For the first time since the “miracle in the mud” longshot Mine That Bird won the Kentucky Derby in 2009 and just the third time in the past 11 years, a thoroughbred will be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, with American Pharoah’s ride to glory (and a lot of cell-phone photos, apparently) getting its deserved prominence on the front of the hallowed sports magazine.

The cover is accompanied by Tim Layden’s cover story which, if the attached cover quote means anything has already appeared online. It’s a tremendous, must-read piece of sportswriting.

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

Pharoah joins Mine That Bird and Smarty Jones (2004) as horses to appear on the SI cover in the past 11 years. That ties horse racing with tennis, boxing and snowboarding for covers over that stretch and puts it below NASCAR (eight), cycling (five), skiing (five) and nearly nine times fewer covers than football has had in the past 12 months (26). The snowboarding, I can get on board with. (Pun INTENDED. High five!) That’s barely a sport. It’s more like an activity. But for tennis and boxing to have the same amount of covers as a horse galloping around a track is criminal.

Not that SI should be begrudged their choices. Obviously, the NFL sells and few other things do (except swimsuit issues). But if the other athlete mentioned on American Pharoah’s cover (Serena Williams) doesn’t get a cover if she wins Wimbledon to cap a Serena Slam, then I’m canceling my subscription. (Not really. That would involve me getting on the phone with somebody, which I’m always loathe to do.) I mean, Serena, who is the greatest female athlete, if not greatest athlete in general, of her generation has one more cover than Anna Kournikova. C’mon now.

(AP)

(AP)