On June 11, 1977, Seattle Slew won horseracing’s coveted Triple Crown after placing first in that year’s Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. Although the horse had such a distinctly Northwest moniker, Seattle Slew never trained or raced in Washington, his owners’ home state. But over the years, many other horses have.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, The Meadows was the premier venue for horse racing in Washington until the state legislature banned gambling in 1909. In 1933, newly elected state Representative Warren Magnuson introduced a bill to allow pari-mutuel betting on horse racing, and the Sport of Kings made a spectacular comeback when Longacres Racetrack opened in Renton.

The sports venue “reined” supreme for almost 60 years, most notably under the direction of the late Morris Alhadeff. In 1977, less than a month after his Triple Crown win, Seattle Slew visited the oval and ran two “Golden Gallop” laps around the track to raise money for medical research at the UW and WSU. Longacres closed 15 years later, but thanks to investors like Herman Sarkowsky, thoroughbred racing lives on at Emerald Downs in Auburn.

This article is courtesy of HistoryLink.org, the free online encyclopedia of Washington state history