Triple Crown 2015: Post Time, TV Schedule for American Pharoah's Pursuit

American Pharoah wins the Triple Crown at Saturday's Belmont Stakes. American Pharoah loses the Triple Crown at Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

Those are, really, your only results for Saturday's race. Pharoah is the entire focus of the horse racing world, which ranges from those in the stable to the casual fans. There is no middle ground. There is no scenario where everyone goes home happy.

Either American Pharoah will have pulled off an accomplishment that will bring unprecedented coverage to the sport of horse racing, or he will have failed. When you have trainers in opposing stables openly rooting against themselves, you know what you're about to witness is important.

Date	Saturday, June 6
Post Time	6:50 p.m.
Network	NBC
Stream	NBC Sports Live Extra

"Is it gonna be good if he wins? Absolutely," trainer Nick Zito told Dan Wolken of USA Today. "I'm a horse trainer. I want to win that race, I want to make history myself. However, if American Pharoah wins and I got my eighth (Belmont Stakes) second place...I'm gonna say, 'Where do I sign?' I'd be delighted. The game is bigger than everybody."

You've heard the stats so often they're almost secondhand. No horse has won the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. Thirteen horses have captured the Kentucky Derby and Preakness since. All have failed, some in nail-biting fashion, others to heartbreaking injuries and others to plain old failure.

Since the beginning, American Pharoah has been billed as something different. He entered the Kentucky Derby as perhaps the most fawned-over horse of this century, by far our best Triple Crown threat in recent memory. 

“I have been doing this for 35 years and he might be the best horse I’ve ever seen,” clocker Gary Young said before the Derby, per Joe Sullivan of the Boston Globe. “He’s simply like Michael Jordan and stays in the air like he did in his rookie year. He stays in the air longer than any horse and you get the feeling that there’s not one gear left, but he may have two, three, or four gears.’’

Pharoah has proven Young right every step of the way so far. He overcame a difficult outside post and a lackadaisical early ride at the Derby, still pulling ahead down the stretch but only winning by a length. The Preakness saw Pharoah show off his true strength, gliding over a muddy track for a dominant win that echoed Secretariat.

Saturday will see him attempt to finish the job. He'll line up in the No. 5 post, putting him and jockey Victor Espinoza of having to run their third starkly different race of the year. After lining up on the outside at Churchill Downs, Pharoah was strung to the rail at Pimlico. Here he'll be smack dab in the middle of an eight-horse field.

Among the notable horses trying to end Pharoah's Triple Crown dreams are the Todd Pletcher-trained Materiality and Madefromlucky. Materiality was a pre-Derby contender and wound up finishing sixth. He's been undefeated prior to the trip to Churchill Downs. Madefromlucky was defeated by Pharoah at the Arkansas Derby and Rebel Stakes but got his third career win at the Peter Pan Stakes.

Pletcher smartly held out both horses from the Preakness in an attempt to keep them fresh for Saturday's race. The trainer, who has won twice at the Belmont, said he already has a plan in place for the two horses.

"I envision Materiality being close to the pace and Madefromlucky mid-pack," Pletcher said, per Wolken. "With Materiality, if you look at his first three races he can be close to the pace. He missed the break at Churchill and found himself in a position he's never been in. I like being outside of American Pharoah. We're going to go into the first turn trying to make sure there's an honest pace."

More daunting than the field, however, may be the length of the Belmont track. At 1.5 miles, it's two furlongs longer than any other race Pharoah has run. While that's the case for every horse in the field, none of them are running their third event within a little more than a calendar month.

"We don't know until it happens," trainer Bob Baffert said of how Pharoah will handle the track, per Larry Fine of Reuters. "A mile and a half is a very rare race for most of those 3-year-olds, and for me. We just get him ready. And if he's great, he'll get it done."

For Pharoah to win, he'll need to be great. The sport of horse racing will have its fingers crossed he gets it done.