AMERICAN PHAROAHBy Eric Crawford | Presented by

Snapshots from the Triple Crown

AMERICAN PHAROAH

American Pharoah: Snapshots from The Triple CrownCopyright 2015 Eric Crawford and WDRB NewsPublished: July 2015Publisher: WDRB and Eric Crawford

All rights reserved. The contents in this electronic book are reproductions of regular coverage pro-vided by WDRB News and first appeared on WDRB.com. They are offered as part of WDRBs on-going coverage of the Triple Crown. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in re-trieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, record-ing or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publishers. You must not circu-late this book in any format. WDRB and Eric Crawford retain print publication rights to the written material.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This E-book may not be resold.

Find out more about the author and WDRBs sports coverage online at www.wdrb.com, on Twit-ter @ericcrawford or on facebook at Facebook.com/egcrawford.All photos are by Eric Crawford or via WDRB News.

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Snapshots from the Triple Crown

DEDICATION

To Cliff Guilliams, Julian Buck Wheat, and all who wouldve given anything to see just

one more Triple Crown winner.

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INTRODUCTION

The following is a collection of journalism, daily news pieces written for WDRB.com. Still, you cant help but cover a Triple Crown quest without having some kind of com-memorative work in mind. History is always on the line. Its part of what fascinates people with the feat, even if they dont follow the sport the way they once did. The

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BY ERIC CRAWFORD

With the Triple Crown, history is always on the line. Its part of the fascination with the feat, even among people who dont fol-low the sport the way fans once did.

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pieces here appeared, in similar form, on the website of WDRB.com, as well as for Block Alliance Newspapers The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Toledo Blade. They have been edited to remove some deadline or dated elements, and occasion-ally touched up for posterity, such as it is in E-publishing.I want to thank WDRB news director Barry Fulmer and president and general man-ager Bill Lamb not only for their commitment to covering the Triple Crown races in their entirety -- a rarity in local TV journalism today -- but for their support for this pro-ject. Id also like to thank the WDRB sports staff of Tom Lane, John Lewis, Mike La-cett and especially Rick Bozich for their assistance in numerous ways. And primarily, I owe a debt of gratitude to assistant news director Jennifer Keeney, who helped edit these pieces into a form suitable for book publication, and whose enthusiasm and en-couragement made the whole thing possible.Also of special assistance were the communications staffs at Churchill Downs, Pim-lico and Belmont Park, in particular Churchill Downs director of communications Dar-ren Rogers.When a horse wins a Triple Crown, everyone wants something they can hold onto, a piece of that history. I remember when Zenyatta won the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park, I reached down and picked up some petals from the blanket of flowers that was draped over her.But as writers, we arent always able to grab mementos. I never even placed a $2 bet on American Pharoah at the Belmont. For us, the memories are wrapped up in the words we are able to set down.The following is an attempt to preserve a very special time in sports, particularly for those of us who have covered horse racing for a long time, and waited for the chance to write about a Triple Crown winner even longer.Thanks for reading.

Eric CrawfordLouisville, Ky.June, 2015

S E C T I O N 1

THE HORSEIts tough to know a horse, unless youre with him every morning, or spend time

around him every day. But for much of the Triple Crown chase, you are around him, watching, observing. Over the course of a month, you get to know him, and the peo-

ple around him.

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AMERICAN PHAROAH

CHAPTER 1

PHAROAH ESSENTIALS

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With every great horse, little things become big stories. A chewed off tail. A mis-spelled name. Things that might only be footnotes for a regular colt become little leg-ends unto themselves when you add a Triple Crown to the discussion. Here are the essentials on American Pharoah:

THE FACTS

71. His sire was Pioneerof the Nile, who won the Santa Anita Derby and finished sec-ond in the Kentucky Derby in 2009. Pioneerof the Nile was sired by Empire Maker, who won the Belmont Stakes in 2003. Empire Maker's sire was Unbridled, who won the Kentucky Derby in 1990. Baffert said much of his speed, however, comes from his dam's side. Little Princessmama raced only twice before suffering an injury, but both of her foals went on to win races, and after American Pharoah finished as the 2-year-old champion, she was sold at auction (while carrying a full brother to American Pharoah) for $2.1 million.2. He is a bay colt, with a faint white star on his forehead and no other white mark-ings. He weighs 1,178 pounds. He has a shorter tail than most thoroughbreds. His connections say they think a stablemate Mr. Z, who ran against American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and who is known for being a character chewed part of it off. Baffert gave the New York tabloid Newsday another theory: I think he was in the pasture one day and there was a mountain lion chasing him that was the closest he could get. He was just the fourth bay to win the Triple Crown (not counting Seattle Slew, who was listed as dark bay, but in reality was black).3. Yes, his name is misspelled. Nobody really knows why or how. The Jockey Club, which registers names, said it was submitted that way. His owners, who named the colt after letting fans submit suggestions, say they submitted the winner, American Pharoah as it came to them. The woman who came up with the name, Marsha Baum-gartner of Barnett, Mo., told The New York Times she checked the spelling before sub-mitting her entry, but shrugged it off, saying, Horses can't spell, anyway.4. American Pharoah originally was listed as a ridgling, in his official descrip-tion by The Jockey Club, a designation given to animals that have an undescended testicle. He was referred to in this manner through much of his 2-year-old season, even though he was designated a colt when his owner, Ahmed Zayat, consigned him for sale at the Fasig-Tipton August 2013 Saratoga auction. Before his 3-year-old sea-son, American Pharoah was being referred to as a colt. A spokesperson for The Jockey Club told WDRB that we have no additional information on the topic and can only refer you to his connections. Zayat said that the original designation (like the name misspelling, one must suppose) was a mistake. He was always a colt.5. American Pharoah is owned and was bred by Ahmed Zayat, an Egyptian busi-nessman who got into the sport full-time after selling the largest privatized beverage

8distributorship in Egypt to Heineken. Zayat came to the U.S. when he was 18 and at-tended Boston University. He endured a string of near-misses in the Kentucky Derby, including beaten favorite Pioneerof the Nile, a race-week career-ending injury to ex-pected favorite Eskendereya, and a runner-up finish for Bodemeister. Then came American Pharoah.Leading up to the Belmont, Zayat was fighting off a lawsuit by a man from Florida (with his own felony conviction) for allegedly not paying gambling debts. His attorney called the allegations absolute fiction. Zayat also filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010 after Fifth Third Bank called in its loans on $34 million his stable had borrowed. Zayat countered that the bank wasn't living up to the terms it set for the loans. The parties came to a settlement in 2010, and Zayat has completed the repayments set forth in the reorganization plan. The suit against Zayat for the gambling debts was dis-missed by a judge before the Belmont.Asked about Zayat, trainer Bob Baffert called him a wonderful family man.6. As a yearling, American Pharoah was put up for auction at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale, but Zayat purchased him back for $300,000, when no one met his reserve price of $1 million. He said he had no intention of selling his prize colt, but wanted to help the Saratoga sale.7. By all accounts, American Pharoah is a gentle horse who enjoys being around people though he has shown a tendency to get a bit fractious in loud situations. The day after winning the Derby, the colt walked around a large gathering of media and fans and let several rub his nose. Baffert told the crowd that had his other Derby horse, Dortmund, won the race, you wouldn't be getting this close.He is the sweetest horse of this caliber that I've ever been around, Baffert said. I mean, you feed him carrots, and he's like a pet. But he's just so -- usually they're like athletes. They want to get it on. But he's just the sweetest horse. He's spoiled to death.8. American Pharoah doesn't like loud environments. To help him with that, Baf-fert places cotton in his ears before races.He is a very intelligent, smart horse, but he's a little noise sensitive and that's why we put the cotton earplugs in his ears, Baffert said. You know, that's why on the

9walk-over from the Derby with all the people running next to him, they really set him off; he didn't like that. So he got a little hot on me going to the paddock, he was really, really getting hot. That's not him . . . even (jockey) Victor (Espinoza) noticed it when he turned for home in the Derby . . . when he heard 170,000 people, the roar, he's the favorite, he wasn't tired, but he was hitting the brakes. So, when he came for home, he said he came off the bridle, but he wasn't tired. That's why he runs with his ears up, he's listening. But during the Preakness with all the rain and stuff, he didn't hear anything. Those earplugs were so wet he couldn't hear a peep, you know. So he was focused the whole way. The noise factor -- it gets to him just a little bit.9. So what makes him so special? If you ask trainers, they're unanimous in praise of his movement. He has great conformation, which means that he looks like a great horse is supposed to look. He's of ideal size, weight and musculature. But it's his movement that trainers are most impressed with.The first time I saw him run, even on video, just the way he moved, I've not seen many move that way, with that ease of stride, and I've seen a lot of them, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said.John Hall, yearling manager at Vinery Farm near Lexington, where American Pha-roah was raised for a time as a yearling, told The Daily Racing Form, He was that much better-looking. He was a really good individual. Very forward, always very ath-letic, he had a great neck and shoulder and was always correct. . . . He was made to run. He's what you picture in your mind growing up and being around horses, what you think you want to go out and find.10. His jockey, Victor Espinoza, has ridden him in all seven of his career wins (American Pharoah has lost only once, his first time out, with Martin Garcia aboard). Espinozas Triple Crown win came in his third try at the feat. In the first, aboard War Emblem in 2002, his colt stumbled at the start and never had a chance. He finished eighth. In 2013, California Chrome suffered a cut to his hoof early in the race and ran hard but finished fourth.Espinoza was born on a dairy farm in Hidalgo, Mexico, the 11th of 12 children. He moved to Mexico City to ride horses as a teenager, and at age 14 paid for jockey school by driving a bus in Mexico City, annually ranked one of the most dangerous cit-ies in the world for drivers.

