Triple Crown hopeful Big Brown, the winner of the Kentucky D

UNITED STATES - MAY 19: Triple Crown hopeful Big Brown, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness arrives with Groom Ramiro Flores May 19, 2008 at Belmont Race Park in Elmont, New York. Only 11 horses in the 130 years of this series have become Triple Crown champions. The last winner was Affirmed, 1978. Seattle Slew in 1977, and a horse named Secretariat, in 1973, made that decade a golden time. For 30 years, no horse has repeated Affirmed, Seattle Slew's or Secretariat's mark on history. In that time, only 11 horses came into the Belmont 2-for-2 to be shut down in the long race at Belmont. The most recent three, from 2002 to 2004, were War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones. Big Brown appears to have separated himself from this pack of would-be hopefuls due to his easy wins at the Derby and Preakness with an apparent full tank of gas left to burn at the end of these races. Only one horse, Casino Drive, a half-brother to recent Belmont Stakes winners Jazil, arrives late-on-the-scene with a chance to spoil after an impressive 5 3/4-length victory in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park., (Photo by ROBERT SABO/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)