ahmed zayat was the jockey who rode american pharoah.
ahmed zayat was the jockey who rode american pharoah.
who was the jockey who rode american pharoah?
ahmed zayat
in the fall of 2014, espinoza also became the regular rider of american pharoah, trained by bob baffert and owned by ahmed zayat. espinoza started with the colt's second race, the grade i del mar futurity on september 4. the pair went on to win the frontrunner stakes. the colt was scratched from the breeders' cup juvenile, but the pair reunited in 2015 with wins in the rebel stakes and arkansas derby american pharoah and espinoza then won the 2015 kentucky derby after the win, espinoza said, "i feel like the luckiest mexican on earth. however, his performance attracted some scrutiny as he struck the horse 32 times with his whip during the race.kentucky racing stewards reviewed espinoza's ride and ruled that his whip use did not violate state regulations. on may 16, 2015, espinoza and american pharoah won the 2015 preakness stakes on a sloppy track, setting up espinoza's third attempt at the triple crown. his june 6, 2015, victory at the 2015 belmont stakes made him the oldest jockey to win the triple crown, as well as the first latino jockey to do so. for 3 years, he held the distinction of being the last jockey to sweep the triple crown until mike smith did it aboard justify in 2018. on october 31, 2015, espinoza rode american pharoah to victory in the breeder's cup classic, becoming the first jockey in history to win horse racing's grand slam--the triple crown and the breeder's cup classic.
victor espinoza
american pharoah faced a field of 10 horses, most of whom, including keen ice, he had previously defeated. espinoza had concerns at the starting gate when he noticed that his mount was already sweating, even though the weather was not particularly hot. while the horse led for much of the race, he was hard-pressed throughout by frosted, a change from frosted's previous stalking style, attributed to a rider change less than an hour before the race, when jose lezcano replaced an injured joel rosario, altering the "complexion" of the race. the unexpected tactics of lezcano may have been decisive. espinoza stated that he "knew he was in trouble" by the half-mile pole because american pharoah did not pull away from his rival and lacked his usual energy. frosted challenged american pharoah for the lead at the far turn, and the horses bumped several times, but american pharoah dug in and fought back when frosted took a very brief lead. while american pharoah fended off the challenge from frosted, keen ice was coming up on the outside, also under a new jockey, javier castellano. they overtook american pharoah at the sixteenth pole, going on to defeat him by three-quarters of a length. once again the saratoga track lived up to its reputation.
american pharoah