American Pharoah

Since there are no screaming headlines, it appears that all of the colts who ran in yesterday's Preakness are well and unharmed this morning.  If American Pharoah continues in good health, owner (and breeder) Ahmed Zayat plans on sending him on to the Belmont Stakes, to try to claim the Triple Crown championship.  I say that's a wonderful move, and, should the Pharoah not win the Belmont, I 'm sure that Mr Zayat will not deliver a diatribe like one of California Chrome's owners did last year.   -  And, if American Pharoah should become the twelfth horse to win the Triple Crown, think about the position of the Zayat family, owning a full brother and a full sister to him.  Riches unimaginable in a single barn!  
  After the Preakness, the trainer of Bodhisattva, who finished last, said that colt won't run in the rain - he won't do it in morning works, so, when it rained yesterday, he wasn't surprised that the colt turned in such a lackluster performance.  That would have been nice to know before the race - and definitely before betting.  Firing Line stumbled badly leaving the starting gate yesterday, and didn't really like the sloppy track.
   American Pharoah has lost only one race so far, and that was his first race, a 6 1/2 furlong maiden.  He has won each of his races since then.  Can he be a Triple Crown champion?  Can he reach the highest echelon that a three-year-old can?  Is he as good as War Admiral, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed?  Only he, and the gods of racing luck, know.  I'll cheer for him, and I'll mean it.    But he has a new challenge ahead - Belmont Racetrack and it's huge mile and a half oval - along with old and new contestants in the race itself.  It'll be wonderful if we have a new Triple Crown champion - but I'm not holding my breath.  Why?  Because 289 horses have won a single race in the Triple Crown, and 52 horses have won two legs of the race (including American Pharoah).  Twenty-three horses have won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness; eighteen horses have won the Preakness and the Belmont; and eleven horses have won the Derby and the Belmont Stakes.  Twenty-two of the 23 horses who have won the first two legs of the Triple Crown have failed.  American Pharoah just might become the 12th horse in history to win all three races....