American Pharoah draws crowd for workout
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.—There was gridlock outside the track at 7 a.m. EDT Friday, and drivers gladly paid $7 to escape the traffic and park on somebody’s front lawn. An estimated 15,000 fans poured into Saratoga’s grandstand, and perhaps 3,000 mobbed the backstretch.
All of them there to see a very fast brown horse.
Such is the drawing power of American Pharoah, whose Triple Crown sweep has made him a mainstream obsession. A local cable station broadcast live for a half-hour, showing Pharoahites packed three deep on the rail all the way down the backstretch.
As a security guard said: “He’s a big celebrity.”
Pharoah stepped on the track at 8:50 and galloped about a mile and a half on a cool, sunny morning. After hearing cheers and applause as he passed the finish line with exercise rider Georgie Alvarez, he was back in the barn 10 minutes later.
“I feel very happy with the way he went today,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He’s very happy here. This is beautiful horse country. I think he thinks he’s at camp.”
After being walked for 15 minutes, it was bath time, a photo op for hundreds. “It’s a Kodak moment,” Baffert said shortly before Pharoah preened when he heard the clicking cameras. When he gave a full-face pose and a profile, a woman said, “Aw, how cute.”
Baffert calls him “a baby around the barn and a beast on the racetrack.” The 1-5 morning-line favorite will be expected to go into beast mode today against nine rivals in the Travers Stakes (NBC, 3-5 p.m., 4:46 post time).
The New York Racing Association raised the purse from $1.25 million to $1.6 million as long as Pharoah starts. Although that makes second place worth $270,000 instead of $230,000, it also makes victory far less attainable. There isn’t much pace in the race, so jockey Victor Espinoza may try to repeat his wire-to-wire Belmont Stakes and Haskell runaways.
Dallas Stewart, who trains Preakness runner-up Tale of Verve, admitted, “If American Pharoah runs his race, we’re all running for second.”
Kiaran McLaughlin will saddle Belmont runner-up Frosted, the 6-1 second choice. He wasn’t thrilled with Sunday’s announcement that Pharoah was coming. “We were hoping he would go to (the Pennsylvania Derby) or somewhere else,” McLaughlin said. “We’re sitting on go but I don’t know if we’re good enough. We just need some racing luck and hope that (American Pharoah) isn’t as good as he’s been.”
Trainer Keith Desormeaux and jockey Kent Desormeaux, his younger brother, will try for the upset with Jim Dandy winner Texas Red, third choice at 8-1. If you’re into trends, four of the last six Jim Dandy winners took the Travers, and last year only a nose kept Wicked Strong from making it five.
After a foot bruise forced Pharoah to skip the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall, Texas Red crushed it by 61/2 lengths. A foot abscess forced Texas Red off the Derby trail, and his trainer thinks he’s ready to peak in his third start off a layoff.
“Once we saw we couldn’t make the Triple Crown, we had our eyes on the Travers,” said Keith Desormeaux, who like Kent started on the “rules are for fools” Cajun bush tracks in Louisiana. “Pharoah seems bulletbut it seems we’ve got a good combination of freshness and experience. We’re hoping that’s to our advantage.”
Dale Romans’ deep closer, Keen Ice, chased Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby (seventh, by 83/4 lengths), Belmont (third, by 71/2) and Haskell (second, by 21/4). At least he’s gaining on him.
“I want to thank (NYRA CEO) Chris Kay,” Romans said, “for capping the crowd at 50,000 and limiting the number of people who are going to boo my horse.”