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He's built Hall of Fame credentials in the past decade, and donates 10 percent of his winnings to City of Hope Cancer Research Hospital, to support pediatric cancer re-search. After winning the Belmont, he said he would donate his entire share of the purse -- approximately $90,000 -- to City of Hope.11. American Pharoah ran the sixth-fastest winning time ever for a Belmont, 2:26.65. That somewhat made up for his Kentucky Derby-winning time of 2:03.02, which was the fourth-slowest since 2000. All three Triple Crown winners in the 1970s ran faster races in the Derby -- two of them (Secretariat and Affirmed) substantially faster. Overall, American Pharoahs aggregate time from the three Triple Crown races was the fourth-fastest among the 12 Triple Crown winners, and he raced over an off track in the Preakness.12. A few more quick things. He was foaled on Feb. 2, 2012. His career race win-nings are $4.53 million. His seven victories have come by a combined 35 3/4 lengths. The Kentucky Derby was his only win in which any competitor finished within three lengths of him. He wears a special shoe with a protective plate over the sole of his left front hoof. After winning the Preakness, Zayat announced that his breeding rights have been sold to Coolmore Ashford Stud near Lexington, Ky. Sale price wasn't dis-closed, but it is reported to be above $20 million, perhaps substantially so after Ameri-can Pharoah won the Triple Crown. But first, Zayat and Baffert expect to race him through the end of his 3-year-old year.

S E C T I O N 2

THE RACESThey were three distinct challenges. In the Kentucky Derby, American Pharoah was facing what many believed to be the toughest Derby field in 20 years. He required more urging than in any race in his career before prevailing. In the Preakness, he

simply loved the slop, while his seven competitors hated it. At the Belmont, he faced a few doubters who werent sure he could handle the track or distance. Once the

gate opened, there were no doubts.

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THREE JEWELS

CHAPTER 2

THE KENTUCKY DERBY

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On a farm in Florida, early in 2013, a group of elite trainers converged to watch the Zayat Stables 2-year-olds run. It was like the NFL combine except with thorough-breds. One after another, every trainer wanted the same colt.

LOUISVILLE, KY., MAY 2, 2015

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He was the chosen one. By all of them. And on a postcard-perfect first Saturday of May at Churchill Downs, 170,513 fans the most ever to watch the Kentucky Derby got to see why.American Pharoah, named by a fan through an internet contest, wrote his name -- misspelling and all -- into Kentucky Derby history by circling five-wide into the stretch and outrunning what racing enthusiasts believe may have been the strongest Derby field in nearly 20 years.Ridden by jockey Victor Espinoza, who captured his third Derby victory and second in a row, and trained by Bob Baffert, who collected his fourth Derby win, American Pha-roah became the third straight favorite to win the race and now puts his name forward as one who might end the sport's 37-year Triple Crown drought.All week, when people wanted to say he was a super horse, or wanted to mention him among the greats, I resisted, said his owner, Ahmed Zayat, an Egyptian-born businessman who is the winner's owner and breeder. Now he gets a chance to earn that praise. And today was a first step. He beat a great group of horses.Said Baffert, We got the most important one out of the way.For all the talk of depth in this field, this was a three-horse race. And all three were outstanding. Dortmund, the unbeaten son of Derby-winner Big Brown, had the lead for the first four fractional calls, after a quarter-mile, half-mile, three-quarters and fi-nally a mile. Firing Line, ridden by Hall of Famer Gary Stevens, was second to him at every call.These two have been dueling all spring. Dortmund twice beat Firing Line by a head, and both times Stevens said he moved just a bit too soon. This time, he knew what he wanted to do.He just couldn't beat the horse to his outside.Running third to those two throughout the race, having slid down from his No. 18 post position, American Pharoah settled in.He began to creep up on the other two heading for home. They hit the head of the stretch together. Dortmund darted to the inside. American Pharoah drifted wide. Firing Line ran down the middle, and poked a head in front, finally getting the best of Dort-mund. He couldn't, however, outrun American Pharoah.

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Gradually, feeling the whip in a race for the first time, American Pharoah began to surge ahead, and won by a length over Firing Line. Dortmund, a stablemate of Ameri-can Pharoah, hung on for third.He had never been tested, Espinoza said of American Pharoah, who had won his previous four races by 22 1/2 lengths. I had to ride him hard.Stevens said his horse had no excuses.Going into that first turn, he was pulling hard, Stevens said of Firing Line. I looked over and saw that Martin (Garcia's) horse (Dortmund) was pulling just as hard as mine. I eased back off him a little bit and gave both horses some breathing room. He (Firing Line) was aggressive today. He was on it. Coming for home I thought I might get there, but it wasn't to be. My horse showed his braveness today. He just got beat.This week, observers as seasoned and successful as trainers D. Wayne Lukas and Bill Mott said they believe American Pharoah to be a special horse. Lukas said the son of 2009 Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile is fully capable of winning a Triple Crown.Zayat said the team behind the horse is ready for the challenge.What gives me a lot of confidence is that particular horse, Zayat said. American Pharoah is very different from all the horses I had. Day One we felt that he had bril-liance to him his demeanor, his aura, his conformation, the way he moved. . . . Be-fore, I came (to the Derby) with good horses. But I felt today I came with a star. But I was very cautious of saying that, because I wanted the horse to do the talking.Now, he has. American Pharoah ran the 1 1/4 mile in 2:03.02. He paid $7.80, 5.80 and 4.20 as the favorite. Frosted, winner of the Wood Memorial, ran fourth, followed by Danzig Moon, Todd Pletcher's Materiality who lost a shoe early in the race Keen Ice and Mubtaahij, who shipped in from Dubai.Mike de Cock, the South African trainer of Mubtaahij, summed up the sentiments of many trainers when he said afterward, There were some bloody good horses ahead of him.Espinoza, who as a young man learned his way through traffic by driving a bus on the dangerous streets of Mexico City, became the seventh jockey with three Derby victo-

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ries and the sixth to record back-to-back Derby wins. The last to do it was Calvin Borel aboard Mine That Bird in 2009 and Super Saver in 2010.I feel like the luckiest Mexican on earth, he said. He has been a special horse since the first time I rode him. He has a lot of talent and is an unbelievable horse.Baffert said American Pharoah will remain stabled at Churchill Downs until shipping to Baltimore several days before the Preakness Stakes. He'll carry the hopes of a great many thoroughbred fans with him.I know a lot of people are hoping," said Baffert, who twice has finished inches away from The Triple Crown. "I really feel a lot of positive energy on this horse. People put their hat on something big like this, a horse, they like what he's done, there's a certain aura about him. he has caught everybody's attention."

CHAPTER 3

THE PREAKNESS

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To these plagues, this Pharoah was immune.As the horses walked onto the track at Pimlico for the 140th Preakness Stakes, a thunderstorm unleashed on the eight competitors, their trainers, the record crowd of 131,680 in the stands and the fans in the infield who were quickly evacuated for safety.

BALTIMORE, MD., MAY 16, 2015

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Rain. Wind. Lightning. Mud. Seven horses struggled against these elements. Ameri-can Pharoah was unperturbed. He skipped over the slop, sliced through the rain, and thundered through the wind to a seven-length win to put himself within one victory of etching his name into horse racing history.Jockey Victor Espinoza, now winner of four of the past five Triple Crown races, who in three weeks will become the first man to get a second straight chance to win a Tri-ple Crown in the Belmont, had one thought as the rain started falling.The first thing I think about is so much water in my boots, Espinoza said. I was float-ing in them. You know, coming to these big races, sometimes we have a plan, but a lot of things will change. With the weather change and everything, I was just freezing. I just wanted to get it over with. But it definitely changed a lot.Espinoza hadn't planned to go straight for the lead. But after a bit of a slow break by American Pharoah from the inside post, he decided he didn't want his horse getting mud kicked into his face, and just decided to, as he said, get it over with.It was over quickly. You can discuss the other seven competitors, but none really ran the race he came to run. Nobody took to the slop. It likely wouldn't have mattered, but it's hard to argue. Longshot Tale of Verve finished second, with Divining Rod third. Stablemate Dortmund was fourth and Mr. Z fifth. The time for the 1 3/16 race was 1:58.46.The adverse conditions likely affected seven of eight horses, said D. Wayne Lukas, trainer of Mr. Z. It obviously didn't bother the winner. . . . I've said it since March, he's special. This might be the year.Mark Casse, trainer of Danzig Moon, still hadn't gotten his fifth-place horse to stop coughing from the rough ride as they left the track.God decided he wanted to rain on it, he said. So what do you want to do?Firing Line, who hoped to stalk American Pharoah from the outside, stumbled coming out of the gate and never got his footing.This was American Pharoah's day.In the owner's box, trainer Bob Baffert watched the skies open and got concerned.I was getting a little leery, Baffert said. . . . I've never been through anything like that. That was crazy. I didn't know what was going to happen with the thunder. These

