Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, added a fourth jewel to his crown when he won the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and racing’s first-ever Grand Slam title, at Keenland in Kentucky, on October 31st.
After claiming victory in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, the three-year-old colt, owned by Ahmed Zayat and expertly trained and ridden by Bob Baffert and Victor Espinoza respectively, became the first American Triple Crown winner since 1978.
He went into the highly-anticipated race the 3-5 favourite. Espinoza took him to the lead right off the hop and kept him there, taking the 1 ¼-mile race in a record time for the distance of 2:00.07.
Second in the seven-horse field was Effinex, and Honor Code was third. Racing fans were disappointed, early last week, to learn that the champion mare, Beholder, had been withdrawn from the race. Smooth Roller also dropped out.
With a total of $8,650,300 in winnings, American Pharoah will now retire as the fourth-leading North American earner of all time, behind Curlin, Cigar, and Skip Away.
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