If the Kentucky Derby Saturday, May 7 has you nostalgic for American Pharoah, Joe Drape has the antidote.

The New York Times sportswriter and Eclipse Award winner for outstanding coverage of Thoroughbred racing is off and running with the new “American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner’s Legendary Rise” (Hachette Books, 292 pages, $27). Though it may lack the juiciness, pathos and laugh-out-loud humor of “Duel for the Crown: Affirmed, Alydar, and Racing’s Greatest Rivalry,” it, too, is a great story well-told with a fabulous cast of characters supporting our innocent, noble hero, AP, on his equine Pilgrim’s Progress. ...