American Pharoah has done what no other horse has done in 37 previous years and won thoroughbred horse racing's Triple Crown and in very convincing fashion going wire to wire to become the 2015 winner of the Belmont Stakes.
This is the reaction of the winning jockey, Victor Espinoza who was able to keep AP in the lead in the toughest of the three races that include the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. To win at Belmont, a horse has to run over one and a half miles. No other races comes close.
Horse racing has had a steady decline since Affirmed won the last Triple Crown in 1978. Off-track betting and two television channels, HRTV and TVG, have led to some of the great race places being bought by developers and torn down for something else. Here on the West Coast, or Left Coast, Bay Meadows near San Francisco and Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California have been destroyed to make way for, in the case of Bay Meadows, a mixed-use development. Hollywood Park was imploded this past week to make way for a possible NFL stadium.
But this is a big deal.
Just this horse being the 12th to win the whole Triple Crown can revitalize a sport and industry like no other.
Congratulations to American Pharoah, America's new hero.
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