Throughout the long history of horse racing, we’ve seen multiple horses that shocked the world with their performance, one of which is the American Pharoah. American Pharoah began his professional racing career in 2015, after a couple of wins at the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby.
This opened up a spot for the horse at the Kentucky Derby. At that time, the horse showed impressive speed but not everyone believed that he is going to win the derby. After an impressive run in the Kentucky Derby, American Pharoah also won the Preakness Stakes, and the shot of winning the Triple Crown has opened up.
At that time, the world hasn’t seen a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, but American Pharoah stormed on the Belmont Stakes becoming the second-fastest in the history of all Triple Crown Winner.
However, after winning the Triple Crown series, where most horses would retire, American Pharoah went on to win the Monmouth Park and the Haskell Invitation. But that is not all. American Pharoah also attended the 2015 Breeders’ Cup and won, becoming the first horse ever to win all four grand slam races. The Breeders Cup, which last year according to TwinSpires, happened in the Del Mar race track, was at the time held in Keeneland.
American Pharoah Retirement
After winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with trainer Bob Baffert, American Pharoah retired from professional racing, and the owners had plans for starting his stud career. The breeding rights of the American Pharoah were sold to Ashford Stud and some reports suggest that his breeding rights exceeded $20 million.
With such impressive history in horse racing winning some of the biggest races in the world, it is expected that the stud fees of the American Pharoah could go to more than $100,000, which means that the horse was worth more than $50 million.
At the beginning of 2016, Ashford Stud set its initial stud fee at $200,000 making it the second-highest stud fee in the United States after Tapit’s $300,000 fee.
American Pharoah Stud Career
American Pharoah’s stud career began immediately after his retirement in early 2016 and within the first two months, American Pharoah had about 80 mares in foal after 100 breeding sessions. His breeding career was going well, especially after that amazing display of skills the previous year which opened up a lot of demand.
Foals and Mares
One of the first foals from American Pharoah was born in January 2017 from a four-year-old Tizway mare. In November of the same year, the American Pharoah filly sold for $1 million at Fasig-Tipton at Keeneland.
The average price for five weanlings at the sale was close to $500,000. The same was in 2018 when a yearling colt by American Pharoah was sold for $1 million.
Since these colts were born in 2017 and 2018, we’ve already seen some of them on the big racing scene.
Where is American Pharoah Right Now?
American Pharoah currently stays at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud Farm in Kentucky, as they bought his breeding rights before his Triple Crown win.
American Pharoah also spent some time at Coolmore Australia during the southern hemisphere’s breeding season covering 150 mares. Then this legendary horse was moved back to Kentucky until he returns to Australia the next year.
As of now, American Pharoah is available to the public and you can book a private tour or go to the stud farm in Kentucky to take some pictures. Ashford Stud offers tours that typically include seeing American Pharoah, but there are no guarantees on any tour since the appearance of the horse depends on the horse’s health and welfare.
American Pharoah is now a calm horse and friendly enough to take pictures with adoring fans. He is now enjoying the well-deserved life of a champion with the best possible care after his exhausting year of success.
So, if you want to see probably one of the fastest horses that ever lived, and a record holder for a grand slam win in 2015, make sure to book a tour at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud Farm on your next visit to Kentucky.
