American Pharoah won the Haskell Invitational with ease Sunday. He was a 1-9 favorite and is the reigning Triple Crown winner, so few were surprised. He may race two or three more times at the most, then he will be retired. Few are surprised by that decision either.
But American Pharoah’s post-Belmont campaign hardly follows the pattern of Triple Crown winners of the past, nearly all of whom ran many times after their crowns. Of the 11 previous Triple Crown winners, 10 raced again after the Belmont, and eight raced past their 3-year-old years.