To win a harness horse triple crown, a three-year-old colt or filly must earn a spot in one of the crown's finals by racing in an elimination event or an elimination heat. The term "heat" is simply another term for a race that takes place on the same program as its main event. Elimination events are usually raced a week before final events.

The stalwart standardbred, therefore, sometimes must compete in as many as eight races to win a triple crown, with some of those races--the heats--taking place on the same day as the final. Tough stuff.

No pacer or trotter gets into a triple-crown final without having met the qualifications of the elimination division or heat. Based on the number of entries in the eliminations or heats, a horse usually has to finish in the top three of the elim or heat to make it into the final. Only on the rare occasion that there are not enough horses entered into a main event to support an elim or heat will a horse be asked to compete in the final only. More times than not, a big event has at least two divisions competing for berths in the final's field, whether that final is a week later or on the same program.

It can get more complicated in the case of heats. If there are three elimination heats and the horse that wins the final did not win a heat, a raceoff must decide the winner of the final event. This adds one more mile dash to the equation.

For example, let's look at the road to the pacing crown with a hypothetical horse and do the math.

A colt, Big Pacer, is second in one of two Cane Pace (first jewel of pacing's triple crown) elims. He makes the final. The next week, Big Pacer wins the final, so he wins the first jewel and is the only potential triple-crown winner. That's two races.

Big Pacer then has to race in one of three elimination heats of the Little Brown Jug (jewel two). By the way, the "Jug" is not the horse's next race. There are weeks between the first and second jewels of this crown and Big Pacer usually races a few times before the Jug. Big Pacer wins his Jug elim heat and is guaranteed to be in the final later in the same program. But in the final, a horse that was third in one of the three elim heats is victorious. This ignites a raceoff between the winners of the elim heats and the winner of the final event. Big Pacer wins the raceoff and so he wins the Little Brown Jug, keeping his crown hopes alive. That's three races plus the two from the first jewel, which makes five.

Some weeks later, the third jewel, the Messenger Stakes, is presented. This event used to maintain the same format as the Jug, presented with elim heats. But the venue and the format have changed recently and a definite format is still pending. But, if Big Pacer won the Messenger final even as an event with one elim or elim heat, that would add two more races to his campaign to win the pacing triple crown. So, Big Pacer won the three jewels of the triple crown by racing in seven events, not to mention what racing he did in between the jewels.

Sophomore trotters have similar trials to attain their crown. The trotting jewels are the Hambletonian, the Yonkers Trot and the Kentucky Futurity. Only the "Futurity" is run in heats. Still, trotters must go two races for the first jewel, two for the second and as many as three for the third.

So it is that the history of triple-crown winners among trotters and pacers presents a slim list. In 2004, Windsong's Legacy won the trotting triple crown after 32 years of failures. There have been three pacing triple crown winners since 1997's Western Dreamer survived the schedule. But he won after a 14-year drought.

The dust will have long settled on the thoroughbred Triple Crown action before the standardbreds start to ride but you can be sure we will cover the multi-race action along the way, with tips on trips and betting strategies concerning the many contests that make up the standardbred triple crowns.

Player's corner

Here are horses to watch on Friday, May 19. At Western Fair, the 8 horse in Race 7, Alikazam, should overcome the outside post, maybe even firing to get the lead out of the gate. Demand a decent price, as always. I have a feeling the crowd may give you one considering the post. At Hazel, here are three horses that at 2-1 or up are bargains. In Race 1, Small Favors (5) should romp if he stays flat; in Race 2, Could Be A Player (5) has the field measured with good placement early; and in Race 10, Cien (4) burned out early last time going wide at the start to get the lead but this time may cruise.

On Saturday, May 20, two at Pocono deserve attention. In Race 9, Fox Valley Michael gets the 8 hole again after tanking there last week, but that just makes the ride with Brian Sears all the more inviting this time. In Race 11, Generous GB (5) has only to use that one big brush at the right time to get home at a good price.

Then, at Hoosier, in Race 3, Thunder Bird is ready to fly from the rail and in Race 4, Sand Flying Dragon is ready to soar from post 2. 

A quick recap, now, of the selections in our most recent column.

At Cal-Expo, our beaten-favorites list continues to present value-packed winners. Since we met here last time, some winners included Badlands Medley, $18.60; Cast British, $11.00; Red Star Billy, $9.60; Patio Pete, $8.60; Doggone Incredible, $8.00; To Be Noble, $8.00; Direct Alberta, $7.20; and Amazing Glide, $5.80.You can check for an updated list weekly on the Cal-Expo page of the Youbet Harness Insider.

On May 5, The Lady Khan at Western Fair was stunned by traffic and galloped, finishing third, placed-fifth. The next week she broke again while on the move (if she ever stays to complete a race she could mow 'em down). At Pompano that same night, Ditto and Luke Clark Colby both came up big favorites, causing no-bet situations. The former finished second and the latter was fourth.

On May 6, our plays at Pompano were charging. Clos Pegase completed the exacta at 11-1 and then won the next week, paying $20.60. Eleven AM finished fifth at 35-1 from the outside and on May 13 was second at 10-1. Our Berry's Creek Final pick, Bono Bests, couldn't beat the favorite, finishing third.

For more than three decades, Frank Cotolo has been active in pari-mutuel racing as a player and an author. Aside from articles in Gambling Times, Sulky and Turf & Sport, he was the editor of TIMES: in harness magazine (in print and on line) for fifteen years and won a John Hervey Award—the industry’s top writing honor.

The opinions of Youbet Update writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Youbet.com or its subsidiaries.