victor espinoza was the jockey that won the triple crown on american pharoah.
victor espinoza was the jockey that won the triple crown on american pharoah.
who was the jockey that won the triple crown on american pharoah?
victor espinoza
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
three days before the race, american pharoah's connections drew the no. 5 post position for the horse. pundits noted it was the same slot from which seattle slew had won the 1977 belmont and the triple crown, and that 14 other belmont winners had started from the position. american pharoah was the 3–5 morning line favorite in an eight-horse field that included tale of verve, as well as five rivals from the kentucky derby who had skipped the preakness, and one horse, madefromlucky, who had not run either of the previous triple crown races, but, like tonalist the previous year, had instead won the peter pan stakes at belmont park. american pharoah had previously defeated every horse entered, but he was also the only horse to contest all three legs of the triple crown and had run four races in the preceding eight weeks.
american pharoah