American Pharoah wins in what appeared to be a walkover –

even though there were some other horses in the race.

First let me say, he was terrific, doing exactly what was asked of him and certainly not under any urging to speak of.    This leaves so many questions about conditioning and advanced competition he will face.    I will ask you to consider this, if you had Dortmund, Firing Line, Carpe Diem, Tencedur, Frosted, Materiality and even Upstart  – wouldn’t they have looked equally awesome in defeating this none competitive group.   So we really didn’t learn anything.

I guess we are supposed to suppose – that he could have run much faster if he had been urged by either jockey or by competition.  But I know for an absolute fact – that nine out of ten times, we are talking a length or two at most, no matter how good the visual is.  Horses actually run to their form, they seldom gear themselves down, unless they are comfortable following a slow pace.  No such thing here, the pace was very fast with a 22 4/5 first quarter.  So once a good horse gets going – it’s usually what you see is what they got!   I have no negatives to offer, but I don’t see the positives that others are going to be chirping about.

This leads me to one more comment, about the track announcer, Frank M.  — who for the most part is very decent and capable.  But I absolutely cannot stand to hear Track Announcers go nuts telling the world how marvelous this horse is and fantastic and incredible — and you get my point.   Not everyone can manage to NOT BE INFLUENCED by the Track Announcer when they go over the top.  The Track Announcer should announce the race – it would be enough, more than enough to say he has widened on his field while under wraps to a 10 length victory in 1:48 2/5.   JUST THE FACTS, none of the hyperbole.