Is there a potential Triple Crown winner in this year’s Kentucky Derby field?

There have been four Triple Crown winners since Secretariat snapped a 25-year drought in 1973. Seattle Slew and Affirmed were back-to-back Triple Crown winners in 1977 and 1978, respectively. After a 37-year gap, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown in 2015, followed by Justify in 2018.

During that nearly four decades without a Triple Crown winner, plenty of skeptics voiced the belief we would never see another Triple Crown winner.

Claiborne Farm’s Seth Hancock, who led the $6 million breeding syndication of Secretariat in 1973, was not one of them.

“Never got to that point,” Hancock said. “And since I lived it, the last part of the first gap between Citation and Secretariat, I always said, yeah, I know all about it.

“And everybody said the races are too close and there’ll never be another one. I said not only will there be another one, there will be three or four in a 12- or 15-year span. Sure enough, we’ve had two of them and I’d bet you over the next 10 years we’ll have a couple of more.”

Are there any potential Triple Crown winners in the field for the 149th Kentucky Derby on May 6 at Churchill Downs? Possibly.

Here are five Derby horses who appear capable of becoming the 14th to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes:

Forte

Trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola of St. Elias Stables, Forte won the Eclipse Award for 2-year-old champion after winning the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga and the Breeders’ Futurity and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, both at Keeneland.

As a 3-year-old, Forte has won the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby, bringing his lifetime record to six victories in seven starts. His sire is Grade 1 winner Violence. And Pletcher has two Derby victories to his credit with Super Saver in 2010 and Always Dreaming in 2017. Viola’s St. Elias Stable was a part owner of Always Dreaming.

Forte’s Florida Derby performance was particularly impressive considering the colt was forced to rally and use a five-wide move to win the race by a length. “I thought it was spectacular,” Pletcher said afterward.

Practical Move

The Santa Anita Derby winner is just 4-of-7 lifetime but has recorded two impressive wins as a 3-year-old. After winning the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity last December, the son of multiple Grade 1 winner Practical Joke won the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 4 at Santa Anita before his triumph in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.

Practical Move is trained by Tim Yakteen, who had a pair of Kentucky Derby horses last year in Taiba and Messier. Both had been trained by Bob Baffert, who remains banned from Churchill Downs. Practical Move has been in Yakteen’s care throughout his career.

Angel of Empire

Trained by Brad Cox, Angel of Empire is coming off wins in the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds and the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn. He’s won four of his six career starts, with a runner-up finish in the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn on New Year’s Day. He’s a son of Arkansas Derby winner Classic Empire, who finished fourth in the 2017 Kentucky Derby.

Cox won the 2021 Kentucky Derby when runner-up Mandaloun was declared the winner after Medina Spirit was disqualified. Cox had four winners in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, catapulting him to the Eclipse Award for top trainer. He was the repeat winner in 2021.

Tapit Trice

Also trained by Pletcher, Tapit Trice has won four straight races, including the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby on March 11 and the Blue Grass Stakes on April 8. He is 4-of-5 lifetime with his lone loss being a third-place finish in his career debut Nov. 6 at Aqueduct.

A son of leading sire Tapit, Tapit Trice was purchased for $1.3 million by Amanda Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm at the 2021 Keeneland September Sale. Pope owns the colt in a partnership with Antony Beck’s Gainesway Stable.

“She deserves all the success that she’s getting,” Pletcher said of Pope, who has a history of paying top dollar at equine sales. “She’s a big fan of the industry and she’s developed a great broodmare band with a lot of quality horses.”

Derma Sotogake

The winner of the UAE Derby in impressive fashion, Derma Sotogake is a Japanese-bred and raced colt owned by Hiroyuki Asanuma and trained by Hidetaka Otonashi.

His sire, Mind Your Biscuits, won the Grade 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in 2018 but finished 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Still, Derma Sotogake is considered a top Kentucky Derby contender after posting wins in four of his last five races.

After a pair of Japanese horses posted wins in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, it could be only a matter of time before a colt from Japan wins the Kentucky Derby. And more.

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