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
Ron Turcotte racetrack in Laurel, Maryland. In 1972 he rode Riva Ridge to victory in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes. Turcotte became internationally famous in 1973 when he rode Secretariat to win the first Triple Crown in 25 years, with records for each race, and the phenomenal finish of Secretariat 31 lengths ahead of the field in the Belmont. Turcotte was North America's leading stakes-winning jockey in 1972 and 1973. He became the first jockey to win back-to-back Kentucky Derbies since Jimmy Winkfield in 1902 and was the first jockey to ever have won five of six consecutive Triple Crown