American Pharoah: What Does The Future Hold For The Triple Crown Winner?

With a time of 2:26:65, American Pharoah became the 12th horse to win the Triple Crown. The last horse to do this was Affirmed in 1978.

The owner of American Pharoah, Ahmed Zayat, does not want the racing days of American Pharoah to end.

“I personally have made a promise to my family and to the fans before anyone else: We need to enjoy our stars and race them as long as we possibly could. As long as Bob is telling me he’s healthy and he has it in him, I would like to enjoy him as much as I have him.”

After winning the Preakness, Zayat sold the stud fees to Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky. Speculation is the deal was worth over $25 million.

Reiley McDonald, with Eaton Sales, a thoroughbred consulting firm, spoke to International Business Times about the stud value.

“At the end of the day, the real money in these horses is when they become proven stallions, [which] have offspring that are running in the top races. People then pay multiples of the starting fee when they started off the race track.”

Ownership of American Pharoah still lies with Ahmed Zayat, while the horse is still racing. But now that Coolmore has invested a substantial amount of money in American Pharoah, will Coolmore have a say about future races?

The stock of American Pharoah is as high as it can go. No benefit can come to Zayat by continuing to race the horse. The value of American Pharoah will decrease if he does not win every other race that he runs. In the worst case scenario, an injury in a future race could lead to the putting down of the horse, bringing the value to nothing.

Does the sport of horse racing need American Pharoah to continue to race?

When Secretariat won the Triple Crown in 1973, the horse continued to race as part of a victory tour. That victory tour for Secretariat brought the horse racing industry millions of dollars and put the industry back on the map.

Zayat may feel that he needs to do the same type of victory tour with American Pharoah.

Winning the Triple Crown is an extremely rare feat. By showcasing the newest member of the Triple Crown club, horse racing could see another growth period like it did after Secretariat.

Do you think American Pharoah should continue to race?

[Image via Rob Carr/Getty Images]