American Pharoah (horse)

Won Del Mar Futurity (USA-G1, 7FD, Del Mar)
Won FrontRunner Stakes (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Santa Anita)

2015:

Won Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1, 10FD, Keeneland; new track record 2:00.07)
Won Kentucky Derby—Presented by Yum! Brands (USA-G1, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
Won Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (USA-G1, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
Won Belmont Stakes (USA-G1, 12FD, Belmont)
Won Arkansas Derby (USA-G1, 9FD, Oaklawn Park)
Won Haskell Invitational Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Monmouth)
Won Rebel Stakes (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Oaklawn Park)
2nd Travers Stakes (USA-G1, 10FD, Saratoga)

Honors

National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (elected in 2021)
Monmouth Park Hall of Champions (inducted in 2016)
Eclipse Award, American Horse of the Year (2015)
Eclipse Award, American champion 2-year-old male (2014)
Eclipse Award, American champion 3-year-old male (2015)
Secretariat Vox Populi Award (2015)
Longines World's Best Racehorse (2015)
Kentucky-bred Horse of the Year (2015)
Kentucky-bred champion 2-year-old male (2014)
Kentucky-bred champion 3-year-old male (2015)

Assessments

Co-highweighted with Texas Red at 126 pounds atop the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 2014.

Following American Pharoah's effortless win in the Haskell Invitational Stakes on August 2, 2015, Timeform's rankings of August 3, 2015, gave the colt the highest ranking of the year so far at 136 pounds. The rating is also the second-highest ever for a North American runner; only Cigar (at 138 pounds) has ever been rated higher. American Pharoah's final 2015 Timeform rating of 138 pounds tied Cigar's record.

Following American Pharoah's romp in the Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1), the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings awarded him a rating of 133 pounds, the highest for any horse in 2015 and the second-highest of the last decade for any North American horse behind Cigar's 135 pounds. American Pharoah's final rating for 2015 was 134 pounds.

On November 30, 2015, the Racing Post's Sam Walker awarded American Pharoah a rating of 138 pounds, highest for any Thoroughbred racing in 2015. The next highest weight was the 132 pounds assigned to 2015 Derby Stakes (ENG-G1) and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (FR-G1) winner Golden Horn.

As an individual

A bay horse, American Pharoah is handsome and well-made with exceptionally light, fluent action. He generally preferred to control his races from the front end but was capable of rating off the pace and handled both fast and sloppy surfaces well. He has a kindly and friendly disposition but raced with cotton in his ears to keep him from becoming upset by crowd noise. His trademark short tail is said to be the result of a paddock companion's chewing it off when American Pharoah was a yearling.

As a stallion

American Pharoah's progeny have been showing a distinct bent for turf racing thus far.

Sire rankings

Per The Blood-Horse:

6th on the American general sire list in 2023.
Led the American freshman sire list in 2019.

Notable progeny

Above the Curve (USA), American Theorem (USA), As Time Goes By (USA), Café Pharoah (USA), Harvey's Lil Goil (USA), Marketsegmentation (USA), Riff Rocket (AUS), Van Gogh (USA)

Connections

American Pharoah was bred and owned by Ahmed Zayat, who bought the colt back for US$300,000 at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale, and raced in the colors of Zayat Stables. He was trained by Hall of Fame member Bob Baffert, who had trained three previous Derby/Preakness winners in War Emblem (2002), Silver Charm (1997) and Real Quiet (1998). Following American Pharoah's win in the Preakness Stakes (USA-G1), Thoroughbred industry media outlets reported that Coolmore Stud had acquired American Pharoah's breeding rights for a reported US$20 million. American Pharoah entered stud at Ashford Stud (Coolmore's Kentucky operation) in 2016.

