American Pharoah in spotlight again
Since the evening of June 6, Justin Zayat can barely have a conversation that doesn’t eventually invoke the name of his family’s homebred colt.
When his girlfriend inquires how his day is going, Zayat, 23, a racing and stallion manager for Zayat Stables, laughs that he often responds with a comment about how great “Pharoah” trained that day. Because when you own the first horse in 37 years to sweep the Triple Crown, it’s only natural that colt occupies a large chunk of your moment-tomoment thoughts.
Since it also has been 37 years since a reigning Triple Crown winner made a subsequent start, Zayat has faced many queries in advance of the Grade I, $1.75 million Haskell Invitational today at Monmouth Park. American Pharoah, who became just the 12th horse to sweep the American classics, is set to make the 1-1/8-mile race his first start since his history-clinching Belmont Stakes win in June.
And everyone, his connections included, wants to know what a post-Triple Crown version of the bay
What: Haskell Invitational, a $1.75 million stakes races, Monmouth Park, Oceanport, N.J. TV: 5 p.m., WPXI. The skinny: Running for the first time since winning the Triple Crown, American Pharioah was made a 1-5 favorite. He has won 7 of 8 races in his career. colt can do.
The consensus is that the racing community is in for more of the same today as American Pharoah drew post No. 4 Thursday and was installed as the overwhelming 1-5 morning-line favorite over seven others set to go to post in a richer-than-ever Haskell.
In the eight weeks since American Pharoah’s 5½length Belmont Stakes romp, the son of Pioneerof the Nile has kept followers awestruck with the way he has maintained his matterof-fact brilliance, emerging from the five-week Triple Crown journey as good as any horse his Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has ever laid hands on.
American Pharoah’s six timed workouts since the Belmont have been their usual fluid exercises. So stoutly has this 3-year-old come into hand, that Baffert worked him three times in a span of 10 days from July 18-28, with the final one being 4 furlongs in 48.80 seconds at Del Mar.
“All my friends are like, ‘What are you expecting Sunday? Who is your biggest competition?’ And I’m like . ‘If Pharoah is Pharoah he’s going to win,’” Justin Zayat said. “I’ve never been so confident in running a horse as with Pharoah. He needs to be the horse everyone knows, that’s what we’re looking forward to.
“But it is a scary thought that this horse could get better. It’s crazy just watching him, every single work is like. ‘Oh my God, he’s doing it again.’”
Baffert has owned the Haskell over the past couple of decades, winning the race a record seven times beginning with Point Given in 2001. The legendary trainer warned postBelmont that if the racing world saw American Pharoah in the starting gate again, it would be because he knew the colt was sitting on go.