Baffert, Espinoza react to new Hall of Famer American Pharoah

The inevitability did not take away from the moment Wednesday for Bob Baffert. The announcement that 2015 Triple Crown champion  American Pharoah became the fourth horse he has trained to make the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame was still cause for celebration.

“He brought me to the top of the mountain,” Baffert told Horse Racing Nation in a Wednesday telephone conversation. “American Pharoah really brought racing to the forefront.”

The first horse to win the Triple Crown in 37 years, American Pharoah leads the 2021 Hall of Fame class that also includes trainers Todd Pletcher and Jack Fisher. The three of them will be formally inducted Aug. 6 in a ceremony at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

For two generations of racing fans who had never seen a Triple Crown swept in their lifetimes, American Pharoah became the bay-colored face of the sport. He carried his connections – owner-breeder Ahmed Zayat, jockey Víctor Espinoza and Baffert – to new-found heights of celebrity in the spring of 2015.

“As a team American Pharoah and I created unbelievable memories,” Espinoza told HRN. “We made a lot of history together.”

In a career that includes Hall of Fame horses Point Given, Silver Charm and Silverbulletday, Baffert said American Pharoah carried the sport with memorable moments ranging from his Triple Crown triumph to his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the fall of 2015 at Keeneland.

“He’s probably the most exciting horse we’ve seen in the last 20 years,” Baffert said. “They were rocking the (Belmont Park) stands watching him coming down the stretch for the Triple Crown. It was just a magical ride with him. He got people watching racing. He did a lot for racing.”

While most casual racing fans will think first of that Belmont Stakes moment, Espinoza said his fondest memory with American Pharoah came three weeks earlier in a sopping wet, seven-length victory during a thunderstorm at Baltimore.

“The Preakness was just one of those amazing races that was my favorite,” he said. “The conditions and the weather and the track, it was just so many things. After we won the Preakness, the Belmont was just like any other race.”

Baffert recalled an American Pharoah memory from Saratoga that was not from a horse race.

“I’ve never been so overwhelmed as when I went to gallop the day before the Travers (G1) with 15,000 people out there,” he said. “It was just an incredible scene. I still have people come up to me and tell me they’re not horse people. But they loved American Pharoah.”

Retired to begin a breeding career right after his 2015 Breeders’ Cup triumph, American Pharoah stands at Coolmore’s Ashland Stud Farm in Versailles, Ky.

“I just saw him the other day,” Baffert said, “and he looks better than ever. He looks so beautiful, and he is still the kindest horse in the world. Every time I see him I get very emotional.”

Pletcher is a seven-time Eclipse Award winner who holds the record with $405,791,977 in career earnings from North American races. His list of victories includes two runnings of the Kentucky Derby, three Belmont Stakes and 11 Breeders’ Cups, including Vino Rosso in the 2019 Classic.

“It’s an incredible honor and something that doesn’t happen without having treat support around you,” Pletcher, 53, said in a statement from the NMRHOF. “I had amazing opportunities to learn from the likes of Wayne and Jeff Lukas and working winters alongside Kiaran McLaughlin. It really was a stroke of good fortune to come up with people like that around me.”

“I’m so happy for Todd,” Baffert said. “What he’s done and the way he’s handled himself, he’s good for the sport. He represents us well, he’s a great trainer, and he’s a U of A (University of Arizona) guy. What are you going to do? We’re two U of A guys in the Hall of Fame.”

Fisher, 57, is a 13-time champion steeplechase trainer who ranks second in career earnings with more than $17.8 million, trailing only fellow Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard. Fisher’s best charge may have been Good Night Shirt, one of only three millionaire horses in steeplechase history.

Fisher is a 13-time champion steeplechase trainer who ranks second in career earnings with more than $17.8 million, trailing only fellow Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard. Fisher’s best charge may have been Good Night Shirt, one of only three millionaire horses in steeplechase history.

Each of the new Hall of Famers received more than 50 percent support from a voting panel. Since they only became eligible this year, American Pharoah and Pletcher were first-ballot selections. Fisher was voted in by the NMRHOF steeplechase committee, which meets every four years.

This year’s NMRHOF class will be inducted with Mark Casse, Darrel McHargue, Tom Bowling, Wise Dan, Alice Headley Chandler, Keene Daingerfield Jr. and George Widener Jr., last year’s class that was denied formal enshrinement because of COVID. Details on how many public spectators will be allowed to the ceremony will be announced later.

Finalists who fell short of the majority vote needed for enshrinement included horses Blind Luck, Game On Dude, Havre de Grace, Kona Gold and Rags to Riches; trainers Christophe Clément and Doug O’Neill; and jockey Corey Nakatani.