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horses, I could tell they didn't like it when they got pelted like that, and I was worried about the cotton balls in his ears. What if they're getting soaking wet? How is he go-ing to react? Maybe I should've taken them out. I was thinking all of these different things. Then I saw a picture of the track with like a river running along the rail, and I thought, He's got to run through that? All of these things were going through my mind.Quickly, his colt put Bafferts mind at ease. American Pharoah led at every fractional call. After starting just a bit slowly, Espinoza hustled him to the lead and he was ahead by 2 1/2 lengths at the half-mile pole.And soon, Baffert knew he was home free.Once he had him in the bit and he was turning down the backside, when I saw those ears go up, I thought, Oh yeah.' It was like then that Victor slowed him down a little bit, and then they came to him at the three-eighths pole, and my wife Jill said, They're coming to him.' And I said, No, he's waiting, he's waiting.' Then he just let him out and threw it into overdrive.It was, truly, as if Espinoza had a gear-shift somewhere on the Pioneerof the Nile colt. It's rare when 3-year-olds can speed up, slow down, then speed up again in the course of a race. Some have just one run. Others two. American Pharaoh seems to have whatever is necesary.And after winning four straight stakes races by 22 1/4 lengths leading up to the Ken-tucky Derby, which he won by just one length, American Pharoah returned to his domi-nant ways, running away from what had been considered a quality field.It also was a victory for owner Ahmed Zayat, who broke through with the Derby vic-tory after several second-place finishes. The Egyptian businessman got into the sport in a big way in 2005 after selling his beverage distributorship in Egypt. He described the feeling Saturday as, Absolute elation. Not just happy for myself and the family and Bob Baffert, Victor, the groom and every single person, I was also happy for the sport. A sport without a star is not a sport.Now, it may have a star. American Pharoah will be a big favorite in the June 6 Bel-mont, but he'll face a number of horses who have been waiting for him. Dallas

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Stewart's second-place Tale of Verve could be the only Preakness finisher who heads on to New York.Baffert and the connections weren't worried about that after the Preakness.Great horses do great things, Baffert said. . . . The thing is about him, he is the sweetest horse of this caliber that I've ever been around. I mean, you feed him car-rots, and he's like a pet. Usually they're like athletes. They want to get it on. But he's just the sweetest horse. He's spoiled to death. It was just a magical moment watching him come down that stretch.Baffert knows that New York will be difficult. He's been here three times before, and three times felt the disappointment of coming short on a Triple Crown chase at the Belmont, twice by excruciatingly close margins.It's going to be tough, Baffert said. I've always said, (the Preakness) is the easiest of the three legs. This next race is going to be I know everybody right now is sharp-ening their knives getting ready.New York could swallow him up. But after 37 years without a Triple Crown, horse rac-ing fans are hoping that American Pharoah is ready to rule.

CHAPTER 4

THE BELMONT

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So began the reign of American Pharoah. A step backward in the gate at the start. Then a powerful jump out of it. In two steps, he had the lead in the Belmont Stakes. He never gave it up.

ELMONT, N.Y., JUNE 6, 2015

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All down the backstretch, trainer Bob Baffert talked to his wife, Jill. When American Pharoah turned for home and put on a burst of speed, only one horse came with him. In midstretch, with Frosted contending, Baffert said he thought, Oh (expletive) they're going to catch me again.Nobody caught him. American Pharoah drew off -- three, four, five, finally 5 1/2 lengths at the wire -- putting an emphatic end to horse racing's Triple Crown drought at 37 years.Jockey Victor Espinoza, born on a dairy farm in Mexico, paraded the winning colt the entire length of the Belmont grandstand, over ground where so many hearts have been broken in Triple Crown bids since Affirmed did it in 1978, to a long, sustained, passionate ovation from the sellout crowd at Belmont Park.I knew on the first turn, said Espinoza, who told reporters he will donate all of his winner's share from the $1.5 million purse to the City of Hope cancer charity. He was going so good. I knew I had the horse. I just couldn't mess it up.Said Baffert, I think we all knew.After the race, an emotional Ahmed Zayat, owner and breeder of the colt, said, To-day is not about any of us (connections). Today is about this amazing horse, and what he has done for our beautiful sport.After so many years of disappointment, Baffert said the significance of the accom-plishment surely hadn't hit him after the race. He'd come the closest of any trainer, when his Real Quiet was beaten by a nose in 1998.After a heart attack in 2012, and the loss of both parents, Baffert admitted he came back to Belmont changed from the trainer who brought Triple Crown hopefuls here three times before. He never thought he would be here again, then he couldn't be-lieve his good fortune with American Pharoah. There was never a reason for concern. His training was perfect. His demeanor a pleasure.After his final gallop before the Belmont, on Friday morning, Baffert's mood and changed demeanor were perhaps summed up best in a text he said he sent to friend and NBC producer Rob Hyland.I'm really getting nervous, Baffert tweeted. Not because he thought his colt was go-ing to lose. Instead, Baffert finished the text with, I think he's going to do it.

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American Pharoah never looked fazed by anything going on around him. Not the Mon-ster Energy Drink girls surrounding him to the paddock. Not the thousands of fans cheering his every step. Not Frank Sinatra's New York, New York blaring as he walked onto the track. Not the little wobble at the start, and certainly not the seven competitors he faced in the race.I could tell, when we brought him over, he didn't twitch, Baffert said. He's just a really healthy horse. I hate to even bathe him he looks so shiny.He told Espninoza, in the paddock, Go ahead and ride him. He's ready.He certainly was. American Pharoah completed the 1 1/2 miles in 2:26.65, the sixth-fastest winning time in Belmont history. Among the 12 Triple Crown winners, only Sec-retariat ran the race they call the Test of Champions faster. In aggregate, American Pharoah's times from the three Triple Crown races rank fourth among the dozen who have accomplished the feat, slower only than Secretariat, Affirmed and Seattle Slew.And now, all of the little idiosyncrasies of American Pharoah's tale will become histori-cal footnotes. His misspelled name. The stubby tail supposed to have been chewed off by a stablemate. The cotton in his ears to block out crowd noise. Zayat sending him to auction, then buying him back for $300,000. His gentleness around people, eat-ing carrots out of the hands of reporters, getting right up into the face of a woman with a cell phone taking his picture.He was already a nice horse, a good horse. Now, he's a great one. The other results are almost inconsequential. Kiaran McLaughlin's Frosted held on for second. Dale Ro-mans' Keen Ice was third. But the one who will be remembered is the one who fin-ished first.There had been a feeling about this colt all week -- all month, really -- among his han-dlers, horse racing fans, even longtime media observers. His win in the Belmont not only was his third in five weeks, but his fourth in eight weeks an unheard of sched-ule for a modern thoroughbred. Zayat said he wants American Pharoah to race on to finish the year. His breeding rights have been sold. As long as he's healthy, he wants the sport to enjoy him until he retires.People want to see greatness, Baffert said. That's why we go to sports events. We want to see champions. You want to see LeBron James. That's basically what Victor showed them. He just took it to them. I think everybody knew that's what we were go-

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ing to do, it wasn't a secret. But I was not going to woof. I was not going to jinx my-self.No, this time there was no jinx, there was no spoiler at the wire, only the deafening sound of a long drought ending, and a Pharoah standing to accept his praise.

S E C T I O N 3

THE CONNECTIONSTrainer Bob Baffert, owner and breeder Ahmed Zayat and jockey Victor Espinoza pro-

vided the color commentary as their talented colt navigated his Triple Crown tests. Baffert, who had come close three times. Espinoza, making his second straight run at history. And Zayat, an Egyptian-born beverage magnate with a feel for thorough-

bred history.

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TRIPLE CROWN TRIO

CHAPTER 5

THE TRAINER

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The morning after winning the Triple Crown, Bob Baffert brought his champion colt American Pharoah out beside his Belmont Park barn along Hempstead Turnpike and let media members approach the colt, rub his head, and have their own moment with the champion in the morning light.

BOB BAFFERT

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Try doing that with Tom Brady or LeBron James.Baffert also reflected on the run that he and his horse and his team experienced. Jeanine Edwards, not long before the Belmont, ran a piece on Baffert on ESPN's SportsCenter. As he watched it, Baffert said he came to an uncomfortable realization.They showed clips of me way in the past, and I can't believe how obnoxious I was, you know? Baffert said. I've mellowed a lot. Now I'm just sitting back and trying to enjoy it.Baffert said the accomplishment hadn't come close to hitting home yet. It showed. He seemed in awe, almost, of every little thing. The response of fans. The performance of his horse. Even the Triple Crown trophy. Cast in 1979 after Affirmed won the Triple Crown the year before, it has gone unawarded for 37 years, commuting from Ken-tucky to New York when a Triple Crown was in play, most recently with Churchill Downs director of communications Darren Rogers, who always removed it from the presentation stand when an effort came up short.I can't believe it's 37 years old, Baffert said. I was joking about it, if I didn't win it I was going to get a baseball bat and just crush it. I was going to destroy it, make every headline news, trainer flips out, loses it, whatever.He said the only souvenir he really wants from Belmont weekend is a replica of that trophy, engraved with the information.I think I'm just going to fill it up with M&M peanuts and keep it there in the theater room, Baffert said. That's right.He never thought he would be back in this position, not after Silver Charm came so close in 1997, or Real Quiet lost by a nose in 98, or War Emblem tiring in 2002. Hed saddled just one winner of a Triple Crown race in the past decade when American Pharoah came along.I was just hoping I could win one more Kentucky Derby, Baffert said. And then this.American Pharoah came to Baffert because of the faith that owner Ahmed Zayat had in him. When Baffert suffered a heart attack in 2012 while in Dubai for the Dubai World Cup, Zayat was one of the first people he contacted.

