American Pharoah’s influence continues a decade after his Triple Crown coup

His kind, intelligent eye, the one rivals barely got a look at, is as soft and welcoming as ever. His temperament, comparable to that of a jovial golden retriever, remains as gentle as it was the day after he made racing history and let a swarm of admirers lay hands on his bay frame – a frame that still bursts with the dapples it flaunted throughout his Hall of Fame career. 
 
Time has a way of smoothing over the edges of history, but it hasn’t altered the intangibles that made American Pharoah the one who ended the 37-year drought between Triple Crown winners with his 12-furlong victory lap around Belmont Park on June 6, 2015. As visitors to Ashford Stud attest when he emerges from the barn that has been his home since retiring to stallion duties in late 2015, the 12th horse to sweep the American classics remains both a physical specimen and generous ambassador still capable of bringing crowds to emotional peaks.
 
“We’ve had quite a few marriage proposals in front of American Pharoah,” laughed Adrian Mansergh Wallace from Coolmore America's nominations and sales division. “He’s at his happiest when people are looking at him and fawning over him and feeding him carrots. He’s very un-stallion like in many ways.
 
“He’s as quiet now as when he first retired here. He just loves people.”
 
In the 10 years since American Pharoah put his name in racing’s annals and launched the sport back into the mainstream with his gate-to-wire victory in the 2015 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes, the former Hall of Famer Bob Baffert trainee continues to inspire a level of sentiment as unique as his transcendent talent. While his ability itself produced all-time level results - nine wins from 11 starts, eight Grade 1 victories, a Breeders’ Cup Classic win and yes, triumphs in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont – what elevated American Pharoah in the hearts of pundits and novices alike is the way he ruthlessly handled his competition while tenderly welcoming all others in his presence. 
 
And if there was ever a microcosm for what made American Pharoah exceptional on the track and embraced by even the staunchest of hardboots, it was his 1 1/2-mile masterclass in the Belmont Stakes and the demeanor he showcased in the aftermath. 
 
By the time he arrived for his historic run in Elmont, NY, he already had a vice grip on his divisional foes in the form of a six-race win streak that featured an eight-length jaunt in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, a show of mettle in a one-length Kentucky Derby triumph, and a frontrunning, easy-as-he pleased seven-length canter in the Preakness. 
 
The Damocles of the 37-year drought that had piled up since Affirmed’s Triple Crown sweep in 1978 hung heavy in the air as Zayat Stables’ homebred headed to the Belmont gate under Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza with designs on busting through the most exclusive of velvet ropes. Yet, as soon as Baffert saw his protégé bound away from post 5 and settle into his trademark high-cruising ways on the lead, he knew he and the rest of the 90,000 in attendance needed to brace themselves to get hit with a reality some thought wouldn’t ever again materialize. 
 
“I think when he won the Arkansas Derby, he gave me goosebumps coming down the lane. Right there I said this is the one, this is the one who can get me the Triple Crown,” Baffert recalled. “When we led him up there for the Belmont, I just had a feeling, he’s going to get it done…he just had to get away from the gate. When he turned for home, I don’t think I was rooting or anything. It was more about history. The Triple Crown is about the horse.”
 
While American Pharoah raced down the backstretch of the 147th edition of the “Test of the Champion,” there were challengers in striking range – Materiality, himself a Grade 1 winner, sitting one length back in second with another Grade 1 winner in Frosted poised between horses in fifth. What told the story of what was to come, however, were the two ears pricked to the heavens atop the future Champion’s head, the sign of a happy runner toying with any would-be threats. 
 
As they came into the final furlong and Espinoza opened the reins, the only suspense that remained was what the final margin would be and how high the crowd’s decibel level would reach. It would go into the books as a 5 1/2-length coronation of a benevolent king.
 
And despite a virtual party breaking out as American Pharoah galloped past the stands, the 2021 Hall of Fame inductee didn’t turn a hair even as seemingly half the metropolitan area flanked him en route to the winner’s circle. 
 
“I was watching him, and I just kept saying to myself, ‘Oh my God, he’s going to win the Triple Crown,’” Baffert said. “Frosted made that little move at him, and I thought ‘Uh-oh,’ then his head came up and I just enjoyed watching it. The noise was just the loudest noise, it was the best sporting event I’ve ever been to in my life. Everyone was there to see him win.”
 
“As quiet as he was standing in the winner’s circle of the Belmont Stakes when it looked like all of New York was trying to get into that winner’s circle, it takes a very special horse to not only compete at that level as consistently as he did but to be as calm and take in every single occasion,” added Wallace. “To not boil over and run your best race over five weeks is pretty remarkable really.”
 
The morning after his Belmont Stakes triumph, American Pharoah again had the masses awestruck by the way he handled circumstances that would have caused most horses to come undone. In a remarkable display, Baffert invited the throngs of media to come up and pet the newly minted Triple Crown winner, demonstrating once more this was an equine star of uncommon magnitude. 
 
“He’s just got the greatest personality, he’s such a sweetheart,” Baffert said.
 
In the decade since his feats, the now 13-year-old Pioneerof the Nile bay has been on another high-level quest, namely the challenge of trying to reproduce himself in the breeding shed. He was the leading first-crop sire in 2019 and has produced more than 20 graded stakes winners with progeny earnings of over $64 million. This year’s Triple Crown series has fittingly offered up reminders of the bay runner’s aptitude in the Classics as he had a pair of Kentucky Derby starters in Japan-based Luxor Café and Grade 1-placed Publisher and a Preakness starter in Clever Again. 
 
“He’s a horse who has become a very consistent, wonderful sire not only in this country but around the world,” Wallace said. “This year he had two runners in the Kentucky Derby. He’s had 9 Grade 1 winners so far and the true mark of a really good stallion is if they can get 10-12 Grade 1 winners. It’s been a privilege and an honor to stand a horse like this, one we don’t take lightly.”
 
When he took time out the week of the Kentucky Derby to visit both American Pharoah and his fellow former trainee, 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, at Ashford Stud, Baffert let the nostalgia overtake him the same way his emotions did that evening in June some 10 years ago. 
 
The sweet demeanor of the bay stallion was present as always. His physical condition still top notch. 
 
And the more time marches on, the more it amplifies the unyielding nature of American Pharoah’s impact.
 
“I think it really brought racing back with him being on [the cover of] Sports Illustrated and everything,” Baffert said. “Everywhere I went people would say, ‘You don’t know me, but your horse made me feel so good watching him win that race.’
 
“[Dual classic winner] Silver Charm was always my favorite; he was my first Derby winner. But Pharoah will always be my favorite. I just feel blessed to have a horse like that in my lifetime.”