ARCADIA, Calif. – Mike Marlow, assistant to trainer Bob Baffert, was home from a full day’s work when American Pharoah walked into the starting gate for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday. Marlow, who heads the stable’s division at Los Alamitos, was settled in his living room, anxious to see if American Pharoah could sweep the Triple Crown. At the same time a few miles away, Wes Champagne kept busy on the Santa Anita backstretch. Champagne, the horseshoer who cares for American Pharoah, was reluctant to take a break from work, moving through his appointments in the stable area. At post time, he stopped at trainer Tim Yakteen’s stable office in front of the television. “I worked right up till then,” Champagne said. ”I was too nervous.” When American Pharoah went wire-to-wire to become the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, Marlow and Champagne achieved lifelong goals. They have played key roles in the colt’s success. Marlow, 50, oversaw American Pharoah’s initial training in Southern California. American Pharoah was based with Marlow at Los Alamitos from May to early July 2014 before the colt made his debut at Del Mar last August. Marlow directs a 55-horse stable at Los Alamitos, consisting mostly of unraced 2-year-olds or horses returning from layoffs. Early impressions were favorable regarding American Pharoah. “He’s a good-looking horse, but you couldn’t say that he was a Triple Crown winner,” Marlow said at his stable at Los Alamitos on Sunday. “He did always look good though. We all knew that.” When American Pharoah was sent to Baffert’s division at Del Mar, expectations soared. “Bob got pretty excited right away,” Marlow said. During Saturday’s race, Marlow’s confidence grew when he saw how easily American Pharoah was traveling under Victor Espinoza. “What impressed me was down the backside, he had his ears up,” Marlow said. “He was galloping like he was in an open field. The ones behind him were running with their ears back. It was like, ‘Come catch me if you can.’ ” Marlow was not even a teenager when Affirmed won the 1978 Belmont Stakes to sweep the Triple Crown. At the time, Marlow’s involvement with horses was through his family’s show horses in southern Illinois. Marlow has worked for Baffert for nearly six years, and the two men have a low-key relationship. Marlow saddles horses at Santa Anita or Los Alamitos for Baffert if both the trainer and his primary assistant, Jimmy Barnes, are unavailable. Marlow said he talks with Baffert “if something goes wrong.” Otherwise, they communicate through modern conveniences. “I text him my works and give my opinion of the horses,” Marlow said. Marlow has an extensive background as an assistant for trainer D. Wayne Lukas in Southern California in the 1990s and into the 2000s. He briefly trained on his own in the 1980s at Fairmount Park and in Southern California through most of the 2000s before joining Baffert. With Lukas, Marlow experienced the Triple Crown in 1999 with Charismatic, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes but was third in the Belmont Stakes. Charismatic was pulled up with a career-ending leg injury after the finish of the Belmont Stakes. “That was bittersweet,” Marlow said. Champagne said he needed a few minutes to collect his nerves after the Belmont Stakes before resuming work. “I couldn’t stop my heart beating for five minutes,” he said, pounding his chest with his fist. Late Sunday morning, Champagne had his equipment truck parked outside of Baffert’s stable, sorting through shoes soon to be applied. He reached into a supply of used shoes to show an example of the plate used for American Pharoah’s front left shoe. American Pharoah bruised the frog of that foot earlier this year, and the plate, a four-inch-wide piece of aluminum, protects the bottom half of that foot. Champagne traveled to Churchill Downs twice in recent weeks to tend to American Pharoah’s feet, including a trip May 28. He said working underneath American Pharoah is easy. “He’s a pussycat,” Champagne said, his voice barely a whisper. Champagne, 57, has spent his adult life in racing. He was exercising horses at Santa Anita in Affirmed’s year and started shoeing horses in 1980. Through the years, he has gained a reputation for his ability to work with horses with tender feet. Champagne began working on American Pharoah last September, when the Baffert stable returned to Santa Anita from Del Mar. “I always wanted to shoe a Triple Crown winner,” he said. The admiration for American Pharoah’s accomplishments stretched throughout the racing game in Southern California, including from a man who nearly accomplished the feat in 2014. Art Sherman, who trains 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome, watched the Belmont from the Vessels Club at Los Alamitos. California Chrome finished fourth in the Belmont Stakes last year, giving Sherman an even greater appreciation for Saturday’s result. In the hours after the Belmont, Sherman sent a congratulatory text to Baffert. “I said, ‘Great job,’ ” Sherman said. “I was happy for him. It was really exciting for racing, I think. We know the Triple Crown is tough. That’s why it had been 37 years. I appreciate a horse that can do that. It means a lot.”