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Two stents were inserted into one artery, and one into another. He was 59 years old. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and a horse racing enthusi-ast, visited him in the hospital.Even from the hospital bed, Baffert had one priority: Make sure his owners knew he was all right, that he could still do the job. When I was having my heart attack in Dubai, I told Jill first one, text Ahmed, Baffert said. Tell him I'm having a little heart attack. But (Zayat's horse) Bodemeister is okay. Don't worry. We're on it. Don't worry. I never quit training from that bed. In this game, if you want to compete at this level -- I still owe my wife a honeymoon. It's seven days a week. You have to stay on top of it. . . . I'm just so appreciative that they've kept trusting me with these great horses.Of course, there's no such thing as a little heart attack. It's bound to change some-one's perspective. Jill Baffert, his wife, said that, and the deaths of his parents, cer-tainly had a pronounced effect on her husband. He leaves more in the hands of his assistants. He doesn't feel the need to be with horses every minute. But Baffert him-self credits her for helping him have perspective. The two were married in 2002.I couldn't do this without Jill, he said. . . . She can read me.He can tell he's mellowed. After the Preakness, he teared up. When he took Jill and his 11-year-old son Bode to visit Silver Charm and Game on Dude at Old Friends Farm in Georgetown before the Derby, he teared up and not just because of his al-lergy to, of all things, horses the origin of his now-trademark sunglasses.After the Belmont, there was a poignant moment. Baffert years ago had gone to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and asked if he could meet the great Cigar. With the cham-pion, Baffert petted him like some kid, Baffert said. He looked him in the eye, exam-ined him from close range, tried to feel what it was like to be in the presence of an ani-mal of that accomplishment.On Sunday morning after the Belmont Stakes, Mott came to Baffert's barn, and asked if he could spend a few moments with American Pharoah.I always thought if I ever had a really good horse like that, I'd want to share him with people, Baffert said. I know how I felt, here I was a horse trainer and I wanted to see. Bill came over today to see him, and to look at him, and pet him. He just really, we really work hard and we love these animals and when we see something special

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you want to really get up close and personal and look at him. It's pretty cool to share a horse like that.Now, Baffert knows, he'll have to share him with the horse racing world. He shared him with reporters the morning after the Belmont. He shared him with NBC's Today show. American Pharoah stood calmly between Baffert and jockey Victor Espinoza and only occasionally nudged one of them during a national television interview.Baffert shook his head talking about the fans, and their reaction to the colt.Yesterday, I wasn't prepared for that when that horse won. And after he won, I was still numb like, Jill and I were just, like, it happened, Baffert said. The roar, the roar was insane. It was just something that I'll always remember, the roar of the crowd, and they kept yelling, way past the wire. I thought, that's the happiest I ever made anybody in my life. So it was pretty nice.You know it's all positive. I was saying it was the first time I've ever come to New York and didn't get one heckler. Not one. And Bode was waiting, he was prepared. We got a few hecklers at the Preakness. Usually I get, Not today, Bob,' or something, or a boo. Nothing. There was a small group I talked about, a small group of Jamai-cans who hang around the paddock. Used to be about 20 of them, now there's only 4 or 5 of them left, from the early days. So I was coming out and they looked at me and I said, Boys what do you think?' And they were Today's the day! It was good. . . . This has been the most positive run of my life.It's also been a family time. Bafferts wife, Jill, and all of his children from two mar-riages were at the Belmont. They family went out to a quiet dinner after winning the Belmont, with Baffert's brother and sister and a few others.Soon, it will be back to regular work. And horse racing will return to its regular busi-ness but with a Triple Crown winner. What it will mean for the sport, Baffert doesn't know. He think's it'll mean good things for as long as American Pharoah is able to run.I feel really good about the sport right now, Baffert said. It amazed when when I walked down that chute, and I thought, This is the greatest sport in America.' The horses love to run. They want to run. It's what they're bred for. And to share them with everybody else, to be here in New York, and the fans here kept coming back for more

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after all the years we went through, and what happened last year and everything else. It's just been the best feeling in the world.Baffert said he would not take American Pharoah out of training. He suspects the colt could run three more races, with the Breeders Cup Classic at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., being the last if all goes well.We'll make sure that he's hitting on all cylinders, Baffert said. When I do run him, it's very important for him to be at his best when I run him back.For now, Baffert says he'll keep trying to take it all in. After all he's been through, the Triple Crown near misses, the loss of his parents, his heart attack in 2012, he said he's more appreciative, and that he was more ready to win a Triple Crown now than he was 17 or 18 years ago. He just had to find the right horse, and maybe the right mindset.For some reason I still think it's a spiritual thing, Baffert said. I feel like my parents had something to do with it. That's why this has been so special to me. It's turned me into a big softy crybaby at times. . . . I'm just very grateful to everyone. And I'm really blessed to have gotten this horse. In the end, you only win it if you have a really tal-ented, special horse. And there's no excuses. Either they do it or they can't do it.After 37 years, Baffert is glad he's the guy who ran across one that could, and that he'll get the chance to share him for a little while longer.

CHAPTER 6

THE OWNER & BREEDER

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If youre looking for regular people, the owners boxes at race tracks are not a good place to start. Long called the Sport of Kings, this is a place accustomed to old money and even older traditions.

AHMED ZAYAT

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Ahmed Zayat, the owner of American Pharoah, doesnt quite fit the mold. He found out what anyone who enters the upper reaches of public life knows life will become an open book before youre through.The good news for Zayat is that his Triple Crown chapter came to a happy ending.The 52-year-old native of Cairo, Egypt, grew up in a family that was well off. His fa-ther, Alaa al-Zayat, was a doctor, professor of medicine and personal physician to Egyptian president and prime minister Anwar Sadat. His grandfather, Ahmed Hasan al-Zayyat, was a man of letters, founded an influential literary magazine and taught at universities in Cairo and Baghdad.After studying in the U.S., he returned to Egypt and led an investment group that pur-chased what had been a government owned beverage company. He modernized it, de-privatized it and eventually sold it, seven years later, for three times what was paid, $280 million, to Heineken International.In 2005, he began to buy racehorses in the U.S. And when Zayat got in, he got in big. In 2008, he was the nations leading owner. In 2010, he filed for bankruptcy protection in a dispute with a bank that claimed he had defaulted on $34 million in loans. He claimed predatory lending practices, and the two parties eventually settled and he paid his creditors. The industry, from racetracks to trainers, came to his defense.But not everyone did during American Pharoahs Triple Crown run. Trainers and ven-dors here and there said they grew tired of Zayats habit of paying obligations slowly, or of his hyper and emotional personality altogether. Hes long been known as an ag-gressive bettor on races. He was criticized for claims that he attended Harvard Univer-sity when he did not. And he was hit with a lawsuit from a felon in Florida who claimed he didnt pay gambling debts. The suit was dismissed the week of the Bel-mont, and the mans attorney turned around and sued Zayat for libel for disparaging things he said in response to the suit.Trainer Bob Baffert, on the other hand, said the sport has benefitted from his passion, and that he knows Zayat to be, yes, emotional, but also supportive and a great fam-ily man.The gambling world can be a little bit, you know, I wont say seedy, but its such a beautiful moment and that somebody would go out of their way just to tear the man

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down . . . I havent talked to him about it, but I know its one of those things where . . . its basically jealousy, Baffert said. Theyre trying to take away from the mans pas-sion, happiness, and its not fair to do something like that because its hard to raise a horse, to go through all this, and hes been great with everybody. But its a shame that every business theres always a couple of bad apples trying to stir something up thats really not there. Its too bad its happened.Zayat did bring energy to American Pharoahs Triple Crown chase, and he uttered probably the most succinct summation of the sports need and desire to see a Triple Crown winner.A sport without a star is not a sport, Zayat said after his colt won the Preakness. And now he has provided a star.It didnt come without obstacles or setbacks.He was no stranger to the Kentucky Derby. He came close with good colts, several times with perhaps the best colt. In 2009, his Pioneerof the Nile had the lead in the stretch, but 50-1 shot Mine That Bird scooted in along the rail to win. In 2011, Nehro grabbed the lead in the stretch but was outrun late by Animal Kingdom. In 2012, his Bodemeister went off as a 4-1 favorite but was beaten by 15-1 Ill Have Another.And perhaps most painful, in 2011 he had the likely Derby favorite in Eskendereya, but the Todd Pletcher-trained colt suffered a career-ending injury before the race.Zayat has endured his share of Derby heartache. But he said it doesnt color his en-thusiasm for the race.Thankfully, theres always another Derby, he said.The hardest thing for a guy like Zayat is that horse racing forces you to accept defeat. He has returned to business, and is the majority stakeholder in the largest glass manufacturer in the Middle East, but he says the lessons he learned in thoroughbred racing have been important.The biggest orientation, by nature Im a very competitive person, but as you know in this game, if youre winning at a 25 percent clip, youre wow, he said. So 75 percent of the time youre going to be beaten and youre supposed to like it. So the first orien-tation is getting adjusted to being competitive and yet needing to turn the page and

