Aiden O'Brien's Camelot could become only the 16th horse to win the Epsom Derby and Irish Derby.
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(CNN) -- This Saturday, Aiden O'Brien's unbeaten colt Camelot will be aiming to add the Irish Derby to his Epsom Derby victory from earlier this month. It's a neat double, achieved by only 15 horses before him. But his trainer has his eye on another prize.
Camelot has already captured the English 2,000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby. Assuming everything goes to plan this weekend, his next target will be the St. Ledger Stakes at Doncaster in September -- and racing immortality.
For Camelot stands on the brink of that rarest of achievements, the English "Triple Crown" of thoroughbred racing.
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Only 15 horses have ever done the treble in the century and a half in which the 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and St. Ledger Stakes have been run.
Three of those, wartime winners Pommern, Gay Crusader and Gainsborough will forever have an asterisk next to their names as racing was considered too disrupted in that period for their achievements to stand, making the "official" figure as low as 12.
The last Triple Crown winner was the great Nijinsky, way back in 1970 (although the brilliant filly Oh So Sharp did win the "Fillies' Triple Crown" -- the 1,000 Guineas, the Epsom Oaks and the St. Ledger -- in 1985).
Few horses these days even attempt the full set. Since Nijinsky (who, incidentally, also won the Irish Derby en route to his treble), only two other horses have won both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby, and both of those -- Nashwan (1989) and Sea The Stars (2009) -- opted for a tilt at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe instead of the St. Ledger.
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Camelot eyes horse racing immortality
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