Main Stream Media Awards- Are they in American Pharoah's future?

We all know that American Pharoah will receive the Eclipse 3yo colt and Horse of the Year honors in January when they are handed out in Florida. However, he also has a big chance to pick up some mainstream media awards this year as well. Both the Associated Press and Sports Illustrated are the ones that give it out, and the two that he is eligible for are the AP Male Athlete of the Year and SI's Sportsman/woman of the Year.

Neither award has gone to an animal (although Zenyatta was close twice in 2009 and 2010 for the AP Award, she lost to Tennis player Serena Williams and skier Lindsey Vonn respectively), in 1977 Steve Cauthen did win both of them before of course winning the Triple Crown the next year with Affirmed (he lost to the Yankees pitcher Ron Guidry for the AP Male and golfer Jack Nicklaus for SI the following year). So will this year be different? Here are the pros and cons to each:

Pros

First horse to win the Triple Crown in 37 years, the longest stretch ever between TC wins.

First horse to win the "Grand Slam" (Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup Classic), although in his defense he was also the first one in the BC era to try it.

Highest ratings in 20 years

Made people believe that the TC was still attainable

Cons

Horse racing is not in it's glory days anymore

Notable breakdowns and drug use have had people turn the backs on the sport

Many other good candidates this year

Overall, if Pharoah where to win one of these awards, the Associated Press one would likely be the more likely. Here's the reasons why behind that:

* The AP tends to choose "niche" winners, granted they have mostly been on the female side but that should help him this year especially where he is likely to face only 1 or 2 major contenders (basketball players Steph Curry and LeBron James).

* SI has not chosen a team since 2004, and the US Womens Soccer Team has a monster chance this year off of their World Cup win. Plus he will have to face Williams (who won 3 of the 4 Grand Slams for tennis, picking up the "Serena Slam" in the process), golfer Jordan Speith (the youngest to win the Masters since Tiger Woods and also won the US Open), and Curry (won the NBA championship and Regular Season MVP). Also UConn Women Basketball have an outside chance after winning their 10th National Championship (as a HUGE Huskies fan, this would be the only thing that would make me more happy then Pharoah winning).

Also the good news is that neither of these voted on by the fans, so there is highly unlikely going to be a repeat of the ESPYS where he (and the defending AP Male and SI Sportsman the SF Giants' Madison Bumgarner) where robbed by James (then again... he is LeBron) for Championship Performance.