American Pharoah has earned his retirement

As an animal lover, I, along with untold millions of others, watched the Belmont Stakes with a wondrous feeling of hope, anticipation, anxiety and a nagging fear of impending disappointment over the result of a horse race.

But WHAT a horse race! For 37 years we have seen our hopes dashed over the expectation of seeing, in our lifetime, another winner of the "Triple Crown," one of the rarest feats in all of sports. And it happened; it finally happened.

Ironically, however, and fittingly, among the 90,000 humans cheering our hearts and lungs out that Saturday, the sole object of this adulation had absolutely no idea what the fuss was all about, or what he had just accomplished. All this magnificent piece of horseflesh, American Pharoah, knew was that he had just gone for a pleasant romp with a few friends, doing what they were all born and bred to do - to run; run like the wind, and did he ever.

He will now have the best of everything a horse could possibly want - the lushest grass and oats to munch, the sweetest hay to bed down in, a cool shower and rubdown every morning and a picture-perfect pasture, probably somewhere in the rolling bluegrass countryside of Kentucky, to kick up his heels whenever he wants, and the ability to run, and run, as free as can be.

No worries, just a wonderful life head of him. He deserves it. How beautiful.

Walt Mars

Campton Hills