THE CROWNS OF THE 70s

Of the Triple Crown winners I had seen, the one American Pharoah most resembles is the brilliantly fast Seattle Slew, a true miler whose competition in the three races was so mediocre that his trainer, Billy Turner, had the luxury of sending him on long, slow gallops to get him off the muscle and prepare him to race longer than he really wanted to go. He won all three, but the Derby and Belmont, especially, were run in trotting-horse time. It was not until he got to his 4-year-old year, when he defeated far superior horses while carrying high weights, that his true greatness became evident.

That year, he absolutely crushed