![\"AP\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2015\/06\/AP.jpg\")
<\/a>\n[Picture Courtesy WinStar Farms]<\/p>\n
Three years and a bit ago, a small foal was born on Stockplace Farms on the east side of Lexington. There was a contest to name him, and the winner had picked American Pharoah, yes with the wrong spelling. But that was going to be the only slip up when it came to this horse. Bob Baffert is the only trainer in history to have had four cracks at being the trainer of a Triple Crown winner. But this horse has run in the least races ever for such a winner\u2014 only eight races. The race was close in the Kentucky Derby, too close to prevent heart palpitations here in Kentucky, but finally he puts his challengers behind him. The Preakness was a different story. Pharoah likes a sloppy track and loves the rain. He was a runaway winner at the Preakness. Horse racing is a funny sport. You don\u2019t have to have qualified for the Derby to run in the Belmont. It would be like a team skipping the first round or two of the playoffs and then showing up in the finals. That\u2019s what some of the horses running today did, and some took the Preakness off after the Derby. Not Pharoah. He said \u201cBring it on. I\u2019ll take on all comers.\u201d Horses have personalities. We ought to know, we had Arabians and raised one too. We did our Kentucky thing when our girls Christy and Yuliya loved to ride. I wish they could have been here today to celebrate this. Christy however is probably in the horse part of heaven smiling. Pharoah is a horse with a huge heart, and he likes people. He\u2019s friendly like the best pet ever. He\u2019s not snotty and snippy like some horses. He\u2019s gregarious. I hope someone gives him a mint julep after this race, as he has earned it. <\/p>\n
We should have seen this coming. Check out how he obliterated the field coming down the stretch in the Arkansas Derby. <\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Nc3znorO6Mo <\/p>\n
This horse can win from ahead or behind, in good weather or bad, with a huge field of good horses or a small field. It didn\u2019t matter. Now check out what he did in the Kentucky Derby in a gorgeous day here against a huge field and really good competition. Check out the closing speed at the end. <\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=s9PxtvqdE0I<\/p>\n
And lest you think it mattered what the track was like or who was the competition, there had been a torrential downpour at the Preakness just before the race, and it was still raining during the race. Here\u2019s what American Pharoah did on that day two weeks ago\u2026.<\/p>\n