Holy Bull on January 29, his

first start of his three-year-old season.

Union Rags, a son of Dixie Union owned by Chadds Ford Stable, suffered his

only setback in four races in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The bay is trained by

Michael Matz, who saddled Barbaro to win the 2006 Kentucky Derby, and scored

wins in the Grade 1 Champagne and Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes.

Algorithms, owned by the Starlight Racing partnership headed by managing

partner Jack Wolf, burst onto the road to the Triple Crown with an impressive

five-length victory over Hansen in the Holy Bull. That race was the debut in

stakes competition for the Todd Pletcher-trained son of 2006 Preakness winner

Bernardini and his third in as many starts. He has won all three of his three

races, including a 5 1/4-length maiden victory last June at Belmont Park and a

one-length optional claiming score at Gulfstream Park in mid-December.

Other winners of major stakes races on the list of early Triple Crown

nominees include Grade 1 CashCall Futurity winner Liaison; Creative Cause, third

in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and hero of the Grade 1 Norfolk and Grade 2 Best

Pal Stakes; undefeated Grade 1 Hopeful victor Currency Swap; Grade 1 Breeders'

Futurity conqueror Dullahan; unbeaten Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club winner

Gemologist; and Grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot star Sabercat.

Of this year's 397 nominations, 344 are colts and there are 37 geldings. The

list also includes 10 ridglings and six fillies. That latter group is headed by

Anita Cauley's On Fire Baby, winner of the Pocahontas and Golden Rod Stakes,

both Grade 2s, at Churchill Downs last season. She ran third to Triple Crown

nominee Junebugred when she faced males in Oaklawn Park's Smarty Jones Stakes on

January 16.

Horses bred in Kentucky again dominated the roster of Triple Crown nominees.

Of the 397 nominees, 303 were born in Kentucky. Florida was next with 27 horses,

followed by New York with 13 and California with 12. Fourteen of the nominees

were produced outside of the United States, a number that includes six horses

bred in Ireland.

Ahmed Zayat's Zayat Stables LLC leads all owners with 13 nominees to the 2012

Triple Crown. Robert LaPenta is next with 10 and Klaravich Stables Inc. has nine

nominees, either on its own or in partnerships.

Five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher, who scored his first

Kentucky Derby victory with Super Saver in 2010, led trainers for the third

consecutive year with 32 Triple Crown nominees. Pletcher was tied at 20 atop

last year's list with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who ranks second with 21

nominated horses this time around. Steve Asmussen and Nick Zito are next with 15

nominees, and Dale Romans nominated 14.

There is a tie atop the roster of leading Triple Crown sires between two-time

Breeders' Cup Classic winner Tiznow and Unbridled's Song, each with 12 Triple

Crown nominees. Malibu Moon and Street Sense, the winner of the 2007 Kentucky

Derby whose first crop of foals are three-year-olds, share the next spot with 11

nominees. War Front sired 10, with Hard Spun and Smart Strike next with nine.

The Kentucky Derby field has been limited to 20 starters since 1975, and

accumulated earnings in graded stakes races along the "Road to the Triple Crown"

have determined the field for the 1 1/4-mile classic since 1986. The field for

the Preakness, the 1 3/16-mile second jewel of the Triple Crown, is limited to

14 starters, while Belmont Stakes, the "Test of the Champion" and finale of the

series at 1 1/2 miles, permits a maximum field of 16 horses.

A Triple Crown sweep -- one of the most difficult feats in all of sports --

has been accomplished on just 11 occasions: Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox

(1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1942),

Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977) and

Affirmed (1978). Fifty other horses have finished one win shy of the honor.

The 2011 Triple Crown races yielded three different winning horses and the

connections of each of the winners experienced their first victories in the

coveted series.

Animal Kingdom, owned and bred by the Team Valor partnership headed by Barry

Irwin, scored an emphatic victory in the Kentucky Derby to kick-off the 2011

Triple Crown. The winner was trained by H. Graham Motion and was ridden by

jockey John Velazquez, who picked up his winning mount the day before the race.

Mike Lauffer and W.D. Cubbedge's Shackleford, fourth in the Kentucky Derby

for trainer Dale Romans, held off the surging Animal Kingdom by a half-length at

Pimlico to win the Preakness under jockey Jesus Castanon.

The Belmont Stakes went to George and Lori Hall's Ruler On Ice, a late

nominee to the Triple Crown who had been excluded from the Kentucky Derby field

because of insufficient earnings in graded races. The chestnut won by a

half-length under jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. and provided trainer Kelly Breen with

his first success in a Triple Crown race.

The current 33-year streak without a Triple Crown winner is the longest in

the history of the series. The previous record was a 25-year gap between the

Triple Crown earned by Citation in 1948 and Secretariat's stunning sweep in

1973.