American Pharoah jockey confident of Belmont victory
Victor Espinoza is oozing confidence a year after his hopes of riding a Triple Crown winner were dashed in the Belmont Stakes.
He is back with a record third chance at a Triple try, this time aboard American Pharoah, a colt many believe is poised to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978.
“If he’s 100 per cent and he goes there and his energy is good, that’s all it’s going to take,” Espinoza said. “I’m positive and confident.”
Espinoza’s assurance stems from how American Pharoah has developed over the five- week Triple Crown campaign.
The colt rallied for a one- length victory in the Kentucky Derby and romped in the rain to a sevenlength win in the Preakness. He has a solid pedigree — his grand- sire Empire Maker won the 2003 Belmont to spoil Funny Cide’s Triple Crown bid — and Espinoza, along with everyone else, is impressed by the colt’s stride, in which he nearly floats over the ground.
American Pharoah has left Espinoza with none of the questions he had about humbly- bred California Chrome, whose bid ended with a fourth- place finish in the Belmont last June. Or ornery War Emblem, a one- dimensional front- runner Espinoza first met on the morning of the 2002 Kentucky Derby. They teamed to win that day and at the Preakness, but the Bob Bafferttrained colt stumbled out of the starting gate in the Belmont and finished eighth.
By comparison, Espinoza has cultivated a solid relationship with good- natured and versatile American Pharoah, who he’s ridden since last September. Together they are 6- 0. Espinoza took over from Martin Garcia after the colt lost his first career race at Del Mar, although Garcia still exercises the colt in the mornings. “Pharoah is just like pushing buttons, you just can do whatever you want,” Garcia said. “He’s a really talented horse.”