Bet Twice - Three-year-old Season

Three-year-old Season

Early in his three-year-old season, Bet Twice won the grade two Fountain of Youth Stakes on the road to the Triple Crown. He met a crop of talented horses in that three-year-old year, including Gulch and Cryptoclearance; however, his rivalry with Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Alysheba was most famous. He faced the other colt nine times, beating him three times (Alysheba won four times, while neither horse won in their other two meetings).

Bet Twice and Alysheba battled down the stretch in what many consider one of the most physical Derbies ever. Alysheba prevailed by a half length over Bet Twice with both colts almost two and a half length in front of the rest of the field.

In the Preakness Stakes, Bet Twice was listed at post time as the fourth choice in a strong field at 5-1. He broke sharply and was third going into the first turn. He was up with the leaders when he was floated out wide. Approaching the stretch, the colt took the lead from Lookingforthebigone and Alysheba. In the closing moments of the race, Alysheba closed and Bet Twice lost by a half length again. In third and fourth were Cryptoclearance and Gulch respectively.

Bet Twice may be best known for his victory in the 1987 Belmont Stakes. Ridden by Craig Perret and trained by Jimmy Croll, he won by 14 lengths and denied Alysheba the Triple Crown. By virtue of his victory in the Belmont and runner-up performances in the Preakness Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, he edged out Alysheba for the first ever $1,000,000 Chrysler Triple Crown Bonus as the top performing three-year-old in the Triple Crown series.

Bet Twice then won the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park over Alysheba. He also finished ahead of Alysheba in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, though both horses finished in mid-pack behind Java Gold on the sloppy track.