Pedigree notes

American Pharoah is inbred 5x5 to Northern Dancer. He is the second named foal from Littleprincessemma (also the dam of 2018 Starlet Stakes, USA-G1, winner Chasing Yesterday, by Tapit), whose sire Yankee Gentleman (by Storm Cat) took his only stakes win in the six-furlong Pirate's Bounty Handicap. Named for Ahmed Zayat's daughter, Littleprincessemma is a half sister to 2005 Lazaro Barrera Memorial Stakes (USA-G2) winner Storm Wolf and 2006 Old Hat Stakes (USA-G3) winner Misty Rosette, both by the Storm Cat horse Stormin Fever.

Littleprincessemma's dam Exclusive Rosette (by the Exclusive Native horse Ecliptical) was a restricted stakes winner. She is out of Zetta Jet (by multiple Grade 2 winner and good sire Tri Jet), who failed to win in five starts. The next dam in the tail-female line, Queen Zetta (by 1963 Santa Anita Handicap winner Crozier) is a full sister to stakes winners Mia Mood and Miami Sun and is out of stakes winner Miami Mood (by the good juvenile Greek Game). This female family is one developed in Florida by Fred Hooper, whose 1945 Kentucky Derby winner Hoop, Jr., sired Miami Mood's dam Hoop Mood.

Books and media:

New York Times sportswriter Joe Drape is the author of American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner's Legendary Rise, which was released by Hachette Books in 2016.
American Pharoah is the 12th of the 13 American Triple Crown winners featured in Edward Bowen's The Lucky 13: The Winners of America's Triple Crown of Horse Racing (2019, Lyon Press).
Footage of American Pharoah's Kentucky Derby win can be accessed on his page at twinspires.com (https://www.twinspires.com/horse/american-pharoah).
The New York Racing Association's footage of American Pharoah's Belmont Stakes victory can be seen at https://www.belmontstakes.com/history/triple-crown-winners/american-pharoah.

