The dream season for American Pharoah concluded on Saturday with a win in the prestigious 2015 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., winning his final race in dominant fashion.
American Pharoah wins 2015 Breeders’ Cup Classic
The Triple Crown winner added to his legacy on Saturday in Kentucky.
Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Jockey Victor Espinoza rode the 3/5 favorite from the fourth gate to the horse’s seventh win in eight races in 2015, winning by a whopping 6½ lengths over 32/1 shot Effniex and Honor Code. Honor Code had 9/2 odds to win, second only to American Pharoah.
American Pharoah, the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, is the first horse ever to capture the unofficial grand slam of horse racing, winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the same season.
“He deserves a nice break. He has run so many times this year,” Espinoza said of American Pharoah on the NBC broadcast. “I think it’s time for him to step back and have a nice life.”
Keen Ice, who beat American Pharoah at the Travers Stakes in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. in August after finishing seventh in the Kentucky Derby and third at the Belmont Stakes, finished fourth on Saturday.
The Breeders’ Cup was the third race run by American Pharoah since winning the Triple Crown, taking the Haskell Invitational earlier in August before losing the Travers Stakes.
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