The Triple Crown is the most coveted and elusive, prize in" American thoroughbred horse racing. The inspiration for the American Triple Crown came from England, where the Epsom Derby, the St. Ledger, and the Two Thousand Guineas races were considered the three jewels in the crown. In the, 1930s Charles Hatton, a turf reporter for the Morning Telegraph, first applied the term Triple Crown to the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. In 1950 the Thoroughbred Racing Association decided to award a Triple Crown trophy retroactively to Sir Barton, the winner of the three races in 1919, and the 1948 champion Citation. At the association's awards dinner, Sir Barton was recognized with a three-sided silver trophy designed by Carrier as the first horse to win the American Triple Crown.

Source:

Marvin Drager, The Most Glorious Crown (New York: Winchester Press, 1975).