Triple Crown

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton Four-time Grade I-winning 4-year-old McKinzie (Street Sense) has always been saddled with high expectations, while 3-year-old Mr. Money (Goldencents) has now achieved millionaire status by grinding out four consecutive Grade III victories. Convincing wins on Saturday gave each horse a divisional foothold, with McKinzie establishing himself as the top two-turn older dirt horse who might finally be getting comfortable with kingpin status, and Mr. Money carving out a niche as the late-blooming sophomore who appears primed to punch above his weight thanks to...

In the swirling, indefinite haze of which races might be next for Triple Crown champion American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), the Aug. 2 GI Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park and the Oct. 31 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Race Course loom as the most logical, according to tentative plans put forth by the colt's connections in myriad published reports. But the 13-week gap between those two starts remains a wild card, and it could shape up as a prime spot for an outlier track to step up with a...

When Coolmore did the deal to buy the breeding rights to American Pharoah in January, before the Eclipse Awards, they were just hoping they were buying their fifth champion 2-year-old colt in six years to stand at their Kentucky arm, Ashford Stud. They couldn't have bought the sixth anyway; that was the gelding Shared Belief, in 2013. But they stand 2009 champion Lookin At Lucky; 2010 champion Uncle Mo; they stood 2011 champion Hansen for a year before he was sold to South Korea; and they stand 2012 champion Shanghai...

The morning after ending the 37-year Triple Crown drought, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) was in fine form, according to trainer Bob Baffert. "Looking at the horse today, he looked pretty darn good for a horse that just ran a mile and a half," Baffert said outside of Barn 1 in Elmont. "He's a tough horse. Today he looked like he could run back in three weeks." Baffert allowed members of the media to pet American Pharoah outside of the barn to demonstrate the colt's demeanor. "I just wanted to...

The morning after ending the 37-year Triple Crown drought, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) was in fine form, according to trainer Bob Baffert. “Looking at the horse today, he looked pretty darn good for a horse that just ran a mile and a half,” Baffert said outside of Barn 1 in Elmont. “He's a tough horse. Today he looked like he could run back in three weeks.” Baffert allowed members of the media to pet American Pharoah outside of the barn to demonstrate the colt's demeanor. “I just wanted to...