Triple Crown Nominees in 2023 Rise 18% to 369

Led by 2-year-old champion and three-time grade 1 winner Forte , 369 3-year-old Thoroughbreds were made eligible to compete in this year's Triple Crown series during the early nomination phase, which closed Jan. 28.

Each of the 369 horses from the 2020 foal crop were made eligible through a $600 payment to compete in any leg of the Triple Crown series. The 2023 Triple Crown opens Saturday, May 6, with the 149th running of the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs in Louisville. The 148th Preakness (G1), its 1 3/16-mile second jewel, is set for Saturday, May 20, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The 155th running of the Belmont Stakes (G1), the series' 1 1/2-mile final leg, is scheduled for Saturday, June 10, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The total early nominations rose by 18.2%, or 57 horses, from last year's total of 312. The nominees include a record 37 horses based in Japan, 16 more than last year's record of 21. Past performances of the nominees are also available online. 

Forte, owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable and campaigned by Todd Pletcher, is scheduled to make his 2023 debut in the coming weeks. The champion colt won last year's Hopeful Stakes (G1), Breeders' Futurity (G1), and Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). Forte is one of 36 horses nominated by Pletcher to this year's Triple Crown.

Overall, 52 stakes winners were nominated to the Triple Crown. Some of the most notable: Arabian Knight  (Southwest, G3); Blazing Sevens  (Champagne, G1); Cave Rock  (Del Mar Futurity, G1); Curly Jack  (Iroquois, G3); Dubyuhnell  (Remsen, G2); Forte  (Breeders' Cup Juvenile); the filly Hoosier Philly  (Golden Rod, G2); Instant Coffee  (Lecomte, G3); Newgate  (Robert B. Lewis, G3); Practical Move  (Los Alamitos Futurity, G2); Rocket Can  (Holy Bull, G3); Two Phil's  (Street Sense, G3) and Victory Formation  (Smarty Jones).

Spendthrift Farm nominated 19 horses that it owns solely or in a partnership. Spendthrift also bred two Triple Crown nominees.

Brad Cox led all trainers with 38 horses nominated, including recent Lecomte Stakes winner Instant Coffee. Pletcher was next with 36 nominees, followed by Steve Asmussen (13), Kenny McPeek (13), Chad Brown (12), and Japan's Hideyuki Mori (12).

Horses not currently assigned a trainer or horses under the care of any trainer suspended from competing in the 2023 Kentucky Derby have their trainer listed as "TBD." For the Kentucky Derby, horses under the care of any suspended trainer or affiliates may be transferred to a non-suspended trainer and become eligible for earning Road to the Kentucky Derby points on a forward-looking basis so long as the transfer is complete by Feb. 28.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, a two-time Triple Crown winner who has one of the deepest and most talented stables of 3-year-olds in North America, is currently barred from competing at Churchill Downs Inc. racetracks through early July. This came in response to Zedan Racing Stables' Medina Spirit  testing positive for betamethasone after crossing the wire first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby and other medication infractions involving the trainer.

 Early Triple Crown nominees by the numbers:

• $3,550,000: Highest public auction purchase: (Hejazi , 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale).
• $1,595,150: Highest earnings of an individual horse nominated (Forte). The other top earners (as of Feb. 3): Cave Rock  ($748,000), Victoria Road  ($663,779), Dura Erede ($633,186), and Private Creed  ($618,913).
• $3,000: Lowest public auction purchase: Accident  (2021 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale).
• 285: Number of Kentucky-breds. Other states represented are Florida (19), New York (19), California (5), Maryland (3), Pennsylvania (3), Oklahoma (2) and Texas (1).
• 161: Number of registered bay horses. Other registered colors are dark bay or brown (93), chestnut (74), gray or roan (39), brown (1), gray (1).
• 125: Number of trainers who nominated horses to the Triple Crown.
• 39: Horses who were foaled after Kentucky Derby Day (May 6).
• 32: Horses foaled outside the United States. Other countries are Japan (24), Ireland (4), Canada (3), and Britain (1).
• 17: Horses by sire Into Mischief  . He's followed by Curlin   (15), Good Magic   (14), and Justify   (14).
• 2: Fillies nominated. They are Hoosier Philly and Julia Shining 

Owners of 3-year-olds that were not nominated to the Triple Crown during the early nomination phase can make a late payment of $6,000 through March 27. 

Thirteen horses have swept the Triple Crown series: Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), Affirmed (1978), American Pharoah   (2015) and Justify   (2018).