I finally saw something I thought I'd never see. After 37 years, horse racing has another Triple Crown winner! We've had so many near-misses in recent years, that I was really starting to believe it would never happen again. Fortunately, I was wrong. We just needed that special horse. We needed American Pharoah.
There have been so many horses that went to the Belmont with a chance to end the Triple Crown drought, getting our collective hopes up only to fall short each time. From Silver Charm getting edged by Touch Gold in 1997 to Real Quiet losing to Victory Gallop by a nose a year later. Or Smarty Jones finishing second to 36-to-1 shot Birdstone in 2004 or I'll Have Another being scratched in 2012 or California Chrome's fourth-place finish last year, each Belmont had a different story.
It was 25 years between Triple Crown wins for Citation in 1948 and Secreteriat in 1973, who I think are the two greatest racehorses ever. Then there were three Triple Crowns in six years, including Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed (1978) back-to-back. Then Spectacular Bid raced for another in 1979. Little did anybody know that when Spectacular Bid lost the Belmont, it would be the start of what ended up becoming the longest drought in history.
No one could've guessed that from Spectacular Bid to California Chrome, there would be 13 failed attempts before we finally saw a Triple Crown winner. It looked more and more like it wasn't going to happen, for a variety of reasons. Obviously the horses are oblivious to all the attention that's suddenly around them, but the three weeks of constant media buzz can't go unnoticed by all the people involved. And the crowd at Belmont is always significantly larger when there's a Triple Crown on the line. (So are the TV ratings.) That massive crowd the horses DO notice. Just like all the flashes from people taking pictures can easily disrupt horses that are used to calm surroundings.
Then there's Belmont's distance. At a mile and a half, it's not just the longest Triple Crown race, it's the longest any of these horses have ever run. Period. In addition, the Derby/Preakness winner is racing for the third time in five weeks. Against competition that's likely much fresher.
Last year, California Chrome's owner, Steve Coburn, who was obviously speaking out of frustration, made some legitimate points while criticizing the entry system for the Belmont Stakes. After the Kentucky Derby, there's only one horse that has a chance to win the Triple Crown. That horse becomes the hunted. Even more so if it also wins the Preakness. As a result, the other owners take their best shot at the Belmont, which usually involves skipping the Preakness. Want proof? Until American Pharoah, it had been 10 years since a horse that had run in the Preakness won the Belmont. (In 2005, Afleet Alex also won both, but had finished third at the Derby, so there was no Triple Crown on the line.)
While Coburn came off as a sore loser, most experts didn't completely disagree with his general stance that there would be another Triple Crown winner in his lifetime, with that being the primary reason why they thought so. They actually discussed that at length on NBC during the prerace show. Everyone agreed that there was no need to change the system. To do so would diminish the achievement for the 11 horses that came before, as well as American Pharoah and any others that might come along in the future (now that we've seen it, we know it's not impossible).
In the immortal words of Jimmy Dugan, "It's supposed to be hard. It's the hard that makes it great." Winning the Triple Crown is one of the hardest things to do in sports. That's why it's only happened 12 times in the 96 years since the term was coined when Sir Barton won all three races in 1919. One of the things that makes it hard is that one horse has to take on all comers, each of which has one singular goal. American Pharoah's people were up for the challenge. They were looking forward to it. And, most importantly, their horse was ready for it.
Horse racing is likely never going to regain the place it once held in the American sporting landscape. There are a number of people who probably won't watch another race until next year's Kentucky Derby (Guilty!). But, for better or worse, people pay attention to the Triple Crown, especially when there's the chance we'll get to see one of the rarest achievements in all of sports. Now we've seen it.
So many times we've had that horse we thought would be the one to finally do it, only to be disappointed when it didn't happen. (Then quickly get over it.) This year, we weren't disappointed.
At the end of the Preakness, we all saw how much American Pharoah (it will be spelled wrong in the history books forever) had left in the tank and really believed this might be the year. And it wasn't just our optimistic hearts talking. Then when they started the stretch run at Belmont, we knew. This was the year. The wait was over. American Pharoah was running away with it. There would be no nail-biting finish. Just celebration. And a coronation. For a Pharoah that needed to be fitted for his Crown.
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