Fun facts

American Pharoah got his name through a “name that foal” contest sponsored by his owner, Ahmed Zayat. The winning entry had “pharaoh” misspelled, and the name was submitted to The Jockey Club and accepted before the error was noticed.
American Pharoah might have raced for another owner had he not picked up a small knock on one ankle just before the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale. He was expected to go for as much as US$1 million, but the swelling caused by the minor injury caused buyers to shy away from him. Ahmed Zayat was at Disneyland when he got the news that the colt was not selling for as much as expected and gave his agent the order to buy Pharoah back.
American Pharoah is the fourth of a record-tying six Kentucky Derby winners for trainer Bob Baffert. The others were Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1997), War Emblem (2002), Justify (2018), and Authentic (2020). Medina Spirit finished first in the Derby for Baffert in 2021, apparently breaking the record, but was disqualified from his victory due to a drug positive for the corticosteroid bethmethasone.
On June 5, 2015, Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson declared June 6 to be “American Pharoah Day” in honor of the attention the colt had brought to racing in Arkansas. American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner to have completed his preparation for the classics in Oaklawn Park's series of Kentucky Derby preps.
American Pharoah became American racing's most lightly campaigned Triple Crown winner up to that time when he took the Belmont Stakes in his eighth lifetime start. His Belmont time of 2:26.54 was the second fastest for a Triple Crown winner, trailing only Secretariat's 2:24, and his final quarter in :24.32 was the fastest for any Triple Crown champion.
American Pharoah had the shortest career of any Triple Crown winner through his retirement in 2015, as he had made only 11 lifetime starts; previously, Gallant Fox (1930) and Seattle Slew (1977) had been the most lightly raced Triple Crown winners with 17 starts each. In 2018, Justify took over this distinction as he retired following the Belmont, his sixth lifetime start.
Thanks to American Pharoah, his regular jockey Victor Espinoza became the first rider to go into the Belmont Stakes three times with a chance at a Triple Crown sweep (his previous bids were aboard War Emblem and California Chrome) and the oldest jockey (at 43) to ride a Triple Crown winner. (Espinoza's age record for a Triple Crown championship was later surpassed by Mike Smith, who was 52 when he rode Justify to the Triple Crown in 2018.)
American Pharoah's Triple Crown sweep was the cover story for the Sunday, June 7, editions of the New York Post and the Boston Herald.
American Pharoah's time of 2:00.07 for the Breeders' Cup Classic was not only a track record but was the fastest time ever recorded for 10 furlongs at Keeneland over any surface—dirt, turf or synthetics.
American Pharoah's Breeders' Cup Classic field was one of the best in the race's history. Six of Pharoah's seven rivals were Grade/Group 1 winners going into the race, and the seventh, runner-up Effinex, won the Clark Handicap (USA-G1) in his next outing. Another of Pharoah's defeated rivals, Tonalist, helped frank Pharoah's Breeders' Cup form by winning the Cigar Mile (USA-G1) four weeks later.
Although American Pharoah is the first horse to complete the “Grand Slam,” previous American Triple Crown winners Gallant Fox (1930) and Citation (1948) performed similar feats by winning both the Triple Crown and the Jockey Club Gold Cup—then the United States' most prestigious race open to 3-year-olds and older—during the same season.
American Pharoah's win in the Breeders' Cup Classic made trainer Bob Baffert the second trainer to win the Classic in two consecutive years, as Baffert won the race with Bayern in 2014. The only other trainer to accomplish the feat is Jay Robbins, whose star Tiznow won the race in 2000 and 2001.
American Pharoah's fans, commonly called "Pharoah's Phans," often attended his races wearing Egyptian-style headdresses in the Zayat stable's colors of turquoise blue and gold.
American Pharoah's connections were honored with the "Big Sport of Turfdom" award on November 17, 2015. The award is presented annually by the Turf Publicists of America to the individual or group judged to have done the most to enhance the coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media and racing publicists.
Although the editors of Sports Illustrated selected tennis champion Serena Williams as the magazine's "Sportsperson of the Year" for 2015, American Pharoah easily dominated on-line reader polling for the honor with 47 percent of the vote. The runner-up in the on-line poll was the Kansas City Royals baseball team; the World Series champions came away with 29 percent of the vote.
Tim Leyden of Sports Illustrated selected American Pharoah's 2015 racing season as his "Achievement of the Year."
American Pharoah's Triple Crown sweep was selected as the top story of the 2015 by The Blood-Horse.
American Pharoah's 2015 earnings of US$8,288,800 set a new single-season earnings record for North American runners, surpassing the old mark of US$7,562,565 set by Smarty Jones in 2004.
American Pharoah's Belmont victory was selected as the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's "Moment of the Year" for 2015.
American Pharoah was a unanimous choice as both American champion 3-year-old male and American Horse of the Year in 2015 Eclipse Award voting.
American Pharoah was the first North American racehorse to top the year-end World's Best Racehorse Rankings since Curlin in 2008.
American Pharoah was named the Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sportsman of the Year for 2015, becoming the first horse to earn this title in its 35-year history.
American Pharoah's Belmont Stakes victory was ranked #35 on Sports Illustrated's March 8, 2016, list of the 100 greatest moments in sports history.
The New York Racing Association, Inc., won the "Sports Event of the Year" award presented by Smith & Street's Sports Business Journal for its presentation of the 2015 Belmont Stakes and American Pharoah's Triple Crown sweep.
American Pharoah was acknowledged as the "Horse of the Decade" for 2010-2019 by both The Blood-Horse and Thoroughbred Daily News.
Santa Anita's FrontRunner Stakes was renamed the American Pharoah Stakes in 2018. It is currently carded as a Grade 1 race for 2-year-olds over 8.5 furlongs on the main track.

Photo credits

Top: Photo by Jessica Morgan, taken during a pre-Kentucky Derby workout at Churchill Downs in 2015. Used by permission.

Bottom: Photo by Mike Sekulic, taken while American Pharoah (then 2) was winning the 2014 FrontRunner Stakes (USA-G1). Used by permission.

Last updated: April 7, 2024.