NEW YORK — This is how greatness is defined. Three victories in five weeks at three tracks in three states against half a dozen fresh pursuers.
That is how American Pharoah did it before 90,000 celebrants here Saturday evening, going wire-to-wire to pass the daunting "Test of the Champion" and become the first thoroughbred in 37 years to claim the Triple Crown, winning the 147th Belmont Stakes by 5½ lengths ahead of Frosted.
"I was hoping it was going to happen," said trainer Bob Baffert, who finally won his first Crown in his fourth attempt after his frisky floater ran away from the field to join 11 previous Crown champions, the most recent of them Affirmed in 1978. "I didn't know how I would feel. Now, I do."
The victor in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, who had won his previous six races by a total of more than 30 lengths, became lucky No. 13 after the previous 12 contenders had failed, most recently California Chrome last year.
"I came here with a lot of confidence, more confidence than any time I'd been here," said jockey Victor Espinoza, who came up short with War Emblem in 2002 and also with California Chrome but rode American Pharoah home in 2 minutes, 26.65 seconds over the 1½-mile course, the sixth-fastest time in race history and 15-100ths of a second faster than Affirmed's clocking. "That trophy cost me a lot of stress trying to get it but the third time is the charm."
Although history was against him — no odds-on pick since Affirmed had won the Belmont and no favorite since Afleet Alex in 2005 — American Pharoah had everything else going for him. He had a fast track, unlike Pimlico's quagmire. He had a good draw — No. 5. And he'd beaten every rival in the field.
"In the jock's room I drank some [energy drink] and then I feel so good and I said, 'I hope American Pharoah feels like me!' And he did," said the 43-year-old Espinoza. "He's just an amazing horse."
Since 1978, a dozen contenders who had won the first two legs had fallen short in the longer Belmont, frequently beaten by rested rivals.
Although American Pharoah was competing in his fourth race in eight weeks, he appeared surprisingly spry for a thoroughbred who was shipped from Louisville on Tuesday.
"There is wear and tear," said owner Ahmed Zayat, "but if you look at him you don't see it."
Last year, when he also had the odds-on favorite in California Chrome, who dead-heated for fourth, Espinoza knew after the first workout that he had a tired mount beneath him.
"I learned that if the horse is not ready there's not much I can do in the race," he said. "If the horse is ready then I'm ready. My job can be more easy."
Espinoza, who'd ridden him to six straight victories, said that he wouldn't need anyone to tell him whether American Pharoah was ready to make history.
"As soon as I sit in the saddle I will know if he's ready or not," he said. "Then I'll find out."
No Triple Crown winner had done it without having previously raced at Belmont but Baffert, who sent his horse back to Churchill Downs after the Preakness, knew as soon as he saddled him in the paddock that his horse was prepared to open the throttle.
"Warming up he was class, all class," said Espinoza.
American Pharoah, who was first into the gate, shot out cleanly. Espinoza, who'd also gone wire-to-wire in the Baltimore slop, quickly took him to the rail and never looked back.
"That's a [heck] of a horse," saluted Gary Stevens, the three-time Belmont winner whose mount Tale of Verve finished seventh after finishing second in the Preakness. "The race was over in the third jump from the gate."
After a quarter of a mile American Pharoah was a length up on Materiality, who halved the margin after half a mile. By the mile, though, the favorite had opened his lead to a length and a half. By the stretch it was two and a half and nobody was going to catch him.
"I dropped my hands and he just took off," said Espinoza after American Pharoah had posted the biggest margin since Afleet Alex won by seven lengths. "It's just an amazing feeling that you have when you're 20 yards from the wire. And then at the wire I was like, 'I cannot believe I did it.' "
Steve Coburn, California Chrome's co-owner, predicted after last year's loss that he wouldn't see another Triple Crown winner in his lifetime if challengers were allowed to bypass the Preakness.
Six of them did this time but the one who'd checked all three boxes put himself alongside Sir Barton, War Admiral, Citation, Secretariat, and the rest of them.
"The name American Pharoah," Baffert said, "will always be remembered."
John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.