How The Beautiful American Pharoah ‘Sports Illustrated’ Cover Photo Came To Be

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Belmont, N.Y., the world witnessed history, the birth of a new American hero and a renewed sense of hope in the sport of horse racing that we hadn’t seen in 37 years. The man responsible for capturing all this in a single image is Sports Illustrated deputy photo editor Erick Rasco. American Pharoah, the winner of last Saturday’s Belmont Stakes and the first Triple Crown since 1978, graces this week’s cover of the magazine.

In an article on SI.com, Rasco tells the story of how he captured the iconic moment, and how the astonishing photo he captured for the cover actually wasn’t planned at all.

“During the race I had no view of the track. The crowd had begun to stand on chairs and benches,” Rasco said. “The only way I knew to fire the camera as American Pharoah approached the finish was from the intensity of the crowd around me yelling and cheering. Based on that, I fired a burst of frames from my camera. I didn’t see any of the horses at the finish. I hoped I timed it right with the crowd guiding me.”

The same article reference’s the magazine’s cover story by Tim Layden, which captures the historic day masterfully.

[Source: Deadspin/Sports Illustrated]