Sir Barton became the first American Triple Crown winner by taking the title in 1919.
The chestnut colt won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes in the same year. At the time, racing officials did not yet use “Triple Crown” as a formal, widely established title; the achievement was recognized retrospectively as the first American Triple Crown.
Sir Barton was bred in Kentucky and raced for Canadian owner J. K. L. Ross. He won the Kentucky Derby by five lengths and captured the Preakness Stakes only four days later, an unusually short gap by modern standards. He then completed the series in the Belmont Stakes.
Sir Barton is sometimes confused with Gallant Fox, who became the first horse officially described during his career as a Triple Crown winner, in 1930. Sir Barton’s pioneering achievement came 11 years earlier and established the historic sequence later completed by many famous champions.