His eyes looked so scared before the race, and he wears ear plugs because loud sound upsets him. I think he runs fast to keep from being bitten again by the horses chasing him, it must have hurt, and horses need their tail to shoo away flies. When he hits full stride it is gorgeous and it appears that he really enjoys being ahead of the other horses not just fear. So glad he has given joyful moments to people cooped up inside during bad weather.

I suspect he won't have that happen to him. He's way too valuable as a stud horse. I heard on the news that he will probably make around a $100 million in stud fees. No one in their right mind is going to want to put that at risk.

Just so you know...The horses here live in stables that are nicer than some of the houses folks live in. There is a tremendous amount of money that goes into buying, training (and all that goes with that), and raising a horse until it can be raced. The owners would not jeopardize their investment or their income by mistreating this type of horse. It's a unique business. I'm not saying I love all aspects of it, but overall, these horses are treated very, very well. I'm proud of it and look at the positives, not the negatives. In this case, I feel the positives outweigh the negatives. No, I don't own a horse, but our neighbor has three and they are well cared for and not abused in any way. I'm please American Pharoah has a connection to where I live.

I do know that they're treated very well, but all in all, by the time they're 2, and sometimes younger than that, since all they're "birthdays" are Jan. 1st, regardless of WHEN they're actually born, they're saddle broke and racing.

Sparkys mom, I'm not saying that they'll run him until he breaks down, but you never know if something will happen, like a broken leg or such and have to be put down, and yes, they'll make tons of money putting him up for stud.

Most of the great race horses have an instinct to "go fast" and love racing just like the guys do in the cars. They love it enough to be the best at making their owner proud

I've been a horse racing fan since I was a little girl. LOVED Secretariat. I still have a newspaper picture of him in one of my old scrapbooks. Loved that American Pharoah broke through and won the triple crown. I don't think for a minute that he is treated badly. Horse racing is not perfect, but what sport is?

As we watched the race and he won by 12 1/2 furlongs, I told my husband he had to have Arabian bloodlines. So I looked it up. I had an Arabian gelding for 17 years that I raised from a colt. The Arabians are raised for endurance and can go long distances. Quarter horses are good racing for a quarter mile. That's why they call them that. My horse had such a big, giving heart and would have let me ride him into the ground if that what I would have asked of him. Of course, I never did. I loved him dearly and was heart-broken when he died. He's buried in our pasture.
I knew American Pharaoh had Arabian bloodlines when I saw him run. He wasn't even tired or sweating hard at the finish line! He has huge hindquarters and great, wide shoulders. I loved seeing him run. I think he enjoyed it. Any crowd screaming like that would rattle anyone or any animal. I glad they figured out to use the cotton in his ears. He was magnificent!!

Read the last paragraph of the article below!!
[h=1]Darley Arabian[/h]From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


[TABLE="class: infobox biota, width: 22"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TH="bgcolor: #D2B48C, colspan: 2, align: center"]Darley Arabian[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ey_Arabian.jpgThe Darley Arabian stallion painting by John Wootton
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Sex[/TH]
[TD]Stallion[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Colour[/TH]
[TD]Bay[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH]Owner[/TH]
[TD]Thomas Darley[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TH="bgcolor: #D2B48C, colspan: 2, align: center"]Awards[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2, align: center"]Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland (1722)[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]
The Darley Arabian was one of three dominant foundation sires of modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock, the other two being the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk. This bay Arabian horse was bought in Aleppo, Syria, byThomas Darley in 1704 and shipped back to Aldby Park in England, as a present for his brother.[SUP][1][/SUP]
There he stood at stud, usually private but sometimes open to outside mares. He was Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1722. By all accounts, the Darley Arabian stood about 15 hands high and was of substantial beauty and refinement.[SUP][2][/SUP]
The Darley Arabian sired the undefeated Flying Childers. He also sired Bartlett's Childers, an unraced brother of Flying Childers, who was the great-grandsire of the extremely influential Eclipse. The Darley Arabian was to become the most important sire in the history of the English Thoroughbred.[SUP][2][/SUP]
In 95% of modern Thoroughbred racehorses, the Y chromosome can be traced back to this single stallion.[SUP][3][/SUP][SUP][4][/SUP]
Many famous horses such as Secretariat, Affirmed, Whirlaway, Man o' War, Seattle Slew, Citation, Ruffian, California Chrome, American Pharoah, and many more famous Thoroughbreds can be traced back to Darley Arabian.
[h=2]References[edit][/h]

• Jump up^ Whyte 1840, p. 79.
• ^ Jump up to:[SUP]a[/SUP] [SUP]b[/SUP] Ahnert, Rainer L. (editor in chief), “Thoroughbred Breeding of the World”, Pozdun Publishing, Germany, 1970
• Jump up^ Cunningham, E. P.; Dooley, J. J.; Splan, R. K.; Bradley, D. G. (2001). "Microsatellite diversity, pedigree relatedness and the contributions of founder lineages to thoroughbred horses". Animal Genetics 32 (6): 360–364. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2052.2001.00785.x. PMID 11736806. edit
• Jump up^ "95% of thoroughbreds linked to one superstud". New Scientist. 6 September 2005.

[h=2]Bibliography[edit][/h]

• Whyte, James Christie (1840). History of the British turf, from the earliest period to the present day, Volume I. London: H. Colburn. Retrieved 1 May 2013.

[h=2]External links[edit][/h]

• http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/DarleyArabian.html
• http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Bios/DarleyArabian.htm
• Thoroughbred Heritage: Darley Arabian Sire Line
• Sire line for 15 generations

Quiltjoey...thanks for the info on AP.....quite a bloodline....explains his energetic speed!...and now that Y chromosome will continue........

My daughter has a quarter horse....great animal! Loves peppermint candy!!!!!

For the first half of the race, I thought that the two horses who rested from the 2nd race might beat him but then he pulled away like Secretariat did. I scream in joy when he finished the race (hope I didn't disturb my neighbors!). Guess a lot of people are not cashing their winning ticket instead selling them on eBay for $100.

There is a video online that I found that shows a split screen of the races run by American Pharoah and Secretariat. Can't remember how I found it but you can probably google it.