Triple Crown 2012: Why Horse Racing's Championship Feat Is the Hardest in Sports

Winning a Triple Crown is nearly impossible. Only 11 horses in history have ever won it, and it's an event that is so tough to win that there isn't even a champion every year, nor has there been one for 34 years.

The only sport that hasn't had a true winner in that long is horse racing. While there are multiple horses who have had a shot to win since Affirmed won the last Triple Crown in 1978, the fact that there isn't even a winner for the Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing every year makes it the toughest in sports.

When you compare it to the other sports like the NFL's Super Bowl, MLB's World Series, NHL's Stanley Cup, NBA championship or even an Olympic medal, the big difference is that there is no guarantee of a winner in horse racing. 

The Super Bowl is arguably one of the harder accomplishments in sports due to the sheer physicality of the sport and the teamwork needed to achieve victory. After a grueling 20-game preseason and regular season, there are at least 53 men on every single roster that have to work together to win at least three, if not four, playoff games. 

The NBA championship is hard because you have to get 12 men to compete together for a 82-game season, then play one of the more grueling playoff formats in existence. A three-round tournament consisting of best-of-seven series each just to reach the finals, which is another best-of-seven series. 

Yet when it comes to grueling titles, baseball takes the cake.

The 162-game season is already the longest in sports history, but adding in playoff series of five and seven games each makes it that much harder. Plus home field in the championship game could happen without even having a player that is on the World Series team help decide it.

Even an Olympic medal is one of the toughest things in the world to win, especially since it happens every four years and has a large amount of qualifiers just to compete at the grandest stage of them all. But just like the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, NBA Finals and World Series, there is one award as a guarantee.

However, horse racing's Triple Crown is not guaranteed.

The horses have to finish first at the Kentucky Derby in late April, win the Preakness in mid-May and then triumph at the Belmont Stakes in mid-June. In terms of turnaround time from the first event to the last, it is one of the shortest championships out there.

Adding to that there are too many variables.

Whether it is injuries to the horse, or the jockey or the trainer getting in trouble with doping their horses, there is just too much that can go wrong even if your horse is the absolute best. Those variables, combined with the fact that there isn't even a guarantee of a winner every year, make horse racing's Triple Crown the hardest title in sports.