Well, he came within 3.
No, he is no Secretariat. I’m not sure he is even an Assault. But we’ll see.
I’m pleased as it is!
And I guessed 5. I based that mainly on the fact that his (AP's) Preakness time was nearly 4 seconds slower than last year's California Chrome's Preakness time. And Chrome wasn't/isn't anything too special. However, AP's winning time in the Belmont is one of the fastest ever. Too bad about his first race, fading to 5th, beaten 9 lengths under jockey Martin Garcia. It was the horse's only loss. Victor Espinoza has been perfect on him ever since.
Let’s compare Secretariat’s Triple Crown win to American Pharaoh. Also we’ll look at Sham’s times. In the Kentucky Derby Big Red set world record of 1:59 to AP’s 2:03. The great Sham also ran 2:00, the third fastest time in Derby history. In the Preakness Secretariat ran 1:53 to AP’s 1:58. The great Sham also beat AP again with a time of 1:55. In the Belmont Secretariat ran 2:24, a still standing world record for a mile and half on dirt. AP ran 2:27, 3 seconds slower than Big Red, which equates to a 15 length victory for the great Secretariat if he ran in the 2015 Belmont. Sham was spent in the race trying to keep up with Big Red and finished last. BUT in the other two Triple Crown races, Sham’s time was better than American Pharaoh. Sham would have probably won the 2015 Triple Crown.