DRF-Watchmaker: How does American Pharoah compare to other Triple Crown winners?
Now, after his dominant victory in the Belmont Stakes to become
only the 12th ever to capture the Triple Crown, the debate shifts from
whether American Pharoah can make history to his place in it.
The best way to address that, I think, is to compare American Pharoah
to other Triple Crown winners at this stage of their careers, although
that isn’t so simple. But I do think it’s very safe to say he’s better
than Assault and Omaha, who are widely regarded as the weakest Triple
Crown winners.
I seriously doubt American Pharoah is the equal of Citation at this point in their careers. Jack Wilson, the legendary Daily Racing Form
chart caller who I worked alongside for almost nine years, once told me
Citation, when he was right, could “beat Secretariat pulling a wagon.”
Jack might have been embellishing a bit, comparing a horse I knew he
loved to a horse he knew I loved, but I got the point. Citation was an
all-time great. But I can’t really compare American Pharoah to horses
like War Admiral and Count Fleet at this point in their careers. There
are nuances there of which I’m unfamiliar.
However, I can compare American Pharoah, through the Belmont, to
Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed, at the same points of their
careers. When Secretariat came along, I was still seven years away from
working in the racing industry, but I was already a rabid, seasoned
(okay, cynical) racing fan for almost five years. I lived and breathed
those horses. So I think I can speak from a position of some knowledge.
American Pharoah does not compare to Secretariat, but really, who
does? Secretariat is the frame of reference by which all modern day
Thoroughbreds are measured. It’s frankly unfair to compare any horse to
Secretariat.
Comparisons to Affirmed are tricky, and perhaps impossible. Affirmed
had Alydar, who was truly a fantastic racehorse, to affirm (no pun
intended) his greatness. American Pharoah has no such foil. This was
considered a strong crop of 3-year-olds in the run up to the Kentucky
Derby, and I think it still is. But American Pharoah is just so much
better than his contemporaries that there is no one to really push him
the way Alydar pushed Affirmed.
But Seattle Slew … I think I was one of the first to draw a
comparison between American Pharoah and Seattle Slew, doing so in this
space a couple of months ago. I just felt as though their untapped
brilliance in the run up to the Kentucky Derby was comparable, as were
their running styles. But now, I will say this: At this point in their
careers, American Pharoah is better than Seattle Slew was.
People either don’t know, or forget, that Seattle Slew was not
embraced by the racing public, even after becoming the first and only
horse to complete the Triple Crown while undefeated. It was not until
what Seattle Slew accomplished as a 4-year-old that he was widely
accepted as being a great horse.
The main reason for that was, Seattle Slew beat a very, very weak
group through his Triple Crown run. American Pharoah has beaten much,
much better horses through his Triple Crown march, and for that reason,
he gets this nod from me.
Two other points I want to make, and both have to do with why
American Pharoah was able to succeed in winning the Triple Crown when so
many other horses in recent years failed.
First, unlike others who were recently denied the Triple Crown in
the Belmont, American Pharoah was dominant over his age group from the
get go. He is not a horse who got good just over the last three months.
He was champion 2-year-old male last year despite not having raced after
Sept. 27. That is almost unheard of in the Breeders’ Cup era, and
illustrates just how brilliant he has been from early on.
Secondly, this Belmont Stakes just set up perfectly for him. He was
the controlling speed, a controlling speed who could also rate, and
figured to be pressured mainly by Materiality, another who could also
rate, and who completed an equation that would result in a very easy
early pace.
Sure enough, this Belmont was nearly over when American Pharoah
posted a half-mile split under a hammerlock in 48.83 seconds, and it was
really over after six furlongs in 1:13.41.