American Pharoah faces bigger challenge

By RICHARD ENG LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

10 years ago

Owner Ahmed Zayat (C, in cap) is surrounded by trainer Bob Baffert (in red tie) and members of his family as they raise the Triple Crown trophy after his horse American Pharoah, with jockey Victor Espinoza (2nd from L) aboard, won the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown, in Elmont, New York June 6, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

I am waiting for the last horseshoe to drop. When will Triple Crown champion American Pharoah and his human connections — the Zayats, Bob Baffert and Victor Espinoza — be invited to be honored at the White House?

I have no idea if President Obama, when he was a U.S. senator from Illinois, ever went to the races at Arlington Park. But I do know the White House invites nearly every championship sports team to Washington to be honored. Why not Team AP?

In all seriousness, that would be the longest of long shots. But I have been really impressed by the exposure that Team AP has been able to muster since the Belmont Stakes.

Maybe you are old enough to remember the 1970s when three Triple Crown champions (Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed) were clustered within six years between 1973 to 1978.

Do you remember the communications landscape back then?

The internet, as we know it, did not exist. Fax machines were rudimentary, and there were no cellular telephones or laptops. Atari had just released the first video game: Pong. You get the drift.

Today, we live in an era when there are so many social platforms, seemingly new ones each day, to communicate with each other and to get a message out to the masses.

I say it might be a blessing in disguise that the sport had to wait 37 years for American Pharoah. You can’t go a day without hearing or reading something about this great racehorse.

Team AP is not only a savvy promoter of itself, but of the sport, too. The team members are all in with their time and energy. They come across well on all social platforms and are comfortable in dealing with the media.

Thus, horse racing has an unparalleled opportunity, it must seize with gusto, to be introduced to a huge generation of newcomers. Sure, the cynics will say good luck with that.

But even if only 5 percent to 10 percent can be converted to join the choir, that would be a marketing Triple Crown on top of a racing Triple Crown.

I have been asked in many media interviews what American Pharoah will do for horse racing. Other than the previously mentioned positives, it won’t do much for the sport’s business, because American Pharoah’s Triple Crown did not change one fundamental business flaw facing the sport.

Since Saturday, the learning curve for horse racing is just as steep. Not a single takeout has been lowered. A permissive drug policy remains in effect.

A Chinese proverb says the longest journey begins with a single step. Well, American Pharoah has taken the first step for us. Now is a good time for the horse racing industry to get in lockstep and remove the obstacles for growth.

As an epilogue, I was surprised how many folks read my column last week and felt I was rooting against American Pharoah in the Belmont Stakes. That simply is not true.

There were eight near misses for a Triple Crown since I began at the newspaper in 1998. I picked all eight of them to win. Then I chose against American Pharoah, but was thrilled to be wrong. If you want to call me a Triple Crown “Eddie Mush,” that’s fine. But please, nothing else.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick.