Belmont Stakes win the Triple Crown when he struggled across the finish line in 4th place behind Pass Catcher, ridden by Walter Blum. Despite this loss, Cañonero II was named the winner of the first Eclipse Award for Outstanding Three-Year-Old Male Horse. On June 9, 1973, Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by thirty-one lengths in a record time of 2:24, becoming a Triple Crown champion, ending a 25-year gap between Citation, the Belmont and Triple Crown winner in 1948. Secretariat's record still stands as the fastest running of the Belmont Stakes and an American record for 1½ miles on the dirt. In
Animal Kingdom (horse) Animal Kingdom (horse) Animal Kingdom (foaled in Kentucky on March 20, 2008) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 137th Kentucky Derby and the 2013 Dubai World Cup. His Derby win took place on May 7, 2011, before a record crowd of 164,858. After the Derby, Animal Kingdom finished second in the Preakness Stakes and sixth in the Belmont Stakes before his career was disrupted by injury. He returned to finish second in the 2012 Breeders' Cup Mile before winning the Dubai World Cup as a five-year-old in 2013. Animal Kingdom is the first Kentucky Derby winner