The Times
More about American Pharoah’s Belmont Stakes fractions from Matt Gardner, admiring the Trakus times for the Triple Crown winner:
Look at that consistency because it’s a thing of beauty.
American Pharoah churned out :12 after :12 after :12. He came home the last quarter mile of the mile and a half Test of Champions in 24.17 after setting all the early fractions. He did the dirty work early and still had something left in the tank …
I don’t want to lose sight of the horse for the numbers, but, yeah — his :12 second furlongs from start to finish are gorgeous in their symmetry.
Bob Barry of Around Two Turns has written a lovely appreciation:
American Pharoah’s seemingly effortless yet ruthlessly efficient action, which lends to that appearance of him seeming to glide above the racetrack, was the basis of his early fame and almost certainly his armor against the rigors of the Triple Crown season. That certain je ne sais quoi which first caught all the eyes at Clocker’s Corner, enabled him, at the end of three hard races in five weeks, to somehow run the last half mile of his Belmont faster than he ran its first. He is the very model of a modern Triple Crown winner.
Brian Hoffacker expresses the effect of such visual ease well: “Here’s how efficient and talented American Pharoah is: He hasn’t done anything to shock me yet, and I thought I’d never see a Triple Crown.”
Don’t call the Triple Crown winner great yet, writes Sam Walker:
The problem at present for American Pharoah is that while he may be clearly the best three-year-old in America, the standard of his rivals is not yet clear. He’s essentially flying high above unknown terrain.
But he is important, says Daniel Ross:
At a time when the sport has never had to work as hard for recognition and relevance, American Pharoah reminded a nation that widely regards horse racing in this country as overtly cruel, and callous, and uncaring, that the same spectacle can still produce transcendental moments.
The Atlantic decided to remind people of both the transcendent and the brutal on its homepage. Here’s what was there on Monday at approximately 8:00 AM:
I think I’m mostly grateful other publications haven’t posted similar pairings.
