October 31, 2015: Horse Racing's 1st "Grand Slam"

October 31, 2015: American Pharoah wins the Breeders' Cup Classic, the highlight of the annual Breeders' Cup meet, held this year at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky.

On May 2, 2015, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, at 3-1 odds, American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby, in 2 minutes, 3.02 seconds, by 1 length over Firing Line. Two weeks later, on May 16, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, at 9-10 odds, he won the Preakness Stakes, in 1 minute, 58.46 seconds, by 7 lengths over Tale of Verve.

Since Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978, there had been several near-misses, horses winning the Derby and the Preakness, but not the Belmont Stakes, the mile-and-a-half "True Test of Champions." Spectacular Bid had failed in 1979, Pleasant Colony in 1981, Alysheba in 1987, Sunday Silence in 1989, Silver Charm by 3/4 of a length in 1997, Real Quiet in a photo finish in 1998, Charismatic due to an in-race injury in 1999, War Emblem in 2002, Funny Cide in 2003, Smarty Jones by 1 length in 2004, Big Brown due to an in-race injury in 2008, I'll Have Another scratched from the Belmont due to an injury in 2012, and California Chrome due to an in-race injury in 2014. Racing fans were wondering if they would ever see another winner.

On June 6, American Pharoah was loaded into the paddock at Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, New York, just over the City Line from Queens, at odds of 3-4. There was no injury, no fade, and not even any drama: He won by 5 1/2 lengths over Frosted, in a time of 2 minutes, 26.65 seconds.

The idea for the Breeders' Cup was proposed at the 1982 awards luncheon for the Kentucky Derby Festival by pet food heir John R. Gaines, a leading Thoroughbred owner and breeder who wanted to clean up the sport's image.

The event was created as a year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing, and also attracts top horses from other parts of the world, especially Europe. The Cup was initially faced with much skepticism in the racing community, but with the vocal support of legendary trainer John Nerud and others, the event was carried out, and subsequently experienced tremendous popularity domestically and abroad.

The feature race is the Breeders' Cup Classic, a mile and a quarter like the Kentucky Derby. Usually, it is won by a horse that has won at least 1 of the Triple Crown races, although the 1st winner, Wild Again, didn't even enter any of those races, but held off 1983 Three-Year-Old Male Champion Slew o' Gold and 1984 Preakness winner Gate Dancer at Hollywood Park outside Los Angeles.

American Pharoah was the 1st Triple Crown winner to whom the Classic was available. On Halloween, October 31, 2015, at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky -- practically home soil -- he won by 5 1/2 lengths, in 2 minutes, 0.07 seconds, by 6 1/2 lengths over Effinex. Thus, he became the 1st winner of an American thoroughbred racing "Grand Slam." Through the 2021 Classic, he remains the only one.

It was his last race. Unlike many 3-year-old champions, he did not have a money-making 4-year-old season, and was immediately retired to stud. As of October 31, 2022, American Pharoah stands at Ashford Stud farm in Kentucky. Most of his descendants who have gone on to race have done so outside the United States, winning races in Britain, Europe and Australia.

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October 31, 2015 was a Saturday. This was also the day that the University of Miami's football team beat Duke University, then ranked Number 22 in the country, 30-27 at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina, on a controversial final play. It became known as "The Debacle at Durham." I have a separate entry for that vent.

Among the other college football games played that day:

* Number 1 Ohio State had the week off. They blew the Big Ten and National Championships by losing to Michigan State.

* Number 2 Louisiana State also had the week off. LSU blew the Southeastern Conference and National Championships by losing their next 3 games, to Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi.

* Number 3 Clemson beat North Carolina State, 56-41 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina. Clemson went on to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title.

* Number 4 Alabama had the week off. They won the SEC West Division title, and moved on to the SEC Championship Game.

* Number 5 Texas Christian had played 2 nights before. TCU beat West Virginia, 40-10 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. Losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State cost them shots at the Big Twelve and National Championships. They did win the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

* Number 7 Michigan State had the week off. The won the Big Ten title, but lost the Cotton Bowl to Alabama.

* Number 8 Stanford beat Washington State, 30-28 at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Washington. Stanford won the Pacific-Twelve title.

