American Pharoah will be racing against seven other horses in the 147th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, but he'll really be running against himself.
Pharoah is the only horse in the Belmont field vying for the vaunted Triple Crown. After emerging victorious at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness in May, all that now stands between Pharoah and lasting glory is the Belmont.
Unfortunately for Pharoah and jockey Victor Espinoza, not only is history not on their side - he'd be the first horse since Affirmed, who accomplished the feat in 1978, to actually complete the equestrian racing world trifecta - science may also be working against them as well.
"For many horses, the time between the Derby and Preakness might not be enough time to heal completely, leaving them with even more muscular damage to deal with before the Belmont," writes Lexi Pandell of Wired.com.
Lasix, a drug first utilized by trainers starting in the 1970's, is a diuretic meant to help the horses avoid bleeding into their air passages - a complication many horses suffered in the face of consistent competition - by lowering the overall fluid volume in their bodies. Unfortunately, its short-term positive effects also come with longer-term negatives.
"An estimated 90 percent of racehorses now get it-the dropped water weight from its diuretic effect may also boost performance. (They are, literally, peeing like racehorses.) But horses on Lasix also lose 40 to 50 times more calcium, sodium, and other minerals than usual through that excess urine," writes Pandell. "Worse, horses on Lasix don't naturally become more thirsty to replace the vital fluids needed for recovery, so it takes a horse three days to return to its pre-race weight. By that point, horses still haven't re-balanced their electrolyte levels, which are essential for muscle conductivity and other bodily functions."
Not coincidentally, the Triple Crown drought started around the same time as Lasix's widespread use.
American Pharoah has the best early speed of his soon-to-be competitors and he's won six of seven lifetime races, including an absolute decimation of the field at the Preakness. In short, he's far and away the best overall horse of those competing at the Belmont.
Still, despite his physical dominance, there seems to be little hope that he can complete the Triple Crown.
"As the series has evolved, it is no longer fair to the horse trying to win it. Really good horses like Materiality and Frosted can run well in the Derby, skip the Preakness and have the advantage of rest over an even better horse like American Pharoah," Dick Jerardi of The Philadelphia Daily News notes.
Some, including Steve Coburn, co-owner of California Chrome, the horse expected by many to reach the Triple Crown last year, argue that the strategy of holding horses out of the Crown's first two races in order to increase the chances of emerging victorious from the third constitutes an extreme lack of sportsmanship.
"It's not fair to the horses that have been in the game since day one," Coburn said, via Pandell. "It's all or nothing. This is the coward's way out."
