Signing off
Here’s the nitty gritty from today’s big race. Check back later for a full report from a day to remember at Belmont Park.
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Here’s the Triple Crown winner:
Owner Ahmed Zayat is emotional on the podium: “I’m so honored, privileged, humbled, excited. This is for you!”
Espinoza tells NBC: “I was so confident. He’s an amazing horse. I had the best feeling ever when he crossed the first turn.”
American Pharoah won by five and half lengths – that’s the third-biggest winning margin in Belmont Stakes history.
Victor Espinoza is happy:
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Six minutes on and the crowd noise here is still deafening. What a scene, one 37 years in the making.
Bob Baffert: “It wasn’t me, it was the horse.”
Unofficial order of finish
- American Pharoah
- Frosted
- Keen Ice
- Mubtaahij
American Pharoah’s splits:
- 3/4: 1:13.41
- Mile: 1:37.99
- 1-1/14: 2:02.33
- Final: 2:26.65
History! American Pharoah wins the Triple Crown!
American Pharoah wins! Leads from gate to wire! This crowd is going crazy!
American Pharoah down the homestretch!
American Pharoah halfway home and still in front.
American Pharoah slowing up a bit down he back stretch but still in front by 3/4 of a length.
American Pharoah in first coming around the first turn, then Materialist, then Keen Ice.
Great start for American Pharoah, out to the early lead.
American Pharoah is in the gate
The Triple Crown is on the table. Can he do it?
Zero minutes to post
They’re building up the crowd. Also, the Burger King king is literally three feet behind Bob Baffert. Weird.
Three minutes to post
We’re moments away from the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes. A mile and a half stands between American Pharoah, a 3-5 favorite, and history.
Outfit of the day (probably)
These I’m told were homemade. It’s an American Pharoah crowd.
Twelve minutes to post
One of Gotham’s great sports traditions: the playing of Sinatra’s New York, New York before the Belmont. Not much longer now!
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American Pharoah in the paddock
Thunderous roars of applause from the crowd of at least 100,000 here.
#AmericanPharoah displays his strong stride in the paddock for the #BelmontStakes. Immortality? #HRI #BelmontStakes pic.twitter.com/EcxBQXsxJv
— John Pricci (@johnpricci) June 6, 2015
Twenty minutes to post
Ever since Affirmed outlasted Alydar in the 1978 Belmont Stakes to capture the Triple Crown, 13 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness but fallen at the final hurdle.
- 2014: California Chrome, 4th, stumbled start, beaten 1 3/4 lengths (Tonalist)
- 2012: I’ll Have Another, scratched, injured; retired (Union Rags)
- 2008: Big Brown, pulled up, lone career defeat (Da’ Tara)
- 2004: Smarty Jones, 2nd, hard-used early, never ran again (Birdstone)
- 2003: Funny Cide, 3rd, keyed up; wet track (Empire Maker)
- 2002: War Emblem, 8th, stumbled badly start (Sarava)
- 1999: Charismatic, 3rd, finished on broken leg (Lemon Drop Kid)
- 1998: Real Quiet, 2nd, worst beat in history (Victory Gallop)
- 1997: Silver Charm, 2nd, never saw winner late (Touch Gold)
- 1989: Sunday Silence, 2nd, winner an absolute killer in NY (Easy Goer)
- 1987: Alysheba, 4th, no Lasix was his undoing (Bet Twice)
- 1981: Pleasant Colony, 3rd, came up flat (Summing)
- 1979: Spectacular Bid, 3rd, safety pin snafu? (Coastal)
Third time’s the charm for Victor Espinoza?
The jockey for American Pharoah is Victor Espinoza, the Mexico City native who this time last year was in an identical position – one win away from a Triple Crown – when he rode California Chrome to a fourth-place finish here. It marks the first time in history a jockey has entered the Belmont with a chance at sport’s most elusive prize in consecutive years.
“They’re two different horses,” Espinoza said on Wednesday. “Both have tremendous talent, but they’re different. American Pharoah has always been special. Since the first time Baffert put me on him, he was special.”
Espinoza also rode War Emblem in 2002, the Baffert-trained horse that won the Triple Crown’s first two legs but stumbled out of the gate at Belmont before rallying to finish eighth.
“I’ve come here twice and I’m feeling lucky this year,” Espinoza said. “Third time’s the charm.”
Today is the day! 🏇🏽👑🏆 #AmericanPharoah #TripleCrown
— Victor Espinoza (@EspinozasVictor) June 6, 2015
Only time will tell.
The Goo Goo Dolls are performing
Right now. Here’s the view from the press box. The song is Slide, which peaked at No8 on the US charts in 1998, the same year Bob Baffert’s Real Quiet came thisclose to winning the Triple Crown at Belmont, losing by a nose to Victory Gallop.
Scenes from the Grandstand
Our roving photographer Lauren Caulk offers up a series of shots from the general admission area of Belmont Park, where an electric atmosphere persists in advance of American Pharoah’s run at history.
Fifty-five minutes to post
Race 10 – the 114th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Knob Creek Manhattan – has just ended with Slumber winning ahead of Big Blue Kitten, Legendary and Finnegans Wake. That means the countdown to the Belmont Stakes is underway. We’re 55 minutes to the 6.50pm post time.
Hello and welcome to Belmont Park, where in just over an hour American Pharoah will attempt to become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to capture the Triple Crown. Though the NYRA have officially capped this year’s attendance at 90,000 after last year’s chaos, a six-figure crowd is expected to watch the Zayat Stables homebred make a run at what’s been called the rarest and most difficult achievement in all of sport: to win three of racing’s most prestigious events – the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont – run at varying lengths over a five-week span.
In more than 100 years, only 11 horses have done it: Sir Barton, Gallant Fox, Omaha, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Count Fleet, Assault, Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed. Can the three-year-old bay colt add his name to that storied roll of champions today?
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Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Daniel Ross on which other horses could spoil American Pharoah’s bid for the Triple Crown:
There are anomalies to every rule, and American Pharoah has all the classic hallmarks of an anomaly.
Seven horses and the stamina-sapping one-and-a-half miles around Belmont Park’s deep sandy trough stand between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner and a plinth of his own alongside the greats. Some of the competition he’s soundly beaten already. One he’s meeting for the first time. None, however, have shown the same work ethic as American Pharoah in recent weeks – he’s the only one in the field to have lined up at both Churchill Downs and Pimlico. Which begs the question: is a very good horse with tired legs better on the day than a good horse with fresh legs?
