American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner's Legendary Rise
Written by Joe Drape
Narrated by Aaron Abano
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
History was made at the Belmont Stakes in Summer 2015 when American Pharoah won the Triple Crown title, the first racehorse to achieve the momentous feat since Affirmed in 1978. Pharoah was the crowd favorite, as spectators had anxiously anticipated the American Thoroughbred's victory, already a proven winner at the year's earlier Kentucky Derby and Preakness races.
By all appearances, American Pharoah has led a successful career, unmarred by any controversy as he was the undisputed champion-only twelve horses total in American history have won the Triple Crown. Unfortunately however, his training team has not fared nearly as well.
With accusations ranging from sour business transactions to poor gambling practices to active litigation with bankruptcy courts and other legal cases pending, his owner Ahmed Zayat has many rooting against him. The flamboyant Egyptian-American businessman has been leading a double-life that has threatened to overwhelm his small empire. Victor Espinoza, the famed racehorse's relentless jockey, left rural Mexico only to face harsh conditions on a farm where he had to overcome his fear of horses before learning that he had a gift for race riding. Finally, Bob Baffert, American Pharoah's trainer, has an interesting arc that includes tremendous wins, personal losses, and controversial medication violations.
Beginning with American Pharoah's modest showing at his first maiden race in 2014, New York Times sportswriter Joe Drape recounts the winning thoroughbred's explosive racing career by weaving in details of Zayat's questionable business practices, Espinoza's heartbreaking loss with California Chrome last year, and Baffert's temperamental, unreliable track record. By interviewing the parties involved and taking readers behind the scenes of the making of America's latest Triple Crown winner, Drape unfurls a tale "that transcends athletics, a story of adolescence and small-town life" (Publishers Weekly), and all the corruption, illegal gambling, and secretive business practices that can flourish in the shadows of greatness.
Joe Drape
Joe Drape is the author of the New York Times bestseller Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen, The Race for the Triple Crown, and Black Maestro. He is an award-winning reporter for The New York Times, having previously worked for The Dallas Morning News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, he lives in New York City with his wife and son.
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Reviews for American Pharoah
26 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I don't read many biographies, and I have never read the biography of a horse! The author did a good job of painting a picture of the personalities involved with raising and racing American Pharoah. Drape showed both the good and bad traits of the characters without moralizing. Also Drape did a good job of describing American in a way to get the reader excited about him winning, and explaining why it was such a big deal. Horse racing hadn't seen a champion in a long time, and needed something to revitalize the sport. I would have liked some more statistics, maybe from after he retired? Like how many of his progeny have been winners? But I think this book might have been published too early and hastily for that. I liked the narrator of the audiobook,
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I took advantage of Audible's offer during the Kentucky Derby and downloaded a free copy of the audiobook. I was able to watch on TV all three races American Pharoah won in the Triple Crown. Thus, I was fascinated by this behind the scenes look at a talented, competitive horse. It follows American Pharoah through his birth on to his successes. An honest look is taken at his losses and what was learned from them. I came away knowing more about the horse, his trainer, and all the people around him.The narrator for this audiobook did an excellent job and was easily understandable. I thoroughly enjoyed his narration.If you enjoy horse racing, you would probably enjoy this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Subtitled The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner's Legendary Rise, Joe Drape's American Pharoah is an essential for anyone who likes stories about super athletes. The horse who won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes races was the first Triple Crown champion in 37 years of Thoroughbred racing. Drape chronicles the saga of this beautiful animal and the humans who helped him make 2014 history.This book brings out the personality of American Pharoah. One sees a horse that was equiped to give all he had in competition with other horses. Self-described “luckiest Mexican on Earth” Victor Espinoza is portrayed as a jockey with a sense of how to get what was needed to make Pharoah excel. Trainer Bob Baffart is rightly shown as someone who could quickly and accurately pick up on the feelings of this horse when others could not. Owner Ahmed Zayat is pictured as one who bounced back from bankruptcy and then was blessed with a horse that ensured him of having big future wads of cash.Lovers of the sport of horse racing waited a very long time between Triple Crown achievements. The previous time there waa a Triple Crown victory was when Affirmed rode off with it in 1978. That accounts in large measure for why there was such celebrating of Pharoah's win. He was only the 12th horse in history get the Triple Crown. True fans of the sport revere the horse that now enjoys retirement at a Kentucky stud farm. This book is guaranteed to entertain all fans of the sport, and has a fair chance of stiring excitement among non-fans as well. It is real life drama. Drape does a good job of sparking renewed interest in a sport that excites inebriated Derby Day revelers in the Churchill Downs infield as much as it does those who follow the sport of kings by sipping mint julips on Millionaire's Row. This is excellent work by Mr. Drape.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In 2015, American Pharoah became the twelfth horse to win American thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, the first to do so since Affirmed in 1978. This is the story of his racing career, his breeding and training, and the owner/breeder, trainers, jockeys, and competitors that were apart of his journey to that accomplishment.
Horse racing can be a questionable sport with a lot of questionable people. Joe Drape doesn't focus on that more than he needs to, but also doesn't ignore it. A horse can't ask for a second opinion on whether the stuff his trainer wants him to take to help him perform better is either safe or legal.
But the horses are beautiful, and as long as there are no accidents on the track, it's a joy to watch them run.
There are a lot of colorful characters in racing, too, and the people around American Pharoah (I should mention that yes, that is the correct spelling of his name) are no exception. Breeder/owner Ahmed Zayat is Egyptian, an Orthodox Jew, and made his money selling beer in mostly Muslim countries. Trainer Bob Baffert is a Hall of Fame trainer, with a long history in the sport, loud, often arrogant, and intense. Jockeys Martin Garcia and Victor Espinoza rode him and played roles in his training, and have their own interesting life stories.
This is an enjoyable and interesting book, though it helps to have an interest in the geeky details of horse racing.
I bought this audiobook. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I knew nothing about horse racing, breeding, weaning, or training before beginning this book. I’ve been to a couple horse races and a few dog races, but not for probably 40 years.This book, however, made me fall in love with the entire sport. I never thought of these horses as athletes before, that has changed. Am I going to subscribe to a racing sheet or visit off-track betting venues? I seriously doubt it. But neither will I be morally outraged (as I think I subconsciously was) when I think of the sport.