Trained by Dallas Stewart, Tale of Verve finished second in that race to American Pharoah. It was reported this weekend that American Pharoah’s next race will be the Travers Stakes in Saratoga.
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He got off the van, walked about a dozen laps around the shedrow, stopped to pose for photos from about 100 media people and onlookers, then got a bath before being put in stall 11 of barn 25.
This horse is so dominant that he hasn’t really been tested since the Kentucky Derby, which is why I’m confident the Zayat Stables-owned horse can end the streak and reverse the curse of the “Graveyard of Champions”. American Pharoah typically jogs the first day after traveling, but he instead went for as good-looking a “light” gallop as you could see, with exercise rider George Alvarez aboard. American Pharoah, at current odds of 1-5, is the overwhelming favorite in the solid 10-horse field starting from the second post. If he starts, the purse of the 1 1/4-mile race increases by $350,000 to $1.6 million, with the victor earning $850,000.
Each of the 10 horses competing in the Travers will carry 126 pounds.
American Pharoah’s career earnings.
Everything has to go smooth for him. “We’re coming in there ready, but we don’t take anything for granted”. We’ve analyzed the contenders in this race time and time again. You still need some racing luck.
But for a horse like American Pharoah, the trip involves a little bit more than 55-minute layover in Phoenix and a 63-minute stop in Philadelphia.
In two days, on August. 28, an exclusive training session is scheduled for Travers horses at 8:45 to 9:00 a.m. ET. All reserved seats as well as general attendance are sold out; it will be impossible to gain entrance without a ticket.
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NBC will broadcast a special two-hour telecast starting at 4:00 p.m. “There are going to plenty of parties, plenty of activities all throughout the region”.
