American Pharoah wins Triple Crown
Thoroughbred wins first Triple Crown in 37 years
Horse dominates Belmont Stakes from start to finish.
ELMONT, N.Y. — American Pharoah broke one of the most famous dry spells in sports Saturday and joined Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed as one of 12 Triple Crown winners in the history of thoroughbred racing.
He did it by going wire-to-wire to win the Belmont Stakes, the grueling 1 1⁄2- mile test that had stopped even the most brilliant contenders over the last 37 years.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert had trained three of the near misses and American Pharoah’s jockey, Victor Espinoza, had ridden two of them. Finally they found a horse who could deal with all the obstacles inherent to the most difficult test in their sport, racing three times since May 2 on different tracks and against rested horses.
“He’s just a great horse,” Baffert said, looking dazed as a sellout crowd of 90,000 roared and danced around him. “It takes a great horse to do it.”
American Pharoah’s run at the Triple Crown began with a gutsy outing on May 2 in the Kentucky Derby, where he could never find his natural speed and won anyway. Espinoza whipped him more than 30 times as he held off stablemate Dortmund and tough-charging Firing Line.
The stage then moved on May 16 to Baltimore, where he glided through a biblical downpour to win the Preakness by an easy seven lengths.
But for more than three decades, the Belmont has been the crucible that’s broken the most-
gifted 3-year-old thoroughbreds. Whether they faltered because of the 1 1⁄2- mile distance or were outrun by fresher opponents, 13 tried and failed to follow Affirmed. The last favorite to win the race was Afleet Alex in 2005 (he’d taken the Preakness but finished third in the Derby, less than a length behind the winner).
Their tales of woe are essential to racing lore — Spectacular Bid stepping on a safety pin and fading in 1979, Smarty Jones thrilling a record crowd of 120,139 before Birdstone caught him late in 2004, Big Brown going off as a 3-10 favorite only to pull up before the finish in 2008.
But nothing went wrong for American Pharoah. Espinoza took him right to the lead after a clean break, and no one ever made a serious move on the 3-5 favorite. Frosted finished 5 1⁄ lengths
2 back, the third-largest margin in a Triple-Crown-winning race. American Pharoah’s winning time of 2 minutes, 26.65 seconds was the sixth-fastest in Belmont history, fittingly just edging Affirmed.
Baffert felt American Pharoah was perfectly prepared and told Espinoza in the paddock: “He’s ready. Ride him with confidence.”
The jockey said he knew he’d won by the first turn. “I tell you, I had the best feeling ever when he crossed that turn,” he said.
American Pharoah paid $3.50 on a $2 bet to win, $2.80 to place and $2.50 to show. Frosted paid $3.50 and $2.90. Third-place finisher Keen Ice paid $4.50.
Thirty seven years is an eternity in sports. With each failure, the achievement gained weight, and the debate intensified over why no horse could do it. Last year, California Chrome’s coowner, Steve Coburn, griped that the whole thing was rigged because so few horses run all three legs.
Nonetheless, many racing analysts came into Saturday believing American Pharoah was the horse to bring the Triple Crown club to an even dozen.
His quest represented a potential apotheosis for three of the major figures on today’s American racing scene.
Espinoza grew up riding a donkey around his family’s dairy farm in Hidalgo, Mexico, and paid his way to jockey school by driving a bus around Mexico City as a teenager.
He moved to California and rose steadily to the top of his field, riding War Emblem to victories in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2002. But he fell into a deep slump a few years later, and didn’t resurrect his career until he was nearly 40. Last year, he was back with another shot at the Triple Crown aboard California Chrome.
Espinoza figured that was his last chance, at least until he climbed aboard the 2- year-old American Pharoah, whose speed flowed more easily than anything the softspoken rider had ever felt.
The colt’s owner, Ahmed Zayat, grew up in a prominent Egyptian family, learning to love horses on his parents’ farmland. When he sold the beer distributorship that made him rich, he redirected his considerable passion to the American thoroughbred game, rapidly building one of the most talented stables in the country.
Three times his horses, including American Pharoah’s sire Pioneerof the Nile, finished second in the Kentucky Derby. Zayat’s operation bred and raised American Pharoah, and by last fall, wise horsemen were telling him he had one for the ages.
Zayat has spent much of the Triple Crown run batting away questions about a lawsuit (dismissed Thursday) claiming he owed $1.65 million in unpaid gambling debts. But the distraction never stopped him from gushing about American Pharoah.
The owner has sold the breeding rights to Coolmore Stud for reportedly nearly $14 million, but the Triple Crown victory could increase his stud fees. Zayat retains the racing rights, but a decision has not been made on how much longer American Pharoah will run, though Zayat said Saturday, “He will probably retire at the end of the year.”
No one had been to the cusp of a Triple Crown more often than Baffert. He was the former quarterhorse jockey from the West Coast who stormed the big-time racing scene in the 1990s. In 1997 and 1998, his horses Silver Charm and Real Quiet came agonizingly close to following Affirmed into the pantheon. War Emblem gave him another chance in 2002 but never got rolling on the deep dirt at Belmont Park.
“I was really starting to dislike that trophy,” Baffert joked Saturday. “It’s caused me a lot of misery.”
Baffert waited a long time for another potential superhorse. He endured a few relative down years, then a heart attack, only to discover a new zest for life raising his son Bode, now 10.
It wasn’t clear American Pharoah would be the horse to bring him back. For all the colt’s talent, he lost his composure the first time Baffert put him in a race, finishing fifth. But Baffert and his staff found the right measures to unlock the horse’s sweet nature, and American Pharoah won his next six races, including the Derby and Preakness.
Now that’s he’s added the Belmont to his collection, talk will surely turn to what he can do for his sport. Is the new Triple Crown winner a star who can bring casual fans back to the tracks? Will his impact go beyond the headlines he’ll occupy over the next few days?
Many industry analysts are skeptical, but if some measure of disappointment is to come, it will have to wait. For now, an oft-beleaguered sport will celebrate.