American Pharoah was made the 6-5 morning line favorite based on his wins in the Triple Crown and Haskell Invitational. However, he lost the Travers Stakes in late August, after which his owner Ahmed Zayat had contemplated retiring the horse. "My gut's saying if the horse showed me he's tailed off, that he's not the Pharoah I know, then there's no question in my mind that the right thing is to retire him," said Zayat shortly after the race. "He doesn't owe me or anybody anything." A few days later, Zayat had reconsidered and announced that American Pharoah would race once more. "The champ deserves another chance. He won the Triple Crown and deserves to be in the sport's premier year-end event." American Pharoah came into the Classic off a two-month layoff and was also facing older horses for the first time. The Breeders' Cup Classic was first run in 1984, whereas the last Triple Crown winner before American Pharoah was Affirmed in 1978. Therefore, 2015 was the first opportunity for a horse to complete what journalists dubbed the "Grand Slam": winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont and Breeders' Cup Classic in the same year. Beholder was second choice on the morning line at 3-1, having won six straight races including an impressive win against males in the Pacific Classic. As Beholder had a similar running style to American Pharoah, she had been expected to press the pace. However, Beholder developed an illness a few days before the Classic and had to be scratched. Liam's Map, winner of the Woodward Stakes, would have been a strong contender in the Classic but his connections elected to run in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile instead. The remaining rivals for American Pharoah were:
Hard Aces – 50-1 – winner of the Gold Cup at Santa Anita
Honor Code – 6-1 – winner of the Metropolitan Mile and Whitney Handicap
Smooth Roller was a late scratch due to a tendon injury.
Race description
Without Liam's Map, Smooth Roller and Beholder in the race, American Pharoah was expected to be able to get an unchallenged lead, which would allow him to set a comfortable pace and make it harder for others to close ground. Accordingly, his odds shortened from 6-5 on the morning line to 3-5 at post-time. Honor Code became the second favorite and was expected to make a strong late run, but a slow pace would make his task more difficult. The race played out much as expected. American Pharoah broke well and took command, demonstrating a high cruising speed that kept him in the lead while conserving energy. Only Effinex stayed close, with the two running one-two for the entire race. American Pharoah pulled away in Keeneland's long stretch to win by over six lengths while setting a track record. Honor Code made his expected late run but finished well back in third. After the race, Zayat commented: "I said it once and more than once that this race was only about American Pharoah – we wanted him to go out as a winner just for the horse. He had run so hard and brilliantly for such a long time. I doubt we will ever see a horse who is able to take what he has done in terms of shipping in and out and going to seven or eight different tracks. He doesn't care about the surface or where he is sitting, he just does it all." "He gave everyone what they came to see today," said his trainer Bob Baffert. "I've never seen anything like him; I've never trained anything like him. I'm just glad Pharoah goes out the champ he is."