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move on. Secondly is the unbelievable hard work and discipline and passion from the groom to the trainer have.Zayat has thoroughbreds spread among various trainers. His son, Justin, said the family wants to be good for the sport, to give many trainers opportunities.Zayat brought three contenders to the Kentucky Derby. American Pharoah, Mr. Z (who he eventually sold to Calumet Farm) and El Kabeir.But even before any of them ran in the Derby, Zayat had a favorite.I cant lie, he said. American Pharaoh is a home bred. My first horse I ever bred was a Grade I winner, Pioneerof the Nile out of a dam thats named after my daugh-ter. So sentimentally, I like him more.Zayat is no newcomer, but he approaches the sport with a newcomers passion, but viewed his Triple Crown chances with an immigrants hope. He was grateful for the opportunity. He refused to listen to those who were calling his colt a super horse be-fore he had done something to earn that label. He couldve gone anywhere in the world, for his education. He has a quick answer when asked why he came to the U.S.The freedom, he said. Theres opportunity to be anything. I really believe that. I went to a British school called Victoria College growing up, but there is a class sys-tem. Here, anyone can be anything. . . . Its the greatest nation in the world.Grousing about owners is nothing new in the Triple Crown game. Louis Wolfson, owner of the last Triple Crown winner, Affirmed in 1978, had done time in prison for white collar crime.But Zayat appears to come to the game with a genuine hope to improve it. His pledge to continue to race American Pharoah until the end of his three-year-old season is a gift to the sport.Its about the fans, Zayat said. We owe it to the sport to do the right thing. Money plays an important factor in this game; Ive already sold his breeding rights. It is my genuine desire, as someone who loves horses, as a fan, to race him as long as I pos-sibly could. . . . Were not thinking about value or money or anything like that. When the horse is ready, were not going to be scared about running him, to lose or not lose. Saying that, its all about the fans, and this belongs to history. Im personally

thinking, taking this responsibility very seriously, and that we will be worthy. With this horse we owe it to the sport to continue properly, and as often as we possibly can. This is a pledge to my family, the industry, and racing and we take it really seri-ously.

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CHAPTER 7

THE JOCKEY

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Long before he became America's jockey of the moment and the man who rode the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, Victor Espinoza drove a bus.Wait a minute. Back up. It wasn't just a bus. Espinoza, the jockey for American Pha-roah, drove a bus in Mexico City, long rated one of the most dangerous cities in the

VICTOR ESPINOZA

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world for motorists. The World Health Organization lists traffic accidents as the No. 1 killer in Mexico. In Mexico City a motorist is killed or injured every hour.Los Angeles Times writer Richard Faussett described Mexico City traffic as, "a seem-ingly infinite maze of daredevils and incompetents, of axle-bending potholes and curb-hugging taco stands, of signless seven-way intersections and baffling multidirec-tional traffic circles, of tamale vendors on tricycles and cops hungry for bribe money."Into that chaos drove young Victor Espinoza, only 14 years old, after getting the job with an ID from one of his older brothers. It beat working on the family's dairy farm in Hidalgo, Mexico. And it helped him pay for jockey school.And this is where jockey school has led -- to the highest rung on the thoroughbred rac-ing ladder. In the two weeks after riding American Pharoah to the Triple Crown, Espi-noza appeared on the Today show and on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." He was a presenter for the CMT Music Awards in Nashville and has done interviews with Ger-aldo Rivera and Rolling Stone Magazine. He threw out the first pitch for games in Yan-kee Stadium and the New York Mets' Citi Field, and was introduced at an Anaheim An-gels game.It's a staggering ascent, though not necessarily a quick one. At 16 he came to Califor-nia and started working as an exercise rider. All he had he could carry in a single suit-case. He lived in tack rooms. He spoke not a word of English. To learn, he wouldn't let himself watch any Spanish-language television programs or listen to his native tongue on the radio. He was lonely, but he was determined.Today, Espinoza is 43. And he drives a Lamborghini, and the Triple Crown winner."I am the luckiest Mexican on earth," he said after winning the Kentucky Derby. But in seriousness, he acknowledges, "I am so blessed. It was a hard life for a while. . . . This now, this is great."Espinoza gets on American Pharoah only on race days. Fellow jockey Martin Garcia is the horse's exercise rider, is on his back from day to day, knows the colt inside and out. When Espinoza gets on, for American Pharoah, that means it's time to go to work.As the Triple Crown races unfolded, there was less actual work for Espinoza to do, though he made some crucial decisions that paid off.In the Kentucky Derby, Espinoza had to lay into his horse more than he ever had. He had rated him just off the leaders, but American Pharoah didn't like it. Then he asked

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him to go, and for the only time since Espinoza has ridden him, American Pharoah didn't respond right away. He was a bit sluggish. Espinoza went to the whip, and the colt came running, five-wide, past his rivals, eventually holding on for a win of one length, the shortest margin of victory in his career.Later, trainer Bob Baffert would say it was a mistake in strategy. The horse didn't like being told to wait. He just wanted to be turned loose.After the race, Espinoza was criticized for whipping American Pharoah 32 times dur-ing his stretch run. After he won the Preakness Stakes by seven lengths, Espinoza, who took the colt wire to wire in a thunderstorm, held up his riding crop for the crowd to see, as if to emphasize, "I didn't need it."In the Belmont, after American Pharoah started a step slow, Espinoza again took him to the lead, and never looked back. He became the first Latino to win a Triple Crown."Its like youre driving fast cars comparing to slow ones," Espinoza said of American Pharoah. "Just a special horse since the first time I rode him. I rode him the first time not even knowing who is American Pharoah, and when I rode him, I sent him out of the gate and it was just unbelievable. The only thing I could say is just, wow. After the ride, its just, wow. I didnt want to jinx myself but I thought, 'I have a Kentucky Derby winner.' Who knows whats going to happen? The Triple Crown, its just amaz-ing. That was the best."Espinoza has won better than 3,000 races, ridden for some of the top trainers and has been in the top 10 in earnings nationally six times since 2000, though he hadn't done it since 2008 before breaking through again in 2014, during California Chrome's run at the Triple Crown.He also has embraced a cause. After winning the Triple Crown, he announced that he would give his entire share of the purse, about $90,000, to the City of Hope Cancer Research Hospital in Duarte, Calif. For years he sent checks there anonymously. But California Chrome owner Steve Coburn blew his cover after winning the Derby in 2014."One day I went to visit some kids in the hospital who had cancer and it was heart-breaking," Espinoza said. "I broke down and cried seeing all these young kids who cant have the life we have. It changed my life seeing 6- and 8- and 10-year-olds sick with cancer like that. I just hope with the money I earn can make a difference in at least one of those kids' lives.

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It's a long way from driving a bus in Mexico City. And Espinoza appreciates it."It's crazy," he said. "You can never predict the future. When I came here I didn't even speak English. Now I'm talking about winning the Triple Crown? It is too amazing to believe."

S E C T I O N 4

COVERING A TRIPLE CROWNFans had waited nearly four decades to see a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed

last did it in 1978 -- and media members had waited a long time to cover one, through one near miss after another, through Real Quiet losing by a nose, through heavy favorites beaten by jockey error, tough competition or even just fate. When

American Pharoah won the Triple Crown, it not only made for some compelling writ-ing, but it left even veteran reporters looking around to take in the scene, rare as it

has become, and attempting to express what it was like to be there.

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TRIPLE CROWN MEMORIES

CHAPTER 8

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I've had a lot of Kentucky Derby moments. Back at the barns when they call the horses for the Derby. Walking across the track with the Derby horses to the wall of humanity in the stands. Hearing riders up in the paddock.

