25 Legendary Racehorses That Americans Still Remember

Named in honor of Cody Dorman, a young boy with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome who formed a special bond with the horse as a foal, Cody Wish won eleven races, including back-to-back Breeders Cup Dirt Miles. He was crowned 2023 American Horse of the Year.

Unraced at age two, Justify broke the 136-year-old Curse of Apollo by winning the Kentucky Derby without juvenile racing experience. He proceeded to sweep the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, becoming only the second horse in history to retire as an undefeated Triple Crown champion.

Arrogate burst onto the scene in the 2016 Travers Stakes, smashing a thirty-seven-year track record by thirteen lengths. He followed with victories in the Breeders Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup, and Dubai World Cup, earning the title of World Best Racehorse.

Known for her effortless speed and fluid running style, Songbird won her first eleven races by a combined total of over sixty lengths. Named Champion Two-Year-Old and Champion Three-Year-Old Filly, she captured nine Grade 1 stakes races across North America.

In 2015, American Pharoah brought thoroughbred racing back to national headlines. Guided by trainer Bob Baffert, he swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes, before adding the Breeders Cup Classic to achieve the first Grand Slam in horse racing history.

Bred for just ten thousand dollars by working-class owners, California Chrome won the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, developing a passionate global fan base called Chromies. He returned as an older horse to dominate the Dubai World Cup and earn 14.7 million dollars.

Beholder achieved rare greatness by earning four Eclipse Awards and winning three Breeders Cup races across her five-year career. Her nose-margin victory over undefeated champion Songbird in the 2016 Breeders Cup Distaff stands as one of racing greatest stretch duels.

Standing over seventeen hands tall, Zenyatta mesmerized crowds with her pre-race dance steps and heart-stopping rallies from last place. In 2009, she became the first female horse to win the prestigious Breeders Cup Classic, retiring with nineteen wins from twenty starts.

In 2009, Rachel Alexandra authored a legendary three-year-old campaign. After winning the Kentucky Oaks by twenty lengths, she beat the best male horses in the Preakness Stakes, Haskell Invitational, and Woodward Stakes, becoming the first three-year-old filly to win Horse of the Year.

Trailing the field by dozens of lengths in the sloppy 2009 Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird and jockey Calvin Borel hugged the inside rail and sliced through the pack. Pulling away by nearly seven lengths at odds of 50 to 1, he orchestrated one of sports greatest upsets.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Rags to Riches made history in the 2007 Belmont Stakes. Overcoming a stumble at the start, she engaged future two-time Horse of the Year Curlin in an epic quarter-mile stretch duel, prevailing by a head to become racing first female Belmont winner in 102 years.

Barbaro delivered one of the most dominant performances in Churchill Downs history, storming home by six and a half lengths in the 2006 Kentucky Derby. His courage and fighting spirit during his subsequent medical battle inspired worldwide outpouring of support.

Hailing from a modest stable in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, Smarty Jones survived a skull-fracturing gate accident as a youngster before embarking on an undefeated campaign through the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, uniting racing fans across the country.

Known for refusing to let a rival pass him in the homestretch, Silver Charm won the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes by narrow margins. He later won the Dubai World Cup and became a beloved ambassador at the Old Friends retirement facility in Kentucky.

After switching from grass to dirt racing in late 1994, Cigar orchestrated an astonishing sixteen-race winning streak across North America and Dubai. Named Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996, Cigar retired as the highest-earning thoroughbred in racing history.

Unwanted at early sales due to crooked hind legs, Sunday Silence blossomed into a ferocious competitor. His thrilling 1989 head-to-head duels with East Coast prodigy Easy Goer in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Breeders Cup Classic defined a golden era of racing.

In 1973, Secretariat ended a twenty-five-year Triple Crown drought with breathtaking authority. Setting stakes records in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont that still stand today, his thirty-one length romp in New York cemented his legacy as the greatest racehorse ever.

Coinciding with the rise of household television in the 1950s, Native Dancer captured national attention with his striking silver-gray coat and dramatic come-from-behind running style. He won twenty-one of twenty-two races, losing only the Kentucky Derby by a head.

Stepping on a sharp surveyor stake as a young foal left Assault with a deformed hoof, earning him the nickname The Club-Footed Comet. Despite an awkward trot, he moved with fluid perfection at a gallop, winning the 1946 Triple Crown for Texas famed King Ranch.

Whirlaway was famed for his eccentric running habits and his flowing, floor-length tail. Under legendary trainer Ben Jones and jockey Eddie Arcaro, Whirlaway swept the 1941 Triple Crown and became the first thoroughbred in history to surpass 500,000 dollars in earnings.

With knobby knees and an awkward gait, Seabiscuit was an unlikely champion who captured the imagination of working-class Americans during the 1930s. His dramatic 1938 Pimlico match race victory over War Admiral remains one of the greatest sporting spectacles in history.

Bred in Maryland and owned by Alfred Vanderbilt Jr., Discovery was the premier handicap horse of the Great Depression. Routinely carrying up to 139 pounds against fresh opponents, Discovery won thirty races and later became an influential foundation sire.

Purchased initially as a training workout partner for a Kentucky Derby hopeful, Exterminator stepped up when his stablemate was injured and won the 1918 Derby at odds of 30 to 1. He raced until age nine, amassing fifty career wins across one hundred starts.

During the post-World War I era, Man o' War revitalized American thoroughbred racing. Carrying massive weights up to 138 pounds, he set multiple world records and won twenty of twenty-one races, suffering his lone defeat only after a controversial start at Saratoga.

In 1919, Sir Barton accomplished a feat that had never been named or achieved before, sweeping the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes in just thirty-two days. His historic sweep established the standard of excellence that defined the American Triple Crown.