American Pharoah: Hail and farewell

November 1, 2015

Maybe now all the naysayers will zip their lips.

Or maybe they will unseal them long enough to say, “All hail, the Pharoah” as he gallops off to retirement, to stud, to immortality.

American Pharoah did it in Hollywood-scripted style – entering and winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the first Triple Crown winner to do so, at Keeneland in Lexington on Halloween, a treat for racing fans. But then, AP has been a treat for all those lovers of history who had a Triple Crown winner on their bucket list and thought they would never live to see the day. ...

American Pharoah, Novak Djokovic: What defines greatness?

October 28, 2015

American Pharoah has arrived at Keeneland in Lexington for the Breeders’ Cup Classic Saturday, the final race of his career. He’s going to face an older woman, Beholder; older guys like Tonalist and Honor Code; and old rivals like Frosted and Keen Ice.

But hey, is that any worse than the naysayers, the ones who remark that he’s good but not great – certainly not as great as the greats of the 1970s, Secretariat, Seattle Slew and my beloved Affirmed; and, that if he doesn’t win the Breeders’ Cup, he really won’t be considered great.

This is the same conversation about Novak Djokovic, who will lead the field at the BNP Paribas Masters Paris, which begins also on Saturday and runs through Nov. 8. If he doesn’t repeat in Paris and at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London the following week, he won’t have had a great season.

Let’s review, shall we? ...

Can American Pharoah win the Triple Crown?

May 16, 2015

That is the question now that the bay has won the Preakness Stakes in commanding fashion (seven lengths) on a muddy track that caused Firing Line, the Derby runner-up, to stumble out of the gate, and AP stable-mate Dortmund, who finished third at the Derby, to fade to fourth at Pimlico.

History does not favor the Pharoah. Two charmers named I’ll Have Another and California Chrome took the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2012 and 2014 respectively only to come up short on the Belmont Stakes’ 1 ½-mile course.

It’s no coincidence that the three horses that won the Triple Crown in the 1970s – Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed (1978), the last horse to do so – all called Belmont Park home.

Then, too, many trainers save their horses for the Belmont, skipping the Preakness. Already, experts are talking about a fresh Frosted and Materiality giving the Pharoah a run for his money.

But I prefer to think the Pharoah will do it. He has endurance in his genes and a talent for adversity as his rainy Preakness triumph attests (even if he has to wear earplugs to keep himself calm). ...