New York Racing Association Mickey and Karen L. Taylor, Tayhill Stable, Jim Hill, etc." 1978: Ridden by Steve Cauthen, Affirmed became the 11th horse to win the Triple Crown in storybook fashion. In all three Triple Crown races, he defeated Alydar, ridden by Jorge Velasquez, by a nose in one of racing’s epic rivalries. Two months later in the Travers, Affirmed finished first but is placed second for interfering with Alydar, who was declared the winner. Affirmed and Alydar would race 10 times in their careers, with Affirmed winning seven times. Cauthen was 18 when he captured the Triple Crown, the youngest jockey in
Triple Crown Productions the "Chrysler Triple Crown Challenge" and a "Triple Crown Bonus." The first two phases of the bonus would have two distinct payouts to the owners of horses running in the Triple Crown series. The first part of the bonus would be paid out to any horse that could sweep all three legs of the Triple Crown. That bonus brought the combined purse winnings of all three race purses and the extra series bonus to equal $5,000,000 to the winner along with the special Triple Crown Trophy commissioned by the Thoroughbred Racing Association. A second phase of the bonus was to