Just three years ago, American Pharoah became the first horse in 37 years to win the #TripleCrown.

Starting the day after American Pharoah's victory at the Belmont, everyone in Saratoga was buzzing with excitement hoping that the owners and trainer would bring American Pharoah to the Historic Saratoga Race Course, the oldest sporting venue in the United States.

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) took the lead in all efforts to attract American Pharoah. We, at the Chamber, pledge to help them in any way we could. Since this was the first time a horse had won the triple crown, there was no modern day expectation or tradition to follow and thus many believed it was a long shot to get that amazing horse to race in Saratoga.

From their offices at the corner of Broadway and Divison Street, in Saratoga Springs, our friends at Fingerpaint Marketing decided to help NYRA and the Chamber. They convened a group of their best and brightest marketing minds to invent a campaign that our community could embrace and utilize to establish a grassroots effort to invite American Pharoah to Saratoga. The idea is that of all the sports venues vying for such a visit that the people who love horse racing the most would have a voice and a message that would positively impact the decision makers.

They presented us with the campaign: It was called "#Pharoahtoga."

The first time we unveiled signs, costumers, and the #pharoahtoga hashtag was on the first Saturday of the Saratoga Race Meeting. ESPN was doing a live broadcast from the race course near the paddock. NYRA produced the signs and costumes. The Chamber helped secure volunteers. The volunteers stood behind the broadcast booth and every time they went live the assembled race fans chanted "Pharoahtoga" as loud as possible. It was a scene you'd generally see in one of ESPN's college game day productions. 

Local media picked up on this effort. So did people on social media. Next thing we knew, the owners and trainers were being asked about Pharoahtoga. More signs were made and t-shirts. Pretty soon everyone in Saratoga was talking about and posting about #Pharoahtoga. It became a grassroots movement. And it helped to get American Pharoah to come to Saratoga. 

On the Friday before the Travers, American Pharoah was brought out onto the Saratoga Race Course for a warm up. There were at least 15,000 people on hand at 7:30 a.m. for this walk which turned into a short run. The hashtag #pharoahtoga was trending that morning. During the NBC broadcast of the Travers, we're told that the word #pharoahtoga was mentioned more than two dozen times.

American Pharoah lost to Keen Ice in the Travers that day thus confirming the Saratoga Race Course as the "graveyard of champions." After all, even Secretariat lost here to a horse named Onion in 1973.

So on Saturday night, after Justify became just the 13th horse ever to win the Triple Crown, our Chamber President's cell phone started to buzz. News Channel 10 wanted to know what it would mean to Saratoga if Justify decided to visit. Mark Mulholland, of New Channel 13, tweeted at the Chamber and at Todd Shimkus asking if the Chamber was preparing a campaign to attract this great horse to our community.

Richie Snyder, our VP for Marketing, had already Tweeted at Justify, his owners, trainer and jockey congratulating them on this victory and inviting them to Saratoga.

Now it is Monday, June 11th, and we've been working the phones. We're trying to find a campaign theme that will allow locals to band together to show our desire to have Justify come to Saratoga this summer. We're talking to local officials, local businesses, and our friends at Fingerpaint. We know that NYRA is doing everything they can as well. 

As soon as we have a campaign in place, please rest assured we will be sharing both the what can be said and how to say it so that we can shine a spotlight on the Saratoga Race Course as the best place for Justify to race this summer.

And if Justify can win the Triple Crown and the Travers this year, he would become only the second horse to do so. The other being Whirlaway, in 1941!