37 Years

Like so many other people, I never thought this would happen again in my lifetime.

This is Secretariat's 1973 Belmont Stakes. For my money, this is still the greatest race ever run, won by (arguably) the best racehorse to look through a bridle. Certainly, Big Red is still my favorite. I've watched it countless times, and it still makes me cry.

Four years later, in 1977, Seattle Slew came along. He was the first horse to win the Triple Crown while undefeated.

The very next year, Affirmed won the Triple Crown over a scrappy Alydar, with the Belmont turned into a virtual match race that Affirmed won only by a head.

And then, after a decade in which winning the Triple Crown seemed so easy, the champions dried up. Thirteen horses went to New York with a shot, including three in the past four years. None of them succeeded. Many people said it would never be done again.

37 years. Until today.

American Pharoah, the horse with the (unintentionally) misspelled name and the short tail (his stablemate bit it off when the horse was only a year old, I believe), got the job done. And I'm crying all over again.

Also experiencing a very small stab of irritation, because I'm in the midst of writing a story where a filly (actually a unicorn--don't ask) wins the Triple Crown, and now I have to change it.

We should all have such problems. :`)