DERBY DAY

MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME

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I had another such moment just before American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby. Or maybe, more than a Kentucky Derby moment, it was just a Kentucky moment. It came courtesy of Churchill Downs public relations director Darren Rogers, who passed through the press room and invited some of us to watch the race from the turf course across from the grandstand, next to the winner's circle.As we got ready to walk across the main track to get there, he said, When the band plays, My Old Kentucky Home,' they'll sing right to you.Who will sing? I thought. Who's singing?Then the University of Louisville band struck up the opening notes of Stephen Fos-ter's song, and I knew who Rogers was talking about.Everyone. Everyone sang. A wall of words. The old grandstand seemed to amplify the voices from the largest crowd ever to watch the race, 170,513.I used to talk to an old friend, Cliff Guilliams, about what in Churchill Downs is left that was there in the old days. There isn't much. The old spires, and even they are dwarfed by luxury suites on both sides.But this has always been there. These voices. This buzz.The Kentucky Derby draws a crowd from around the nation. But in these minutes, they're all Kentuckians. I suspect even Wildcat and Cardinal fans were in full voice.After the race, I was moved by the gesture of a race official to give a rose to a group of honor guard veterans wearing Purple Heart hats. A World War II veteran, Charles Wilson, in one of his original uniforms, medals abounding, held a rose and started to head on back to the other side of the track when a Kentucky State Trooper stopped him to shake his hand. Then another. Then he made his way down a line of maybe 20 officers, speaking with each of them.Churchill Downs deserves some credit not just for giving a group of journalists a new perspective on the old race, but for responding to last year's stinging criticisms from California Chrome's owners not just with a defensive statement, but with action.Churchill drew rave reviews from owners for its hospitality Derby weekend, most nota-bly from the owner of the winner, Ahmed Zayat, who said, I want to say something in front of all of you here, because we should commend people when they do things well. In the past there has been a lot of criticism about Churchill. As a person who has

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been coming here and had more than one Derby runner, I have seen a 180 percent change in all attitudes. And the whole organization from A to Z, it's something that I would like personally to thank them for their hospitality for what they have done for all owners and horsemen.It was, without question, something to see.

CHAPTER 9

A STORMY PREAKNESS

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It was about the time every year that I'm ready to retire from writing about horse rac-ing. The Preakness Stakes was a half-hour away. For a second straight year I had no seat in the Preakness press box. I'd been wandering around the infield

GREATNESS IN THE SLOP

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news conference area killing time before the race, when the skies began to darken. The radar looked ominous. WDRB Sports John Lewis and I had escaped the grand-stand where the grumbling by patrons (and rightfully so) was beginning to turn to an-ger that plumbing issues had shut down most restrooms including those in the press box, by the way. It's the second time I've been at a Triple Crown race when the grandstand plumbing failed. It also happened at the Belmont a few years back.So my plan was to go to the infield tent where they hold the post-race news confer-ence, then hope to find a TV somewhere on which to watch the race, and a seat where I could type on my laptop. (Hat tip to WAVE's Kent Taylor, by the way, who found a tent where they were dishing out free crab cakes. One of the highlights of the day.)Then the storm came. The radar predicted a direct hit at race time. And if you were betting on the radar, you cashed in. The metal beams of the media tent began to shake. Flaps blew open, and then the rains came.Baltimore police began to file into the tent. Then a bunch of white-clad Navy midship-men. Jeannine Edwards of ESPN was standing beside me on a chair taking pictures. I took some live video for Periscope.It's at this point that I feel a little like Marlin Perkins on the old Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom TV shows. Marlin would always be a safe distance from the wildlife, while Jim Fowler would be observing or dealing with it from close range.We used to make fun of Marlin saying things like, While Jim wrestles with the mother wildebeast, I monitor the air conditioner in the helicopter to make sure it remains in working condition.While I sat in the tent wondering what had come of my life, John Lewis got to the rail near the finish line to try to shoot the race, which now was proceeding during a mon-soon, even as the Pimlico infield had been evacuated.John got the best shots he could get. He got a nice shot of Victor Espinoza pouring water out of his riding boot. I caught the race on the track loudspeakers, via radio, and finally, through watching the replay three or four times.There's always plenty of time after the race. NBC takes 20 minutes with the winners, before they bring them to talk to the media.

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And in this case, the winners were the only ones who mattered. None of the other seven really got to run his race in this one. This story was all Bob Baffert, all Ameri-can Pharoah, Espinoza, and the Zayat family who owns him.And it was the weather. This freakish storm that came for the race, then went as quickly as it came. Given American Pharoah's name plays on the word pharaoh, (I'll have to go to therapy to begin spelling the word correctly again after all this), the no-tion of plagues immediately came to mind. All those years of Bible school -- you can't escape them. So I had my lead. And Baffert, Ahmed Zayat and the others were elo-quent enough to carry my story along.So a day that otherwise was a wash wound up with a memorable story, and that's all as a writer that you really work for.I'll confess, sometimes, given the web response to the stories, covering horse racing seems like an act of charity. The readership just isn't there on a day-to-day basis. I'd have done better at the NBA combine or something.But horse racing does still have the ability to create memorable moments, and that happened during a rainy two minutes in Baltimore. And when a Triple Crown comes into play, or when the Kentucky Derby is run, people do pay attention, especially in these parts.John and I taped our TV segments, and an internet-only discussion about the experi-ence of covering the race, and made our way back to the grandstand. John went to the auxiliary press box which he had entirely to himself. I found a seat someone in the press box had vacated and worked there.What do I make of American Pharoah? He's really good. He rolled through that slop like he had an outboard motor on him. Victor Espinoza, who went to the whip 32 times in the Kentucky Derby and took some heat for it, only showed him the whip on Saturday. He hit him a couple of small pops, but that was it. He waved it after the race, as if to say, See? I didn't need this.It's 12:30 a.m. The wake-up call for the flight back comes at 5:30.I don't know how much anyone cares about the process of all this. It isn't always pretty, or according to plan. Usually we're improvising and just trying to make things work. The Belmont will be harder for American Pharoah. And it is a harder event to cover. But we will be there in New York.

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Only two local TV stations in the nation make the commitment to cover the Triple Crown series all the way through. Both are from Louisville.It's good to work for one of them. And I guess I have some horse racing still to cover.

CHAPTER 10

A BELMONT TO REMEMBER

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One night later, I'm sitting in North Carolina, trying to process everything that hap-pened in the past 24 hours at Belmont Park. For those of us who have covered this sport for a very long time, and even some who haven't, clearly it seemed like more than a sports event.

THE NIGHT AFTER

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I'm not really sure why. But I'll try to tell you what it was like for me to cover the first Triple Crown in 37 years.My perspective is going to be a bit different, and split into two parts, the first of which is the nuts and bolts of covering the event, and the second the spectacle itself. Some-times I feel like I cover these things from the periphery, which is not the best place to be. I began the day in the auxiliary press box at Belmont Park, a place reserved mainly for TV reporters, but some writers, too. It's on the opposite end of the track from the paddock, and the chute that leads out to the track. It's on the other end of the track from the room where press conferences will be held, and from access to the barn area.It doesn't have its own, dedicated WiFi configuration, which means it doesn't have WiFi, once 90,000 fans jam into the place. So we used hotspots and managed.That's the best word for covering an event like this. You manage it. And you have to make decisions.Seating at the post-race news conference is reserved for those journalists issued red arm-bands. I wasn't issued one. That meant I could watch standing against the wall from the sides of the room, which was fine. But I didn't want to get locked out of the room.I thought we were going to see a Triple Crown. So I wanted to be around when Bob Baffert, Ahmed Zayat, Victor Espinoza and others came in. I decided I would watch the race from the interview room, below the track, in a basement, next to the jockeys' locker room. I could still hear the crowd roaring outside. We had television, which is where you get the best view of the race. But it's not the best experience of the race.The biggest mistake I made was in not going back to the barns to walk over with Baf-fert and American Pharoah before. I calculated that I could get enough information from Baffert talking about the walk-over that it would make up for not being there. But being there is always better. And I worried that if I stayed trackside without the right credential for post-race coverage, I'd get shut out of the interview room, and have to go scrambling to the upstairs (main) press box, where I didn't have a seat. I didn't have a pass for the paddock, anyway. In the end, my best bet was to stay where I was.So I watched on TV. And it was fine. It allowed me to keep posting during the race (be-cause I had WiFi from the main press box). I just didn't get some first-hand visuals.

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But sometimes, in this job, it's not about making memories for yourself. It's about figur-ing out how best to put yourself in position to write the story.Afterward, the scene in the media room was bizarre. You had journalists filing in to sit down. Others of us were against the wall. And dozens, without proper credentials, were on the outside. They were loud. And angry. Every time the door opened they roared. Sometimes, it was difficult to hear the questions being answered.But the crucial time for me came once the press conference was over. There wasn't much time. WDRB Sports Director Tom Lane was running upstairs to set up a spot for us to shoot stand-ups, which he had to send back to the station quickly for the 10 p.m. newscast. But in the few minutes until he was ready, I got to hang out with a handful of reporters with Baffert, who answered questions, and spoke a little more candidly, and told a few more stories, and was in general more relaxed. Those quotes made up the bulk of my Belmont game column.Back up in the paddock, as the crowd emptied, Tom and I shot our stand-up pieces. It was about 8:30. We scrambled back to the auxiliary press box, where he began to edit video, sound bites, and our words, into coherent pieces for the TV news, while I started pounding out a story that would be my main race column, and which needed to be finished by 9:15 to satisfy a newspaper deadline for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade.We did this while the Goo Goo Dolls post-race live concert was blasting into the auxil-iary press box. But we finished. I pounded out not just the game column, but a quick piece about American Pharoah returning to Kentucky. Then we headed down for our shuttle bus, to go home.That's the journalism side of this discussion. It isn't textbook, but it's how you operate when you are a writer for a local television station. There aren't many of those. I sus-pect there will be more in the future.But it's the other side that people are more interested in. What was it like to be there.I can tell you, that even from under the grandstand, the ovation for that horse was the longest sustained ovation I've ever heard. Longer than for an NCAA championship team. Longer than anything. It kept going, for the length of Belmont's massive grand-stand. Baffert mentioned it the next morning.Joe Drape, in The New York Times, called it a roar from deep in their souls.

