Triple Crown: Now That's Something To Celebrate -- Mike Pegram's Horse Gets Ready For Race And Party

ELMONT, N.Y. - College was a party. Mike Pegram spent his days at Indiana University basking in the sun of Churchill Downs in Louisville and watching the horses. Then came the real world, and the party kept rolling.

Pegram and his father, Jim, who died in 1987, were involved with McDonald's franchises and Thoroughbreds in Northern California. Pegram moved to Mount Vernon, Skagit County, and opened a McDonald's in 1975; he owns 22 now. He and trainer Bob Baffert went to the fall yearling sale in Keeneland, Ky., two years ago. There he bought a horse for $17,000.

Now that horse, Real Quiet, is on the verge of winning Thoroughbred racing's most cherished prize - the Triple Crown. And he has come to the most daunting track in the country, Belmont Park. If he can win the Belmont Stakes today, Pegram's horse will live forever in history.

And Pegram, 46, the man who threw away college only to become a

fast-food millionaire, would receive $5 million as a reward.

Nobody has won the Triple Crown in 20 years. It is one of the most challenging feats in all of sports - a horse must win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes in a span of five weeks.

Few horses run this often and certainly not at these distances - 1 1/4 miles in the Derby, 1 3/16 miles in the Preakness and 1 1/2 miles in the Belmont. It is a physically exhausting stretch.

So grueling, in fact, only 11 horses have won the Triple Crown.

"There's only been 12 people to walk on the moon, so this is my chance to walk on the moon," Pegram joked this week.

For Pegram, the party has just begun. He is basking in the spotlight that so rarely shines on this sport, bringing more than 100 friends into town for what he promises will be a gigantic bash. He has opened the New York Stock Exchange, thrown out the first pitch at a Yankee game and appeared on "Good Morning America." And the race hasn't even started. That happens at 2:27 p.m. (PDT) and will be aired on Channel 4 and KJR-AM (950) radio.

As for the horse that cost just $17,000? In addition to the $5 million bonus from Triple Crown sponsor Visa and earnings for winning each race, Real Quiet eventually could fetch enormous stud fees. Seattle Slew, winner of the Triple Crown in 1977 for owners Mickey and Karen Taylor, whose primary residence then was in Washington, has a standard $100,000 fee for every foal he sires.