On the morning after winning horse racing's Triple Crown, American Pharoah met the media.
In an extraordinary moment at the Belmont Park stables, American Pharoah's trainer, Bob Baffert, invited reporters to pet the horse. The moment was captured by Todd Schrupp, the horse racing anchor for TVG Network who started his career as the track analyst at Canterbury Park in the early 1990s.
"In all my years of being involved with racing, 28 years, never witnessed something like that," Schrupp said. "All the media members were astonished."
Schrupp, who went to high school in Chaska, was among those working near Barn One at Belmont early Sunday morning to report on the day after for the first Triple Crown winner since 1978.
Later in the morning, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who trained 2010 Belmont winner Drosselmeyer, came by for a visit with American Pharoah and Baffert.
And if you saw the the horse and trainer on TV this morning, this is what it looked like while they were waiting to go on with an NBC crew.
This is not typical horse behavior, Schrupp said in a Twitter message about his photos.
"It's not just Baffert allowing the access, it's the fact the horse was docile enough to be so accommodating," he wrote. "Very unique personality for a horse of his caliber."
