George Ferguson Column: American Pharoah, please let me see a Triple Crown

If I’ve said in this column once, I’ve said it a thousand times, I’m a sports junkie. There isn’t much in the way of sports that I don’t care about.

In other words, name it and I’ve probably taken an interest in it.

And that includes the sport of horse racing. So yes, this Saturday is a big, big day for me.

By now, most know the name American Pharoah, but if you don’t, he’s the latest thoroughbred to win the first two legs of the famed Triple Crown … the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. That means that Saturday, in the Belmont Stakes, American Pharoah gets a chance to do something no horse, jockey, trainer, stable and owner has done since 1978, and that’s win the coveted Triple Crown.

The Triple Crown in America, which is part of what those in the industry like to call “The Sport Of Kings,” has been in existence since 1909, and in that time, just 11 horses have won it. Some of those horses are some of the most famous names in equine and animal history, horses like Omaha and War Admiral, who won the Triple Crown in the midst of the Great Depression and captured the hearts of so many Americans in an otherwise time of utter despair in this country.

And of course, the greatest race horse of all time, Secretariat, dominated the Triple Crown in 1973 and once again, held the breath and the heartbeat of the entire country, not just horse racing fans.

Now, I was born in 1975, two years after Secretariat’s incredible season. And since that time, in my 40 years on this year, just two more horses have won the famed Triple Crown — Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978. Of course, I was too young to be into horses and horse racing at that time, so my eyes have really not seen the historic Triple Crown happen.

Since I really got into the sport, I have started to wonder, much like I wonder about the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series every year, if I will ever see a Triple Crown in my lifetime.

And one of the biggest reasons why I have my doubts about a Triple Crown is because, as a race fan and a fan of horses in general, I’ve seen more than my share of failed attempts.

My first taste of just how big it becomes when a horse captures the first two legs of the Triple Crown was 1987 when Alysheba failed to win the Belmont. At the time, I had moved from my home in Montana to what seemed like a foreign country in Illinois. We lived in Illinois for just one year before returning to Montana, but as a seventh-grader, in a new school and a new town and a new state, I clung to my love of sports more than ever. Sports were my comfort zone at that time, and that spring and summer, on a small black and white TV in my bedroom in Taylorsville, Illinois, I fell in love with Alysheba and with the sport of horse racing.

And that became the first of many times a horse would break my heart.

Alysheba didn’t win the Triple Crown and just two years later, neither did Sunday Silence, who lost to Easy Goer by just a head in the 1989 Belmont.

From there, eight years would pass before there was a run of near Triple Crown misses. By the time Silver Charm, Real Quiet and Charismatic lost Triple Crown bids in the Belmont in three consecutive years, I was an adult, I had been introduced to riding horses by that time, and had a new appreciation and understanding for the sport of horse racing, including the world of gambling on horses, as well as the animals themselves.

And from there heartbreak went on.

There was another streak of three straight misses, with War Emblem, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones, from 2002-2004, and of course, there’s the story of Barbaro, who was widely considered the most dominant horse since Affirmed, but who broke his leg in the starting gate at the Preakness in 2006. That incident opened our eyes to just how fragile these animals are and how tough the sport of horse racing, and especially the three legs of the Triple Crown really is. The story of Barbaro not only broke my heart as a race fan, but as lover of horses and animals in general.

And the drought and heartbreak would go on from there. Big Brown broke down in the Belmont in his bid to win it all in 2008, and I’ll Have Another was smartly scratched from the Belmont in 2012, costing him the Triple Crown, but most likely saving his life in the long run. And of course, it was just a year ago this Saturday that California Chrome came up fourth in the Belmont, ending yet another Triple Crown bid in sadness and disappointment.

So now, here we are again, on the eve of the 2015 Belmont Stakes, and yet another Triple Crown is at stake. They say it’s a good sign when a horse wins the Preakness at an easier pace than he/she did the Kentucky Derby because that means that horse will likely have enough in the tank to run hard in the Belmont, the longest of the three Triple Crown races. And that’s exactly what American Pharoah did three weeks ago in the Preakness.

Still, one who has now seen as many Triple Crown misses as I have, and who loves to pull for these beautiful and majestic animals, can’t help but have doubts about American Pharoah’s chances on Saturday afternoon. I’ve just been disappointed one too many times.

But, the doubts I have about this year’s Triple Crown, or any that will come in the future, won’t change how much I love watching these animals run, and watching them try to achieve what now, 37 years since Affirmed, seems almost impossible.

Yes, I’ll be screaming at the TV for American Pharoah to make history Saturday afternoon. I can’t help it, I love horses. I think being from Montana makes me appreciate these great animals even more. And I love horse racing, and I love historic moments, and Saturday could certainly be one of them.

And, oh yeah, I’ll be screaming at the TV Saturday, cheering Pharoah on because I’m a sports junkie, and in the sports world, moments don’t get any bigger than the Belmont Stakes.

So what started out as boredom and lonlieness in my bedroom in Taylorsville, Illinois, in 1987, has now become a passion and another part of my love of all things sports.

So good luck on Saturday American Pharoah. I’ll be pulling for you, and I know I’m not alone.