American Pharoah will be only part of the equation in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday as he attempts to become the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since Affirmed in 1978. Much will depend on the split-second decisions made by the jockey Victor Espinoza and his counterparts in a grueling mile-and-a-half contest that tests the mental acuity of riders as much as it does the stamina of horses.
The Belmont Stakes is typically referred to as a “jockeys’ race” because Belmont Park, with a surface known as “Big Sandy” and its sweeping turns, is a track like no other, and because the race is contested at a rare distance.