* Number 9 Notre Dame beat Number 21 Temple, 24-20 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Notre Dame went on to beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

* Number 10 Iowa beat Maryland, 31-15 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Iowa finished 2nd in the Big Ten, but since Champions Michigan State qualified for the National Championship Playoff, Iowa got the league's Rose Bowl bid, losing "The Granddaddy of Them All" to Stanford.

* In the rivalry known as "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party," Number 11 Florida beat Georgia, 27-3 at EverBank Field (now TIAA Bank Field) in Jacksonville. Florida won the SEC East Division, but lost the SEC Championship Game to Alabama.

* Number 12 Oklahoma State beat Texas Tech in a wild one, 70-53 at Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Yes, that's a football game, not a basketball game. Losses to Oklahoma and Baylor cost TCU shots at the Big Twelve and National Championships. They went on to beat Mississippi in the Sugar Bowl. Texas Tech went to the Texas Bowl in Houston, but lost to LSU.

* Number 14 Oklahoma beat Kansas, 62-7 at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas. Oklahoma won the Big Twelve Conference title, but lost to Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Clemson then lost the National Championship Playoff to Alabama.

* In a rivalry for the Little Brown Jug, Number 15 Michigan beat Minnesota, 29-26 at TCF Bank Stadium (now Huntington Bank Stadium) in Minneapolis.

* Among the service academies, Navy beat South Florida, 29-17 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland; Air Force beat Hawaii, 58-7 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu; and Army had the week off.

* In a rivalry for the Old Bourbon Barrel, Tennessee beat Kentucky, 52-21 at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky.

* And Rutgers lost to Wisconsin, 48-10 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. Who's the money-grubber -- or the masochist -- who thought that RU joining the Big Ten was a good idea?

Game 4 of the World Series was played at Citi Field in Queens. Tim McGraw, country music superstar and son of New York Mets (and Philadelphia Phillies) legend Tug McGraw, both sang the National Anthem and threw out the ceremonial first ball. As far as I know, no other person has ever been given both honors at a major league game.

Michael Conforto's home run gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the 3rd inning, and another Conforto homer in the 5th made it 3-1. He is the only Met ever to hit 2 home runs in a World Series game. As late as the top of the 8th, they led the Kansas City Royals 3-2.

But for the 4th straight game -- actually, the 5th, since they did it in Game 5 back in 2000 -- the Mets blew a lead in a World Series game. Tyler Clippard walked the 1st 2 Royals in the 8th. With Jeurys Familia brought in to pitch, Daniel Murphy, the Mets' biggest postseason hero thus far, made a key error that allowed the tying run to score. Mike Moustakas singled home the go-ahead run, and the Royals tacked on another. Yoenis Céspedes, the other big Met hero of the season, got doubled off 1st base following a soft line drive to end it, in a 5-3 Royals win.

The Mets had thrilled the baseball world the last 3 months. Now, they were clowning their way to an ignominious defeat.

There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Washington Wizards, 117-110 at the Capital One Arena in Washington. Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points for the Knickerbockers, and that wasn't even close to making him tops in the league for the night.

* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Memphis Grizzlies, 101-91 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 134-120 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. Steph Curry scored 53 points for the Dubs.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Indiana Pacers, 97-76 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Sacramento Kings, 114-109 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Blake Griffin scored 37 for the Clips.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 101-90 at the Moda Center in Portland.

And there were 10 games in the NHL: 

* The New Jersey Devils beat the New York Islanders, 3-2 in a shootout at the Prudential Center.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-1 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Florida Panthers, 2-1 at the BB&T Center (now the FLA Live Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the winning goal with 1:16 left in overtime.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Ottawa Senators, 5-3 at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild, 3-2 at the Scottrade Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis. David Backes scored the winning goal with 34 seconds left in overtime.

* The Dallas Stars beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-3 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* In the Battle of Alberta, the Calgary Flames beat their arch-rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, 5-4 at Rexall Place (as the Northlands Coliseum was then known) in Edmonton.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators, 4-3 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena, which hosted the Clippers later that night). Jeff Carter scored the winning goal with 18 seconds left in overtime.

And in England's Premier League, North London team Arsenal went to Wales, and beat Swansea City, 3-0 at the Liberty Stadium (now Swansea.com Stadium).