New Triple Crown trophy designed to be mobile

ELMONT, N.Y. – Should Justify win Saturday’s Belmont Stakes and capture the Triple Crown, his connections will be the first recipients of a new-look trophy.

Following American Pharoah’s Triple Crown sweep in 2015, Chris Kay, the president and chief executive of the New York Racing Association, wanted to redesign the Triple Crown trophy. The previous version, Kay said, was only seven inches tall “and didn’t have any distinctive nature to it.”

Kay, wanting to make the trophy more reflective of the difficult nature of winning a Triple Crown, contacted renowned sculptor Roberto Santo, who had done work for Kay at Toys “R” Us and Universal Studios.

Santo came up with a 36 1/2-inch trophy that has a larger base that leads up to the same three-sided vase with two handles on the sides. At the top is a bronze horse. The trophy weighs 45 to 50 pounds.

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This will be a permanent trophy that will be put on display at different racetracks throughout the year, Kay said. Should Justify win Saturday, the owners would be given a single 26-inch replica of the trophy, while trainer Bob Baffert would receive an 18-inch replica.

Kay said he wanted a new trophy that could be shuttled to different venues so fans could pose for pictures with it, similar to the Stanley Cup. Kay noted that in 2015 the Stanley Cup was brought to Saratoga, and fans paid to have their pictures taken with it in a charity fundraiser.

Regarding the Triple Crown trophy, Kay said NYRA would “try to connect with certain not-for-profit organizations and help them in their fundraising.”

Kay said the plan is to rotate the Triple Crown trophy to the different racing organizations that host the three races. NYRA will have the trophy until sometime in September before transferring it to Churchill Downs.

Kay said that next spring the plan is to have the trophy on display at Churchill Downs during Derby week, Pimlico during Preakness week, and Belmont Park during Belmont week. Kay said the three companies that host the Triple Crown events, including Churchill Downs Inc. and The Stronach Group, split the cost of the trophy, but he would not reveal its price.