American Pharoah 'Went Great' in Slop at CD
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Triple Crown hopeful American Pharoah continued his training for the June 6 Belmont Stakes (gr. I) by galloping 1 1/4 miles on a sloppy Churchill Downs main track May 25.
The son of Pioneerof the Nile went out at 8:30 a.m. EDT with Jorge Alvarez up.
"He went great," Alvarez said of Zayat Stables' Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands and Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (both gr. I) winner "He loves the slop."
Jimmy Barnes, chief assistant to trainer Bob Baffert, also was pleased with how the colt went in sloppy going. "He went very nice and looked good," Barnes said. "He likes an off track. Everything seems fine."
American Pharoah is two-for-two on an off track. His two wins in the slop came in the Rebel Stakes (gr. II) March 14 at Oaklawn Park and the May 16 Preakness at Pimlico Race Course.
Baffert is scheduled to fly to Louisville from California Monday night to oversee his string of 12 horses stabled at Churchill. Aside from American Pharoah, he has last year's Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) winner Bayern and 2014 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (gr. I) winner Hoppertunity in training at Churchill.
Barnes said Baffert would determine the morning of May 26 when American Pharoah would resume breezing. Baffert is expected to return to California later Tuesday.
In other Belmont Stakes news, Conquest Stables' Conquest Curlinate jogged and galloped one mile with exercise rider Jorge Balbuena in the irons for trainer Mark Casse; Christopher Dunn, Glenn K. Ellis, and Ron Paolucci's War Story galloped 1 1/2 miles with exercise rider Marvin Orantes up for trainer Tom Amoss; and Jerry Crawford's Keen Ice galloped 1 1/2 miles with exercise rider Faustno Agular in the irons for trainer Dale Romans.