American Pharoah's Highlights from Entire Triple Crown Run
He did it.
American Pharoah ended a 37-year Triple Crown drought with a win at the 2015 Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Per Odds Shark, the Bob Baffert-trained colt was a 10-13 favorite coming in and made the oddsmakers look good.
| 1 | 5 | American Pharoah | Victor Espinoza | Bob Baffert |
| 2 | 6 | Frosted | Joel Rosario | Kiaran McLaughlin |
| 3 | 7 | Keen Ice | Kent Desormeaux | Dale Romans |
| 4 | 1 | Mubtaahij | Irad Ortiz Jr. | Mike de Kock |
| 5 | 4 | Frammento | Mike Smith | Nick Zito |
| 6 | 3 | Madefromlucky | Javier Castellano | Todd Pletcher |
| 7 | 2 | Tale of Verve | Gary Stevens | Dallas Stewart |
| 8 | 8 | Materiality | John Velazquez | Todd Pletcher |
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In completely dominating fashion, American Pharoah blew away the competition en route to the biggest win in nearly four decades.
Afterward, congratulations came in from all over the sports world. Bleacher Report's Jeremy Botter and ESPN's Jemele Hill chimed in:
Although he didn't break from the gates expertly, American Pharoah quickly righted himself, taking the early lead. Out of the first turn, he was holding the contenders at bay with relative ease.
As the horses came down the stretch, it seemed as if Pharoah barely needed to expend extra energy to hold off Frosted and Keen Ice, who finished second and third, respectively. Here's a look at American Phaorah's historic win:
Against a field of horses who had run, at most, just one of the previous two Triple Crown races, American Pharoah still proved to be the fittest competitor.
| American Pharoah | $3.50 | $2.80 | $2.50 |
| Frosted | --- | $3.50 | $2.90 |
| Keen Ice | --- | --- | $4.60 |
Since 1979, 11 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, only to fall at the Belmont.
That list includes California Chrome, whose jockey rode American Pharoah into horse racing immortality on Saturday. The third time proved to be the charm for Victor Espinoza.
He also rode War Emblem to this point in 2002 before a stumble out of the gate killed the horse's chances of winning the Belmont.
To fully appreciate what American Pharoah accomplished, we must look back at his best moments over the past two months. He powered past a talented field at the Kentucky Derby to begin the dream. Take a look at his triumph in the initial Triple Crown race from the Kentucky Derby's YouTube channel:
In the slop created by a storm in Baltimore, he overcame a muddy track and a rail post position to take the Preakness Stakes. Here's that dominating win from NBC Sports:
Some believe American Pharoah's triumph will bring increased interest to the sport. Prior to the race, Kansas City physician and horse owner William Reed told Tom Smith of the Kansas City Star: “I think it will bring more interest to racing. It will encourage some people to invest in the sport, and it will create new fans.”
Judging by the level of engagement on Twitter, you'd have to believe the win was good for the sport.
The question remains: Will the momentum wear off once the news of the win has gotten old? We could discover that the chase was more thrilling than the accomplishment.
Only time will tell. We'll have to wait until 2016 to know if American Pharoah's accomplishment has increased interest in horse racing or just provided a short-lived thrill for the casual fan.
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