Baffert Hopes American Pharoah is Horse of a Lifetime

Bob Baffert and American Pharoah, the horse he hopes will win the elusive Triple Crown. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
By Tom Pedulla, America’s Best Racing
For racing fans, the incredible joyride that is a try for the Triple Crown is about to begin. There is nothing like this challenge in all of sports. American Pharoah must travel to a third different track to race at a third different distance as the 1 ½-mile Belmont Stakes follows the 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby and the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes. And he must pass each test in the breathtaking span of five weeks.
For Bob Baffert, who trains American Pharoah, all kinds of anxieties are about to begin. There are times when he has almost made the Derby and the Preakness look easy. He owns four Derby triumphs; he bagged the middle leg half a dozen times from only 17 starters.
The Triple Crown? As he takes his fourth crack at the historic sweep last accomplished when Affirmed thrice repelled Alydar in 1978, he understands how many ways there are to lose and how incredibly difficult it is to win.
In 1997, Silver Charm looked to have the rough-and-tumble makeup to get the job done for Baffert. He was all grit and courage in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. If he saw a foe range up beside him, he found another gear and shook him off. The trouble was that Silver Charm never saw Touch Gold rallying well outside of him. If he did catch a glimpse, he was left with no time to respond as Touch Gold clipped him by three-quarters of a length.
In 1998, Real Quiet looked to have the explosiveness to get the job done. When Kent Desormeaux asked him for run, the response was enormous and typically overpowering for the rest of the field. When Desormeaux called on Real Quiet in the Belmont, the horse was there. He moved out to a four-length advantage at the eighth pole. He looked to be home free. But Victory Gallop making a steady charge under Gary Stevens, and he ate into Real Quiet’s commanding margin with every stride. He nailed him at the finish, leaving observers to wonder if Desormeaux moved a blink too soon.
REAL QUIET

Photo by Horsephotos
In 2002, Baffert burner War Emblem looked to have the speed to pass the famed “Test of the Champion.” Once the starting gate snapped open, he possessed a turn of foot that made him nearly impossible to catch. War Emblem fell victim to his own high-keyed temperament in the Belmont, though. He was so eager to get on with it that he stumbled badly out of the gate. That Triple Crown try was over almost before it even began as Sarava sprang a 70-1 upset. Faltering War Emblem, resentful of not being in his customary position on the lead, wound up 19 ½ lengths back.
Perhaps American Pharoah will be the horse that has it all for Baffert. He showed a willingness to sit off the pace in the Derby and the fight to slug it out with Firing Line in a stirring stretch duel that went his way by one length. He showed speed and adaptability in a front-running seven-length romp against Tale of Verve in the Preakness on a Pimlico Race Course surface that suddenly turned sloppy following a pre-race downpour.
Baffert knows that fresh horses await in the Belmont. “I know everybody right now is sharpening their knives getting ready,” he said as soon as the Preakness was over and the Triple Crown buildup began. American Pharoah is the 14th horse since 1978 to take the first two legs in a bid to join Affirmed and the 10 other Triple Crown champions who had it all.
Perhaps American Pharoah is the horse Baffert has been waiting a lifetime for.