Dazzling new hero can't conquer all of horse racing's old challenges
At long last, horse racing has a new hero. Unfortunately, it may also still have a huge problem.
On Saturday, American Pharoah won the first Triple Crown since 1978 in thrilling and wholly satisfying fashion in front of 90,000 rhapsodic fans at Belmont Park. The triumphant victory brought a long-overdue sense of relief to those in and around the sport, and many have lauded it as a boon for an industry that has long been characterized as being trapped in a bygone era.
"This is not about any of us," American Pharoah owner Ahmed Zayat stressed, not long after his bay colt crossed the Belmont Stakes wire 5½ lengths in front of his closest competitor. "This is about American Pharoah and what this means to our beautiful sport."
"I think everybody in the industry, it makes us feel really good about our sport, like anything in a championship game," American Pharoah trainer Bob Baffert said. "I remember watching Zenyatta win the Breeder's Cup Classic (in 2009), I felt so good about our sport. We need something like that."
Added Zayat's 23-year-old son, Justin, a recent NYU grad and the racing manager at Zayat Stables: "I'm hoping it will bring a lot of young new fans into the game, a lot of owners, and I hope every time I come to this track it will be as packed as it is today."
But will it be? Will it be close? How about a year from now? Five? Ten? Will any of those hopes for a brighter future for racing ever come to pass? These are the questions everyone wants answered, but they seem like iffy propositions, at best.
There's no denying that American Pharoah's magnificent trip around Belmont's mile and a half loop was monumental. There are few on earth who will argue that the sport is somehow worse off with a recent Triple Crown winner to put on a pedestal. History is history, after all, and the monetary windfall that will follow for everyone associated with this particular horse will be significant.
That doesn't change the fact, however, that less than 2,500 people showed up for Thursday's races at the park. On Friday and Sunday, the first day of the Triple Crown hangover, dramatically fewer fans were in the grandstand, with numbers sure to decline from there as American Pharoah's singular feat becomes further removed from the nation's collective consciousness.
The reality is, American Pharoah only has a few races left.
Ahmed Zayat intimated that he doesn't know what the future holds, but he virtually assured that the champ won't race as a 4-year-old. He'll be a legend forever and an extremely valuable stud who may someday produce the next American Pharoah, but he'll no longer be an active draw. Not that one horse can save a sport on his own, anyway.
Additionally, American Pharoah's connections, for all their undeniable talents, aren't going to bring new blood -- and especially, young blood -- to the track, either. Baffert, the face of thoroughbred training, is 62. Victor Espinoza, the jockey who guided American Pharoah through each of the three Triple Crown races, is 43. And they're not getting any younger, no matter how many Monster energy drinks they chug. Justin Zayat is young, good-looking and affable and shares many qualities with the polarizing 52-year-old Ahmed, but his impact on the sport ultimately only goes as far as his father's horses do.
What thoroughbred racing needs is a star with staying power. It needs its next Steve Cauthen, who was a vibrant, popular, relatable 18-year-old when he rode Affirmed to a Triple Crown in 1978. That's the demographic the sport has to zero in on. It needs to make people who weren't raised to love racing do just that. It needs to make millennials realize that there are more than three days of racing a year.
Simply, it needs to be cool -- and Saturday performances at the Belmont from Jersey Boys and the Goo Goo Dolls aren't helping.
There's no quick fix, of course. Even the most wishful thinkers know that one Triple Crown won't get horse racing out of the ICU, just like one big-money fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao was never going to do the same for boxing. (Although at least the Belmont features competitors still in their prime.) So it's a slow build, but one that needs to begin now, on the shoulders of the first champion in most of the target audience's lifetime.
Because there were 90,000 people at this year's Belmont and at least that many more who will one day tell their grandkids they were there. It was a day at the races that no one in attendance and no one watching at home will ever forget. Unfortunately, winning a fan for a day, or even for five weeks, does not translate to a lifetime in the sport, and most of the people who couldn't stop talking about the Triple Crown on Saturday will soon forget that there's more racing to be done between now and next May.
That's the problem the sport needs to address, and the fact is, American Pharoah alone may not be enough to fix it.
You can follow Sam Gardner on Twitter or email him at samgardnerfox@gmail.com.
