<P> American Pharoah (foaled February 2, 2012) is an American retired Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2015 . In winning all four races, he became the first horse to win the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing . He won the 2015 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and 2015 Champion three - year - old . He was bred and owned throughout his racing career by Ahmed Zayat of Zayat Stables, trained by Bob Baffert, and ridden in most of his races by Victor Espinoza . He now stands at stud at Ashford Stud in Kentucky . American Pharoah is descended from Secretariat, Count Fleet, War Admiral, and Gallant Fox, all of whom also won the American Triple Crown . </P> <P> After finishing fifth in his track debut as a two - year - old, American Pharoah won his next two races, the Grade I Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner Stakes, each by several lengths . An injury kept him out of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but the strength of his two wins nonetheless resulted in his being voted American Champion Two - Year - Old Male Horse at the 2014 Eclipse Awards . Before the 2015 season began, Zayat had sold breeding rights to the colt to the Ashford Stud, a division of Ireland's Coolmore Stud . He retained control over the colt and his racing career, as well as an undisclosed dividend on stud fees . </P> <P> American Pharoah began his 2015 campaign with wins in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby and went on to win the 2015 Kentucky Derby and 2015 Preakness Stakes . He won the Triple Crown in a wire - to - wire victory at the 2015 Belmont Stakes, becoming the first American Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 and the 12th in history . His winning time was the second - fastest for a Triple Crown winner, and his closing quarter - mile time of 24.32 was faster than Secretariat's . He next shipped to Monmouth Park and easily won the Haskell Invitational on August 2, prompting Baffert to say, "He just keeps bringing it; he's a great horse ." Three weeks later, he finished a close second in a hard - fought Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on August 29, 2015, snapping a winning streak of eight races . After a layoff of two months, he shipped to Keeneland for the 2015 Breeders' Cup and ran in the Breeders' Cup Classic, where he challenged older horses for the first time and won by ​ 6 ⁄ lengths, breaking the track record . Under the contract between Zayat and Ashford, American Pharoah was retired to stud at the conclusion of his 2015 racing year . </P> <P> American Pharoah is a bay colt with a faint star on his forehead and no other white markings . He is from the second crop of foals sired by Pioneerof the Nile, who finished second in the 2009 Kentucky Derby . The stallion's first crop included Holy Bull Stakes winner Cairo Prince, and Social Inclusion, who finished third in the 2014 Preakness Stakes . American Pharoah's dam, Littleprincessemma, was purchased by Zayat in 2007 for $250,000 . She raced but did not win either of her two starts in 2008 . American Pharoah was her second foal, following allowance race winner Xixixi . Since his birth, she had produced two more full siblings to American Pharoah: a filly born in 2014, and a colt, foaled in 2015 after she sold--in foal to Pioneerof the Nile--in November 2014 for $2.1 million . </P>

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