Top Horses to Win 2022 Triple Crown

The 2022 Triple Crown of Horse Racing is right around the corner.

– The race for the 2022 Triple Crown begins with the May 7 running of the annual Kentucky Derby.

– There is no clear favorite to win this year’s Triple Crown, but a handful of horses could emerge if they can win the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs.

The 2022 Triple Crown gets underway on the first Saturday in May when the Kentucky Derby takes place from the legendary Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. 

The race has taken place continuously every year since 1875.

In those 100-plus years, only 13 times has the Kentucky Derby winner gone on to win horse racing’s Triple Crown – the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes.

Could it happen again in 2022?

But first, get the inside scoop on sportsbook bonuses.

Heading into the Kentucky Derby, a number of graded stakes events take place leading up to it. These events offer bettors the opportunity to get in on some pre-Derby action at top horse racing sportsbooks.

Currently the favorite in the Run for the Roses is Corniche at +600, but the horse is being trained by Bob Baffert. Baffert was banned from running horses in the Derby for two years after his horse last year, winner Medina Spirit, tested positive for a banned substance. 

Jack Christopher checks in next on the list along with Smile Happy. Jack Christopher is given +1500 and Smile Happy is listed at +2000 to win at Churchill Downs on May 7. 

If there is a longshot in the field, it is Slow Down Andy. He is being trained by Doug O’Neil who trained Slow Down Andy’s sire Nyquist. If the name sounds familiar, Nyquist won the Kentucky Derby in 2016.

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Baffert was the trainer for the last two horses that captured the Triple Crown – Justify (2018) and American Pharoah (2015). With Baffert suspended for two years, the likelihood of another Triple Crown winner this year is not great.

Only the Kentucky Derby winner can win the Triple Crown. Winning the next two races and all three in a span of five weeks can be extremely difficult. That’s because each race is at a different distance.

The Kentucky Derby is 1 ¼  miles. The next race, the Preakness Stakes, is 1 3/16 miles and more of a sprint. Then, the horse must have the stamina to win the final leg, the Belmont Stakes, which is a 1 ½-mile race.

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Horses like Smile Happy and Jack Christopher have both the speed and the stamina to win both the Preakness and the Belmont. Remember, those horses would have to win the Kentucky Derby to have a shot at the Triple Crown.

The best bet to do so might be Slow Down Andy. He won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity beating Messier, who is listed at +2000 to win the Kentucky Derby. Slow Down Andy is definitely fast enough to win the Preakness and has the kind of stamina a Belmont winner needs.

We did a comparison of Offshore & US Sportsbooks, go see what we had to say.