It happens, without fail, every spring.

As certain as the flowers that bloom in spring, on the first Saturday in each May a horse will come around that captures the fancy and imagination of a nation and gives life to some amazing dreams.

On Saturday, it happened once again, with a slightly different twist.

This time, maybe, just maybe, all of those hopes and wishes might finally be realized for the first time since the days when Jimmy Carter was president of the United States.

When American Pharoah dug down and repelled a final surge from Firing Line and won the $2 million Kentucky Derby by a length for owner Ahmed Zayat and his family-operated stable, he did it in a manner not usually seen in the opening leg of the revered Triple Crown.

As gallant a victory as it may have been by a horse good enough to be sent off as the 5-2 favorite ($7.80), a case can be made that we have still not seen the best of American Pharoah.

After winning Churchill Downs' Run for the Roses for a fourth time, trainer Bob Baffert said his 3-year-old star was "fresh." Perhaps too fresh.

"I wanted to make sure that when that gate came open he would just get it on and get with the program. So I might have had him just a tad fresh," the Hall of Fame trainer said.

What that means is that unlike some Derby winners, such as Orb in 2013, who look unbeatable at Churchill Downs and never won another race, American Pharoah's best days may be ahead of him.

Dare anyone say he's so talented and has so much still untapped ability that he might be the long awaited hero who ends an insufferable 37-year Triple Crown drought? With this colt, going out on a limb seems a reasonable risk.

He came into the Derby off just two prep races in 2015, ridiculously easy wins in the Arkansas Derby and Rebel at Oaklawn Park. They were his first starts since he was a 2-year-old, when was voted a champion despite missing the Breeders' Cup Juvenile due to injury, and he barely worked up a sweat.

The Kentucky Derby marked the first time at 3 that American Pharoah actually had to work hard in a race and he passed test, beating a field acclaimed as one of the best in the race's 141-year history.

"He's always shown he's different," Baffert said about a colt whose lone loss in six starts came in his first start, "and today we saw it."

The horse who finished third on Saturday was American Pharoah's pace-setting stablemate, Dortmund, the 4-1 second choice who came into the race with a spotless 6-for-6 record for owner Kaleem Shah.

In second was Firing Line, the 9-1 fourth choice who on two occasions had lost by a head to Dortmund, and won the Sunland Derby by 14¼ lengths in his previous race.

Closing mildly for fourth was Frosted, who had won the Wood Memorial so impressively he vaulted from a bit player to the wise-guy 10-1 fifth choice in the wagering.

A case can be made that the best horses in the race all fired their best shot and the best horse won -- like a superstar should.

"I came with good horses before," said Zayat, whose horses had given him the heartbreak of three runner-up finishes in the Derby since 2009. "But I felt today I came in with a star. I was very cautious of saying that because I wanted the horse to do the talking."

What American Pharoah said was deafening.

Cruising in third behind Dortmund and Firing Line, he did not launch a breathtaking move, a la Secretariat. He rallied from outside those two to gradually draw even with the leaders and was in the center of the track as he began to edge away.

While Dortmund weakened along the rail, the gritty Firing Line took one final run at American Pharoah, but Zayat's homebred son of Pioneerof the Nile, who was second in the 2009 Derby, repelled it and was drawing clear at the end as he covered the mile and a quarter in 2:03.02.

"The other horse [Firing Line], he was kind of tough, I tell you," said jockey Victor Espinoza, who registered back-to-back Derby wins and the third of his career. "But ... turning for home, I knew I got it, it's just a matter of time. I kind of rode him a little bit harder in the last eighth of a mile. The last sixteenth, I knew I got it done."

Next comes the Preakness in two weeks time at Pimlico. The short turnaround could pose a problem for American Pharoah, yet the horse that was "fresh" at Churchill Downs will now be battle-tested and perhaps even more formidable in Baltimore. Like the batter who fouls off that one fat fastball from a Cy Young-caliber ace, the 3-year-old class might have missed their chance to beat American Pharoah.

"I'm looking forward to the next race," Baffert said.

At this point, early in the spring, it's not foolish to think his fellow 3-year-olds might swing and miss in the next two Triple Crown races at the high heat from a horse that has sparked glorious dreams since his early days at a racetrack.

"From Day 1 we felt that he had brilliance to him," Zayat said. "His demeanor, his aura, his conformation, the way he moved. I've never seen Bob in the past hype a horse for me. Bob told me, 'Oh, my God, this is something. We're going to have a lot of fun with this horse.' He believed -- he believed dearly in him.

"I've always felt that if this horse remains sound, he would win the Derby. And I've never felt this way."

For Zayat and his family, finally corralling that elusive victory in the Run for the Roses generated an outpouring of emotion. Ahmed said his wife, Joanne, cried. His son, Justin, a college student at New York University who serves as the stable's racing manager, threw up.

"[American Pharoah] is a freak of nature," he said. "And, for the first time, I'm seeing him right now working, working hard. And I knew that, if he had the lead, nobody will catch him. He has such a brilliant speed. I start getting really, really nervous. And my wife starts crying. Like, literally, in seconds that emotion went from somebody who is crying out of fear that they're going to take it again from us to actually you have done it. Tears of joy. It was like a euphoria of emotions. I still cannot believe it."

And to think, after such an emotionally draining day, there's still the Preakness ahead of them, and if all goes well there, there's the Belmont Stakes and a chance for the first Triple Crown sweep since 1978.

It promises to be quite a journey, though in a sense that's to be expected. Wild dreams always seem to bloom on the first Saturday in May.