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Wish I'd written that. It was a fitting description. This wasn't a team winning a champi-onship. This was an emotional reaction. It was people crying. It was mass satisfac-tion. You can experience such things at the Super Bowl, or international soccer matches, but in the end, one side leaves disappointed. At Belmont Park on Saturday, nobody left disappointed. They were all on the same team. They'd all bought their $2 win tickets on American Pharaoh and were taking them home to frame, to keep, to In-stagram, to save. For once, they didn't wind up on the Belmont Clubhouse floor.Fans of horse racing cling a little harder to their sport, because they can feel it slip-ping away, I think.And because there was real reason to wonder if any horse ever would accomplish the Triple Crown task again.I looked around the room and saw so many writers I admire, like Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports or Tim Layden of Sports Illustrated, Jennie Rees of The Courier-Journal was upstairs, Drape, people I saw at every Triple Crown stop, because they're always at every Triple Crown stop, and they were among some of the most moved by the scene, like I was, because they knew the difficulty of the task up close.Forde came on our webcast with me a week ago and said he didn't think there would be a Triple Crown winner. Rees didn't pick American Pharoah to win. Many others who are among the most knowledgable took a pass. It was no doubt the smart pick.But American Pharoah's victory was a victory for belief. I think that was where the power in the experience came from.Whenever sports move us in big ways, you don't have to dig very deep to realize they are touching parts of us that are not about sports at all.We see that a great thing that hasn't been accomplished in nearly 40 years is still pos-sible, in our time, and we celebrate it.That's as good a reason to cheer as any.The fun part of these events, for me, is to see how the best sports writers in the coun-try approach what they've seen, and get it onto paper (or the screens of laptops and smart phones). I watched Forde on three different replays counting to himself, then read his Yahoo! column and realize he was counting the steps American Pharoah took in the race. I saw Layden with his head down while the press room was bedlam, suddenly having a far more important story than he'd had an hour earlier.

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I took a very considered approach when writing about the race. One step at a time. Begin with the opening of the gate, and take it from there. Let it unfold, but give it some pace. Reach back after establishing the crescendo moment, and return to the barn with Baffert. Use few quotes, only the ones with power. Let the scene talk. Don't worry about writing dramatically. There's drama in reality.And I've had a definite hierarchy for writing about this event first it's about the horse (and to a secondary degree, his place in the sport), then his connections, then the fans, then the sport and his impact on it, if any.Others took it the other way around. The immediate question is, What will this do for horse racing? I haven't even gotten around to that one yet.We waited 37 years for a Triple Crown, why rush through it? Let's take the Baffert ap-proach, enjoy it, appreciate it, respect it. There will be time to get to the other stuff.I realized, leaving the track, I hadn't picked up any souvenirs. I had a program. I didn't place any bets. I had my credential around my neck. As I've gotten older, I've grown less attached to such things. The memory is enough. I'll try to hang onto that as long as I can. And the words. What you write, that you were there to write them, that you got to write them, that's enough.I was there the day American Pharoah got off the van at Churchill before the Ken-tucky Derby, and I was there when he walked back onto the van as Triple Crown champion. And I was at every race in between.Horse racing is not an easy thing to cover. There are great stories, but they are not easy to get at. I've always said, if you can cover horse racing, you can cover about anything.But I'm glad this colt carried me kicking and screaming through a Triple Crown chase. I think everyone who covered it was glad, too.

S E C T I O N 5

CHURCHILL DOWNSBeyond the Kentucky Derby, there were three significant arrival and departure dates for American Pharoah at the iconic Louisville, Ky., facility. The day he arrived. The day he was honored as Triple Crown champion -- one month to the day after he ar-

rived at Churchill. And the day he departed. They are all worth a second look, which follows in the pages here.

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BENEATH THE SPIRES

CHAPTER 11

THE ARRIVAL

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American Pharaoh has arrived in the Churchill Downs stable area. The question that greets him: Can he be King of Kentucky?Another might well be, is he King of his own stable?

APRIL 23, 2015

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The two-year-old champion faces some stiff competition in what might prove one of the most talented Kentucky Derby fields in years on the first Saturday in May led by his unbeaten stablemate Dortmund. Both are trained by Bob Baffert, who is not new to this situation having brought Point Given and Congaree to the Derby in 2001.But this pair may be better than those. More than one turf writer has invoked the names of Citation and Coaltown, the famed Ben Jones-trained duo that finished 1-2 in the 1948 Derby. Perhaps it's best to wait on those comparisons.Still, whether American Pharoah or Dortmund is favored in the Derby remains very much up in the air, and may hinge on which handles the Churchill Downs surface bet-ter in training.This much is sure it's hard to make an argument against either one.American Pharoah has looked to be at another level and hasn't been asked for his best yet. He certainly looked comfortable as he stepped from the van in front of Baf-fert's Barn No. 33 at Churchill Downs on Monday afternoon, having flown in from Oak-lawn Park, where he demolished the field by eight lengths in winning last weekend's Arkansas Derby under a hand ride from jockey Victor Espinoza (rider of Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome a year ago).American Pharaoh has won his last four starts against stakes competition by 22 1/4 lengths.The bay son of Pioneerof the Nile, owned by Ahmed Zayat, had to come from off the pace for the first time in the Arkansas Derby, but it didn't matter.Stepping out of the van with Baffert's assistant trainer, Jim Barnes, while cameras clicked away, American Pharoah stopped and posed, then did it again calmly before being bathed.The horse looked like he traveled very well - he's a good traveler," Barnes said. "The reason why we came here so early is that we were already halfway here. You don't want to go back to California and then come back to Churchill."Easy going and even-tempered, American Pharoah now has to answer the question of how he'll respond when he steps up to the highest-class runners of his age at Chur-chill Downs. And there will be questions over how he handles the track.

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Some will say he hasn't been tested. Others, like Zayat Stables racing manager Justin Zayat, say it's not that he's been untested, it's just that he's been dominant. Zayat said that before the Arkansas Derby.I mean that's a concern to anyone that your horse has never been battle-tested, Zayat said. But I think that's more of a credit to the horse himself. You know, he's a naturally brilliant, brilliant horse. If you watch his works, he just does everything so ef-fortlessly. So I think that's honestly the reason that he's never been challenged. . . . I think he's got the talent to do it, and if I'm worried about seasoning with Bob Baffert then I'm in the wrong hands. You know, I'm in the hands of the guy who has won the Kentucky Derby three times. He knows how to do it, so there's no concerns about him being seasoned up for me. I just think this horse honestly is just a spectacular, spectacular horse, and that's the reason why he's honestly been unchallenged in all his races.He'll have only one significant work before the Derby.We're at Churchill and he'll just take it easy," Barnes said. "He doesn't need to do much. He'll breeze one time before the race."Owned by Kaleem Shah, Dortmund is a bigger colt, 17 hands, and comes into the Derby unbeaten in six starts, just the third unbeaten Derby starter since his sire, Big Brown, won the Derby in 2008. (Unbeaten starters since: Gemologist finished 16th in 2012 and Verrazano ran 13th in 2013.)Dortmund has the advantage of a win at Churchill Downs, in an allowance race last November. Two weeks ago with Martin Garcia aboard, Dortmund won the Santa Anita Derby 4 1/4 lengths ahead of One Lucky Dane another Baffert-trained Derby hope-ful.As happens with elite trainers from time to time, Baffert's feed tub runneth over.Now, you'll have to forgive folks in these parts if they're skeptical of anyone who has overwhelming talent and rolls in with an overwhelming favorite or favorites. You're talking about a town that just watched a University of Kentucky basketball program fall short of the big one.Baffert isn't unaware of that. He heard that John Calipari had his Wildcats watch video of Secretariat before they played in the Final Four. He quipped on Los Angeles radio that he was going to have his jockeys watch Wisconsin beat Kentucky in the na-tional semifinals.

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They're two different types of horses, Baffert said. Dortmund's just a big, long jump-ing animal, but Pharoah, he's a big long jumping horse. Martin works them both and it's really hard to separate them because they move differently. American Pharoah, he's brilliant. The way he moves he does it effortlessly. It's hard but they're nice, very well-mannered horses. They don't get hot and they they're just really quiet, gen-tle horses. You can walk up to them and Pharoah, he's just a really sweet horse; he's just really nice. Dortmund, he can get a little worked up. He's a big horse. I can't believe how fortunate I have these two, you know, the big guns, in my barn like that.Big guns and big expectations.

CHAPTER 12

THE CELEBRATION

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The big horse stepped out of his barn, and as has been the case every time he has done it since the first Saturday in May, there were dozens of cameras, phones, peo-ple. This is a story about the horse and those people.

