ARCADIA, United States (AFP) — American Pharoah’s run to Triple Crown glory gave jockey Victor Espinoza a taste of pop culture celebrity, but he’ll be happy to be back in the saddle tomorrow as the colt caps his career with a Breeders’ Cup Classic bid.

With Espinoza in the irons, American Pharoah became just the 12th horse and the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.

The rare feat put horse racing back on the map in America, at least temporarily, and brought Espinoza a short-lived reality TV stint on Dancing With The Stars.

“It was a really different experience for me,” Espinoza said, adding the demanding training for the show was harder than controlling a thundering thoroughbred.

“When I first signed on, I thought it was going to be easy and fun,” he said. “Oh man, it was really, really hard. More mentally than physically, because I’m in good shape, but training so many hours, my mind was, like, crazy.”

He was voted off the show by viewers after three dances, but as he met the press last week at Santa Anita racetrack near Los Angeles, where American Pharoah was putting in his last serious workouts before shipping to Lexington, Kentucky, for the Breeders’ Cup, Espinoza was pleased at the prospect of rejoining his more familiar partner.

“I’m excited for the Breeders’ Cup,” said the 43-year-old Espinoza, who isn’t worried that American Pharoah’s legacy could be tarnished by a defeat in the US$5 million Classic.

“We already made history,” he said. “Every race I ride him is just like an extra bonus for me at this point.”

Pharoah is the first Triple Crown winner to have a chance to add a Breeders’ Cup win to his resumé, since the event wasn’t inaugurated until 1984.