Well, it finally happened. American Pharoah did what so many before him over the last 37 years had attempted and failed to accomplish. A Triple Crown winner, the first since Affirmed in 1978, when the game was so vastly different to what it is today that the achievement bridges a gulf of time to reflect upon.

This year's Triple Crown preps were notable for producing a number of high-class contenders, and, coincidently, it was the first year of mostly all-dirt trials since major tracks in California, Kentucky, and Dubai abandoned synthetic surfaces for the real thing.