JUNE 13, 2015

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After winning the Belmont Stakes, American Pharoah met the people for the first time since winning the Triple Crown. That day, he paraded before the grandstand at Bel-mont, abuzz with 90,000 people reveling in the history of the moment.But nobody revels in the history of horses like Kentucky. In no place in America could you have seen events unfold like they did a week later, under the Twin Spires of Chur-chill Downs, nearly 30,000 people decked out to meet the new King of horse racing.Back at the barn, his grooms, before getting the colt ready, hung his blanket over a sawhorse. It read, American Pharoah, Triple Crown Champion. People shifted to get into position to photograph it.They bathed the colt. Why is it that whenever the colt is bathed, the cameras go crazy? I suppose it is visual. They walked him toward the track, through lines of peo-ple on both sides of the backside. Next to Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Days, the backside isn't alive like this. People wanted to see.I walked with the group taking the champion onto the track toward the grandstand. He walked into the glare of a Louisville sunset, the horses from the previous race trotting back toward the barn. In the middle of the turn, he stopped, and some Triple Crown manure fell to the track.All right, someone said. Who is going to be the first to scoop that up and put it on eBay?Don't tempt me, said another.Everyone laughed. The procession continued.Farther into the turn, the sun's glare faded, and the crowds in the grandstand un-folded in front of him. Then the crowd recognized him coming, and began to stand, and to shout, and to cheer.For a horse, it's no doubt a confusing moment. You walk this way, generally, for one thing. To race. Crowds show up for one reason, to watch you run. Instead, he was be-ing led over and turned not up the tunnel to be saddled, but kept straight on the grand-stand, introduced as Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, to each section, as ovation followed ovation.Entering the paddock, a throng just as large, it seemed, as the one on the frontside was waiting. He passed a man wearing a pharaoh's headgear. Rows of fans pressed

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forward on every balcony. The paddock was full, with fans holding signs and shouting to the horse, as if he could understand.I've waited all my life to see you, one man said.Another, the man who trains him, said, He thinks he's in the fourth leg. Look at him. He's ready for the Grand Slam.In the paddock, they removed his blanket, but still, there was no saddle. They gave him a bit of water. Then he circled the paddock as the crowd cheered.At some point, if horses realize things, he seemed to realize that his job that evening was to pose for the crowd.I don't know, with his ears full of cotton, what he could hear. But after several passes around the paddock, they started having him stop. Each time, as if accustomed to the drill of the age, posing for selfies taken by others, he unfurled his muscular neck and stood tall, like a statue. Again, and again.After several turns around the paddock, some fans shouted at him to look their way. Without moving his body, he turned to look. Another time, he pressed his face low to-ward cameras.Some veteran horse racing photographers groused that the crowd was interfering with their job, and the crowd was. But this horse no longer belongs just to horse rac-ing. He belongs to everybody.The sixth race, a Grade 3 stakes for 3-year-old fillies, went off. No one noticed.A group stopped him in the middle of his walk. The mayor of Louisville reached out a hand to pet his nose. Someone shouted to the mayor, I came here all the way from Georgia. This is a great thing your city is doing!And the horse walked on. He left the paddock to pose with his human connections for a winner's circle picture with the engraved Triple Crown Trophy, 37 years old, and the Kentucky Derby trophy.Then, before his owner and trainer were presented with the hardware, his trainer fi-nally said, Okay, let's get him back.And he began the walk away from the crowd, back up the grandstand side, to the barn, the Louisville sunset at his back.

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I don't know what any of those humans said. I stayed with the horse.As he walked back up the track, Churchill Downs outriders, who have seen it all, many times, drew their horses still on the track, raised their phones, and took pictures of the champion as he was led past.One more time in midstretch, the colt was paused, turned to the crowd, and posed. In their booth, NBC commentators acknowledged him. A Hall of Fame jockey leaned over a rail and snapped a picture of him.Then the walk continued, back to the barn. A security guard yelled to some boys to stop tossing a football until the champion had passed.American Pharoah may have other great days in what is one of the great racing ca-reers of his generation, but none will be quite like this. The Breeders' Cup Classic will be at Keeneland, near the farm where he was foaled, and the farm where he will live as a stallion. But his life changed in this barn. He came here a promising colt. He'll leave as a racing legend.He will have a bond with this track, this barn. He may have other great days, great vic-tories, great celebrations. None will be so completely about him as this night at Chur-chill Downs.He was led around the corner and off the track, onto the backside.Then here was the barn, the shed row, the stall. And My Old Kentucky Home, good night.

CHAPTER 13

THE DEPARTURE

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American Pharoah has left the building. They didn't make an announcement in the Churchill Downs barn area when the Triple Crown winner boarded a van to head to the airport and his trip to Santa Anita Park, but they didn't have to.

JUNE 13, 2015

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The place feels different already, Churchill spokesman Darren Rogers observed just minutes after the van pulled away.

It was some kind of ride.

I was there when American Pharoah arrived on April 13, when we knew he might be the best horse at the track, but also questioned whether he was going to be the best in his own stable, with Dortmund arriving later.

There was no question on Thursday, or any other day since American Pharoah wrote himself into the horse racing history books with his 5 1/2-length victory in the Belmont Stakes 12 days ago.

Since his arrival back at Churchill the next afternoon, there have been crowds at his barn, already decorated with a sign proclaiming it the residence of the Triple Crown winner. There was a 30,000-fan celebration the week after he won the Belmont.

When it came time to leave, with the plane waiting and the van door open, American Pharoah wasn't quite ready. He got to the grassy area where the van had pulled up and wanted to look around, look at the TV cameras.

The champion stood outside the van and when assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes pulled on his lead, he pulled back. He wouldn't go. They had to get behind and give him a little nudge to get him going in the right direction.

It might've been the first nudge they'd had to give him since he was all-out to win the Kentucky Derby.

After he left, things were strangely quiet.

A bittersweet moment this morning, Rogers said. I watched them pull away, and you know, it's been a great ride since the middle of April here. I can't say enough about Bob Baffert's team that was here on hand, so accommodating to fellow horse-men, guests who were back there, something I've never seen before, especially with, obviously, a horse of his quality. The temperament that he has, it's made this ride memorable and it's going to be different around here without him. It already looked dif-ferent around the barn, not seeing the saw horses around there. Quiet morning, for the first time probably since the middle of April, at Barn 33. Hopefully we'll get to see him back here in the fall preparing for the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland.

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American Pharoah's next race has been the subject of no small amount of specula-tion. But his time at Churchill, in my memory, and Rogers said the same, is perhaps rivaled only by Zenyatta in terms of fan interest. She was stabled in a barn along Longfield Avenue, and when she was turned out to graze, people would line up out-side the fence to get a glimpse of her.

They streamed into the Churchill Downs stable area to get a look at American Pha-roah, until the crowds got a bit worrisome and Baffert decided to restrict access just a bit.

No matter how many people were around, American Pharoah seemed comfortable.

Horses of this quality usually have a little bit of an aggressiveness by nature, Rogers said. That competitive edge. But he's night and day. Baffert's described him as a baby and a beast, and that is absolutely what this horse is.

Training went on as usual at Churchill Downs. Life will get back to normal. But things are different, without question.

Don't get me going. I'll get the quiver-lip, Rogers said. It was great. I've worked in the industry for more than 20 years, but you have horsemen and racing fans, much like myself, who get up every morning, watching horses train, and you hope to see that next big star. And I don't know where you go from here. He's the horse. So, it was an incredible run. And hopefully it's not done.

S E C T I O N 6

CONCLUSIONWhere does he fit? The question of American Pharoahs future is one thing -- he will stand at Coolmores Ashford Stud just outside Lexington, Ky., after retirement. Hell

race until the end of his three-year-old season. Those races will help determine where he will rank in racing history. But for now, he already is in the most exclusive

group in the sport, and his place in the sports history is secure.

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A PLACE IN HISTORY

CHAPTER 14

THE PHAROAH'S PLACE

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On the day that American Pharoah became the first horse in 37 years to win the Tri-ple Crown, there was more Secretariat merchandise being sold, and bought, at Bel-mont Park than for the new champion.

WHERE HE RANKS IN RACING HISTORY

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There will only ever be one king at Belmont Park. His statue is in the paddock.American Pharoah ran the second-fastest Belmont of any Triple Crown winner, and sixth-fastest winning time ever. Secretariat would've finished 13 lengths in front of him.That's not me talking. That's the clock.But American Pharoah doesn't have to be Secretariat. No other horse has been.What he did have to do in the Belmont was prove he belonged with the 11 other greats whose names line the concourses and hallways at Belmont Park, or grace street signs in Lexington.And he did that, without question.Where does American Pharoah rank? How much racing he does from this point on, and how he fares, will go a long way toward answering that. His owner, Ahmed Zayat, says he hopes to race him until the end of 2015. That's Zayat's gift to the game.It's worth noting for those who are skeptical of American Pharoah's quality that he not only won the three Triple Crown races in five weeks, but he won four Grade I Stakes in eight weeks by a combined margin of 21 1/2 lengths.Among Triple Crown winners, his aggregate time for the three races ranks fourth of the 12 only Secretariat, Affirmed and Seattle Slew were faster.He belongs in the club.What he didn't have that Affirmed had was Alydar. He did not have a brilliant rival breathing down his neck at every stop.But what he did do was beat fresh horses at every stop. He was the only colt this year to run all three Triple Crown races. He beat 33 competitors in his three Triple Crown victories, including seven in the Belmont, which ties the most any Triple Crown winner has ever beaten.Only War Admiral and Omaha beat more competitors in the three races (34) than American Pharoah turned away. Assault faced the same number as American Pha-roah.

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Moreover, American Pharoah became the first Kentucky Derby winner to win the