[Holland Hacker]

I have been wondering about this for a while now and last night I finally had a chance to summarize some data. Based on some quick information taken from Champions it appears that a Triple Crown winner has faced approximatley 10 horses less than those that have won only two legs of the Triple Crown. For the winners of 2 legs I started with 1981. Please let me know if I left anyone out.

Year Horse Derby Preakness Belmont TOTAL
TRIPLE CROWN WINNERS:
1919 Sir Barton 12 12 3 27
1930 Gallant Fox 15 11 4 30
1935 Omaha 18 8 5 31
1937 War Admiral 20 8 7 35
1941 Whirlaway 11 8 4 23
1943 Count Fleet 10 4 3 17
1946 Assault 17 10 7 34
1948 Citation 6 4 5 15
1973 Secretariat 13 6 5 24
1977 Seattle Slew 15 9 8 32
1978 Affirmed 11 7 5 23
Average 26.45454545

WINNERS OF 2 out of 3:
1981 Pleasant Colony 21 13 11 45
1984 Swale 20 10 11 41
1987 Alysheba 17 9 9 35
1988 Risen Star 17 9 6 32
1989 Sunday Silence 15 8 10 33
1995 Thunder Gulch 19 11 11 41
1997 Silver Charm 13 10 7 30
1998 Real Quiet 15 10 11 36
1999 Chrismatic 19 13 12 44
2001 Point Given 17 11 9 37
2002 War Emblem 18 13 11 42
2003 Funny Cide 16 10 6 32
2004 Smarty Jones 18 10 9 37
2005 Afleet Alex 20 14 9 43
Average 37.71429

Any thoughts