America Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. Jockey Victor Espinoza is no stranger to winning, having won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes twice before ever competing with American Pharoah. Those wins coming with War Emblem and California Chrome; giving Espinoza a chance at winning the triple crown twice. However, it was not until he raced with American Pharoah that he finally won the Belmont Stakes.
A triple crown win is impressive enough, but this horse was not quite done. After a short rest period, he was right back on the track competing for the Grand Slam. American Pharoah competed at the Haskell Invitational and won in front of 60,000 people.
Unfortunately, the next time American Pharoah competed at the Travers Stakes, he would finally taste defeat. However, both American Pharoah and Espinoza have their place in history, becoming the first to win the Grand Slam in racing history.
[…] who their choice for sportsperson of the year is and even though the online polls held American Pharaoh in its favor, the SI staff decided to go a different way thankfully. The 2015 Sports Illustrated […]