Saturday’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga was supposed to be another checkmark win in the stunning three year old season of American Pharoah. Unfortunately, Keen Ice and Frosted had the temerity to think they could beat the undoubted three year old champion. It turns out one of them actually did it.

The race did not unfold exactly as the handicappers predicted. Here is the description of American Pharoah’s race from the NYRA chart:

AMERICAN PHAROAH came away in good order, went straight to the front, set the pace inside through the opening quarter-mile, moved off the rail onto the backstretch, came under increased pressure by FROSTED with six furlongs to run, was coaxed along now on even terms passing the half-mile pole, raced a touch off the rail while urged along inside of FROSTED on the far turn, entered the stretch against the rail and head to head with the aforementioned rival, fought on when put to a right-handed whip inside the three-sixteenths, shook off FROSTED inside the furlong marker but was quickly challenged by KEEN ICE, led until near the sixteenth-pole, switched to a left-handed whip while being overtaken and missed. 

The chart, like the race, was anticlimactic. “American Pharoah missed,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders, promptly sticking his nose in the racing form in the hope of actually figuring out what the hell happened.

The public was for the most part unhappy with the outcome, never considering their king was, after all, not invincible. It’s never pretty to watch your heroes turn ordinary.

But what did happen? Did American Pharoah’s breeding finally catch up with him? After all, he was not supposed to be a mile and a quarter horse, much less a Triple Crown winner. I suspect if the Lords of Racing had their way, they wouldn’t have been that upset if someone to ran out on the track and Tonya Harding’d Keen Ice at the eighth pole. (Save your comments. It was meant as humor.)

Was it all the plane rides between California and the east coast? He had actually put on a little weight between the Haskell and the Travers, and the uncanny Maggie Wolfendale pronounced him better looking than she remembered from the Belmont. His Saratoga gallop had people glowing about his gorgeous stride, as usual.

Was it the unexpected pressure from Frosted, a horse he had already bested twice? American Pharoah had already shown his versatility and proven he was not a need to lead type. Respected handicappers stated that Frosted did what he had to do if he wanted to win the race. With all due respect, there was no strategy Frosted could have employed to beat American Pharoah, but I will grant you that Frosted did not take the easy way out by trying to sew up second place money. Like Rocky Balboa, he went toe to toe with the champ and lost the decision. No shame in that. Whether his strategy cost Pharoah the Travers, it almost certainly cost Frosted the place.

Was it the rail that did the champ in? I had one handicapper state with religious conviction that being pinned on the rail was the reason Pharoah’s tank was empty by the eighth pole, blaming the suddenly $15,000 poorer Victor Espinoza for a bad ride. I’m not buying the bad ride explanation. I didn’t think Pharoah ever looked like he was slogging down low, for quite a bit of the race he was off the rail, and the one thing that caught my eye was that he contnually held a straight running line, not weaving like a tired horse might. I read later that NYRA appeared to even groom the track to favor the inside speed.

I don’t think it was any one thing. I especially don’t think it was the “graveyard of champions” explanation. Yes, Man O’War and Secretariat fell to lesser horses at the Spa, but for every “upset” I can counter with 20 champions that did exactly what they were supposed to do. When you see 20% winning favorites instead of 35% at Saratoga, I’ll give the graveyard hypothesis more weight.

I never really knew how good Pharoah was before the Triple Crown. I smugly expected him to hit the wall in the last eighth of a mile in the Derby. Instead, he freaked and overpowered the field. Even after he marched home triumphant in the Belmont, I found it hard to embrace he was just that good. Don’t get me wrong. The Triple Crown was and is a grand achievement, and Pharoah clearly proved he was the best of this spring’s three year olds.

It is the fate of racing fans to look for the explanation. One guy found it in Espinoza, another with the short time between the Haskell and the Travers. I’m happy thinking, he didn’t have it that day, but unlike my thoughts on California Chrome (he beat nothing in the Derby, was far more physically mature in May than his competition, was simply one of a few good three year olds by the fall, and was no way, no how horse of the year) I’m not going to have a problem seeing Pharoah get the horse of the year. All in all, I’m not sure the Travers meant anything more than it was just not his day. He was not, in automative parlance, firing on all cylinders. I’m not sure I need to know more than that. He got beat plain and simple. He is still a great horse, never the equal for me of the other Triple Crown winners I’ve witnessed, but a Hall of Fame horse nonetheless. At his best, I wonder if he has an equal in 2015. If he runs in the Classic, he’d likely be favored on my line.

Many racing pundits believe that having a superstar horse is essential to revive racing. They are, of course, wrong. The chance there will be a Triple Crown winner will bring people to their TV sets to watch the race, much like the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team got big ratings when they clobbered Japan in the World Cup final. Since that day I’m pretty sure I’d be safe in saying women’s soccer hasn’t gotten scads more exposure on ESPN or Fox. Although I suppose 15 minutes of national fame is better than regular folks wondering, American who? The reality is that TV will cover an event, but the Belmont didn’t permanently turn thousands of new fans toward the sport.

After the race Ahmed Zayat sounded like an owner panicked about seeing some of the potential $40 million in annual breeding fees evaporate, swearing that if there was a hair out of place on Pharoah’s mane, the horse would not run again. This would be the real travesty for racing. To be a champion, regardless of the sport, you take on all comers until there is no one left to challenge your claim to the title. For Pharoah to be the true champion he needs to defeat the best horses racing in the Breeder’s Cup Classic. I believe he still has something left to prove and unless he really is physically unable to perform, I believe the Zayat’s owe us the opportunity to find out for sure if he is the undisputed champion.