American Pharoah: A Haskell to Remember

With excitement building for Sunday’s G1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey, it is only fitting to turn back the hands of time, and remember last year’s edition of the Jersey Shore’s famed race for three-year-olds, which featured none other than twelfth Triple Crown Winner, American Pharoah.

Exactly 362 days ago today, American Pharoah, the big, bay son of Pioneerof the Nile, owned by Zayat Stables and trained by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, took his place in gate number four, under jockey Victor Espinoza. Fresh off of a legendary, immortalizing Triple Crown campaign, American Pharoah went off as the heavy favorite, and moments later he would give what some consider to be the best performance of his career. 

Being the versatile horse that he was, American Pharoah was able to settle quietly behind early leader Competitive Edge, through opening fractions of :23.10, :46, and 1:09.30. On the far turn, with a playful prick of his ears, the Triple Crown winner accelerated, and within a brief moment, his bounding strides carried him past the leader, and forward in a both fluid and explosive, sweeping move so signature of the famed horse’s running-style.

By the time he reached the stretch, Espinoza found himself alone, roughly five lengths ahead of his closest rival. In an attempt to not exert his superstar colt any more than needed, he began to gear down American Pharoah, to what seemed to be no more than a leisurely gallop. Though a fast-closing Keen Ice, third in the G1 Belmont Stakes, came calling, he would prove to be no match for the champion he pursued.

An under-wraps American Pharoah crossed the finish line two-and-a-quarter lengths in front, in a final time of 1:47.95 for the 1 1/8 miles. In the now famous words of Larry Collmus, it was “A rousing return for a living legend.”

This year, it is the meeting of top three-year-old males Nyquist, Exaggerator, and Gun Runner that serves to unfold into a race worth remembering on its own. But, in 2015, it drew the likes of a horse we waited thirty-seven years for, and that horse of a lifetime, gave us a Haskell Invitational that will be talked about for as long as Horse Racing remains.