The 2010 Triple Crown Trivia Quiz

Answer: Super Saver

Lookin at Lucky was the pre-race favorite at 6-1, tied for the longest priced odds in the history of the Derby. But Lucky got a bad break when he had to start on the rail, and he never did get enough running room to make a challenge.

Answer: Todd Pletcher

The wrong choices have all trained more than one Kentucky Derby winner. Pletcher had never won it despite being the all-time leading money-winner among trainers. He was certainly happy to finally get his Derby jinx behind him.

Answer: Calvin Borel

Borel is known by the nickname "Calvin Bo-rail", for his habit of hugging the rail during his races. He did that again with Super Saver in the 2010 Derby, hugging the rail all the way until near the end when he passed a horse on the outside. Borel grew up in Louisiana Cajun country, and began riding in races at the age of eight.

Garcia was the jockey on the Preakness winner and Smith rode the Belmont winner, while Desormeaux was the jockey who won the Derby on Big Brown in 2008.

Answer: 5

By 2010 horse trainers had come to understand how hard it was on a horse to run in all three Triple Crown races, which consists of three races in a five-week period. Consequently, many chose to skip the Preakness.

Answer: Lookin at Lucky

Bettors made Derby winner Super Saver a slight favorite over Lookin at Lucky, ignoring the fact that in the Derby the former had an ideal race on the rail, and on his favorite sort of track (sloppy), while Lucky got boxed in early and never could get running room. On a dry track and from a better post position, Lucky won the Preakness while Super Saver finished a disappointing eighth.

Answer: Drosselmeyer

Ice Box was the 9-5 favorite, but finished a disappointing ninth. Uptowncharlybrown was a sentimental favorite, due to his trainer dying suddenly two months before the race. Had Make Music For Me won, it would have been the first win in a Triple Crown race for a female trainer, but it wasn't to be.

Answer: It did not contain the winner of either the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness

This was the first time since the 1950s that the winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness were both healthy, yet skipped the Belmont. This caused the hue and cry to change the format of the Triple Crown races to become even louder. Three suggestions were talked about: 1) Reduce the field for the Kentucky Derby from 20 down to 14; 2) Reduce the length of the Belmont from a mile and a half to a mile and a quarter; and 3) Lengthen the time between races.

Uptowncharlybrown was disqualified due to losing his weight pad during the race. This was a costly piece of bad luck, as his fifth-place finish would have been worth quite a bit.

Answer: Todd Palin, husband of Sarah Palin

First Dude led for much of the way in the Belmont, but then faded and finished third, after having finished second at the Preakness. Sarah Palin was on hand at the Belmont to watch the horse named after her husband.

Answer: Big Sandy

The "big" part of this is due to Belmont being the longest dirt thoroughbred racetrack in North America. The "sandy" part is due to the composition of the dirt, which is more like a beach than real soil.

Answer: 32

Not since Affirmed beat Alydar in three thrilling races in 1978, had there been a Triple Crown winner. This was the longest such gap since the 25-year gap between Citation (1948) and Secretariat (1973).