Staton Rabin-AP Victor Espinoza aboard Triple Crown champion Amiercan Pharoah heads down the stretch in the lead of the 2015 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in New Jersey. Zayat stated good trainers – like Pharoah’s, Bob Baffert – might forestall accidents as a result of they might inform if a horse wasn’t wholesome sufficient to run.
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People arrived from everywhere, decked out in the Zayat colors of turquoise and gold and American Pharoah foam fingers, breaking the park’s attendance record.
One group of followers had a greater perch: A few dozen ladies lined as much as see American Pharoah from the enormous home windows of the grandstand’s top-floor ladies’s restroom. However, after about half a mile, Mr. Jordan quickly dropped out while American Pharoah began to inch closer to the Todd Pletcher-trained Competitive Edge.
Now, perhaps it’s because his owner and trainer are so sensitive about his optimum distance and ground – having thought long and hard before running in the Derby and then pulling him out of the King George – but I just don’t get that same invincibility vibe from Golden Horn. “I might as well put a Global Positioning System on him”. The masses lingered past noon to catch glimpses of the Triple Crown victor schooling in the paddock. But the New York Racing Association has said it would bump the Travers purse from $1.25 million to $1.6 million if he runs there. With the barest of efforts, American Pharoah moved to the lead, six furlongs in 1:09 3/5, and went right on by Competitive Edge without effort. The Pennsylvania Derby on September 19 at Parx Racing was the one Baffert used last year to set up Bayern to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The clock is ticking to October. 31 and the running of the Grade I $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic, slated to be American Pharoah’s last race before he retires to the breeding shed.
Regardless of his next stop, whether Saratoga, Philadelphia or Southern California, he’ll need to stay healthy and train well before Baffert takes him anywhere.
“The horse loves to run”, Baffert said in the days leading up to the Haskell. At 11, I took care of 1 / 4 horse named Stardust for a pal of my mom’s and spent every single day on the secure.
The horses competed against each other in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.
After winning the first four races of his career in a 32-day span – the Derby, Preakness, Withers and Belmont – Sir Barton finished three lengths behind Purchase in the Dwyer at Aqueduct.
American Pharoah didn’t disappoint Sunday in his return to the races.
In the grandstand, a steady stream of customers bought American Pharoah t-shirts, hats and photographs. “Look, I’m not anxious about Saratoga or the surface or anything like that”. Baffert and owner Ahmed Zayat and their familes were leaving Jersey Sunday night. “I got a sticky hit you’re looking for on my up and coming album, at the end of the year”, he said.
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“I also want to thank the entire Monmouth Park team, who have worked tirelessly to make today the great success that it was”. Desormeaux’s assistant Julie Clark said Sunday at Saratoga. Christie must hope the racing fans are all Democrats when next year’s Republican presidential primary comes along.
