The last time there was a Triple Crown coronation, President Barack Obama was still in office, Princess Charlotte was a month old and the long-suffering Cubs had not won a World Series since 1908.
The drought before that lasted so long — 37 years, in fact — that many began to believe that horse racing’s grand sweep would never again be accomplished.
Enter American Pharoah, who effortlessly floated around the expansive Belmont Park oval in 2015, then turned for home and hit the gas, pulling away from the field to send the capacity crowd into a prolonged state of euphoria.