Well, with the Belmont a few hours away, I thought I’d start the thread. I’m young enough that there’s never been a Triple Crown won in my life, so I’m pulling for American Pharoah. Heck, NYRA had a promotion that if you were one of the first 1,000 to bet online yesterday for a win on American Pharoah and he does win, you get a win ticket. So we’ll see if I got a bet down fast enough if he does win.
Other than that, I’m thinking Frammento might have a chance at the upset. Longest shot on the board (and 11th at the Kentucky Derby) but there have been two other Belmont upsets to spoil the Triple Crown from Nick Zito in the past. Plus, he didn’t run the Preakness so he might have fresher legs. So I’ve placed an exacta on a Frammento upset over American Pharoah.
The recent chatter about American Pharoah among media and fans (I listen to Kentucky based talk radio sometimes) reminds me of the hype surrounding Smarty Jones, Big Brown, California Chrome, and War Emblem among others who won the KY Derby and Preakness Stakes and then failed to win the Belmont Stakes. Some of them had setbacks (e.g. Chrome getting stepped on near the starting gate, Big Brown having a loose shoe, and I’ll Have Another being scratched from the race due to injury) at Belmont so it’s impossible to know if any of them would have won under ideal circumstances. It is extremely difficult for a horse to win at the longer Belmont distance against fresher horses of top competition.
American Pharoah has a chance to win but his odds of winning are much worse than 3-to-5 or whatever his actual betting odds will be. I will be rooting against this horse as I will be putting my money on others: exacta box of Keen Ice, Frammento, and Tale of Verve.
Good luck. The Frammento-American Pharoah exacta bet could be a winner. I usually box my exacta bets but the opposite order with Pharoah winning likely wouldn’t pay much.
given that horse racing needs publicity I’m surprised that by now they have not rigged a Belmont to have a triple crown winner. and yes, I know this race is harder to win due to the length.
I guess they figure it’s too hard to rig it without someone letting the story out.
I didn’t think,it would happen because of the sheer odds of it NOT happening for all the others. Tears were running down my face when he crossed the wire.
I remember where I was 37 years ago. I was ten years old and we watched Alydar & Affirmed nose to nose down the wire. It was the most thrilling thing I’d ever seen. I’ve never missed a triple crown since. I’m going to be here again next year, too. American Pharoah. I have to keep stopping to misspell his name. He looked so smooth and relaxed around the first turn. He started to work a little down the backstretch. I kept waiting for someone to step up - I’ve been disapointed so many times. Around the turn and Pharoah opened up and Frosted finally found room to run but he was all out of gas. I had Dortmund in the Derby, based on his Santa Anita win. I didn’t really warm up to Pharaoh until he won the Preakness in a thunderstorm. American Pharoah. Triple Crown. It was worth the wait.
Agreed. Not only does listening to the call over and over again give you the chills, but I saw it live on TV and it was a truly surreal moment because it was something was happening we never thought we would ever see again. The crowd would just not stop going absolutely crazy, I cant imagine what it was to be there in person.
An incredible moment for horse racing, sports in general, and what a truly amazing horse to pull this off by such a margin especially against fresh horses.
I was at work when the race happened. Luckily, it was super slow so a bunch of us were able to watch on the big screen in the treatment room. I’m glad I got to watch it live.
Just to put in in perspective, here’s a little gem from last year:
And then, of course, California Chrome finished 4th. The Triple Crown is like a cycle in baseball, a long winning streak in sumo, or retiring an undefeated champion in boxing. An accomplishment that, while certainly challenging, is far from impossible and has had a lot of contenders go for it, but there’s ALWAYS. SOMETHING. that keeps it from happening.
And he was pulling away at the end. This just isn’t supposed to happen. Supreme achievements have to be incredibly hard-fought and won by inches, if not microns. Brett Favre didn’t coast to a career passing mark. The Red Sox weren’t spoonfed four elimination wins in the 2004 ALCS.
So…all right. Susan Lucci won an Emmy, Shaquille O’Neal won at every level except only college, the Curse got stomped into a bloody paste, Chinese Democracy and Duke Nukem Forever saw the light of day…today another one bites the dust.
I hope American Pharoah isn’t done. I’d love to see him race the Travers up at Saratoga and the Breeders Cup. It’d be even better to see him stick around a few more years to race things like the Whitney in 2016 and other big stakes races.
I understand from a business standpoint if the owners decide that they’ll make more in stud fees than they ever could in racing. Safer, too. But it’d still be a shame and another reminder of the problems horse racing has these days.
