They bought face-value tickets online and arrived just in time Friday morning to see American Pharoah’s final workout in 34-degree weather.
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No need to stash his favorite snack of peeled baby carrots in their pockets anymore. That’s as much as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes combined. It started hitting me about a month ago, and it hits me when we talk about it. He’s been terrific to me.
For evidence, look to the 20,000 people who turned up to watch him train prior to his last race; the fact his jockey Victor Espinoza appeared on the recent “Dancing with the Stars” TV series; and the Twitter fan account with 10,000 followers and rising. It’s a change that I’ve been looking forward to.
Baffert said, “I feel fortunate that I’m the one that had him”.
While McLaughlin likes what he’s seeing from Frosted, he was cautious about his prospects of beating American Pharoah, whose early speed gives him an advantage. Kathleen O’Connell has Lady Shipman in the Grade I $1 million Turf Sprint (Race 4, 12:45), and Jorge Navarro starts Private Zone in the Grade I $1.5 million Sprint (7, 2:50).
Ireland-bred Bawina was scratched from the Filly & Mare Turf by trainer Carlos Laffon-Parias. It will be the horse’s final start before he retires for stud duty at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., next year.
Finally, I was at the launch of the Curragh redevelopment on Wednesday and it’s great to see it get to that stage.
“We brought one so he could pay for expenses”, Baffert said. Her blood work from Monday morning came back good, but she didn’t eat up last night and this morning she had a low-grade temperature.
“I told him to keep him happy and stay in his groove”.
Ever a bundle of nerves, enthusiasm and lots of words, the Egyptian-born Zayat wanted to win the Kentucky Derby for himself and his family. He’ll be facing older males for the first time today.
Two Casse-trained horses came up short earlier in the Breeders’ Cup, as Airoforce finished second in the Juvenile Turf and Conquest Daddyo was 14th in that same race. The front-running bay lost in the Travers Stakes on August 29 to closer Keen Ice, who’s also in this race, and another loss would end his lustrous career on a double downbeat.
In the two juvenile races, it’s a tale of two cities when it comes to favorites.
Win or lose, the Classic will cap American Pharoah’s record but not rewrite his history, NBC analyst and Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey said.
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Tonalist, the 4-year-old who dashed California Chrome’s Triple Crown bid in 2014 with a thrilling victory at the Belmont Stakes, is the second choice at 4-1 for Saturday’s Classic in the absence of Beholder. “It takes a brilliant, special horse to stand up in the Classic”, he said. “This should be pay-per-view”. “I love the fact that it was never in doubt, and so we could all celebrate the last eighth of a mile as he just cruised to the wire”. Against a bucolic backdrop of autumn-colored trees and sloping green acres, numerous competing horses were born, bred or raised at farms within 50 miles of the stately track, famous for its big-money horse auctions.
