American Pharoah Preparing For Big Week

American Pharoah gallops at Churchill Downs on Sunday. (Photos by Melissa Bauer-Herzog)
Taking advantage of the special 8:30 a.m. training time set aside for the two Belmont Stakes contenders still stabled at Churchill Downs, American Pharoah walked the short distance from trainer Bob Baffert’s barn to the gap as the tractors were exiting the track. Before starting his morning exercise, the colt stopped to pose for the legion of fans wanting his photo while Baffert looked him over.
American Pharoah jogged the wrong way around the track to get to the front side where he paused before turning around and galloping about a mile and a half with Georgie Alvarez aboard. Flying in last night so he could supervise the works of many of his top horses stabled at Churchill Downs, Baffert watched American Pharoah exercise and confirmed that the plan is still to breeze the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m.
“He looks like he’s holding his weight pretty well and his energy’s pretty good so … that’s the main thing,” Baffert said. “He looks very healthy and he’s happy, he looks like he’s getting ready to work. He knows when he’s getting close to a work so he’s getting a little tough on them. When they hit the quarter pole [Alvarez] said he wanted to take off so he’ll breeze tomorrow sort of like he did last week and that should be it for him. The night before I work, I don’t sleep very well but I’m looking forward to it and hoping that it goes like it did last week. [Last week] went really smooth and I could tell he was really enjoying it.”
Baffert said the biggest challenge for American Pharoah in the Belmont is going to be keeping him focused on the backstretch since it is so long but he believes the field will be bunched together, helping keep the horse’s attention.
“I think most of the horses in there, they’ll all be close together so it’ll be like a herd of horses going together,” he said. “Everybody sort of watches each other, no one really wants to move. Some guys will start moving a little early … but I don’t worry about that, that’s not my job. That’s [jockey Victor Espinoza’s] problem. “There are some nice horses who are waiting. I think they are going to be tough. Todd [Pletcher’s] horses, they are tough, Frosted looks pretty good and we still don’t know about the horse from Dubai, he could be a real stayer, he’s bred to go that far.”
AMERICAN PHAROAH AFTER SUNDAY'S GALLOP

When asked if he thinks American Pharoah is the horse to break the 37-year Triple Crown drought, Baffert pointed out that every Triple Crown hopeful has had many people answer in the affirmative. But as the Belmont approaches, he recognizes the challenges that American Pharoah faces.
“We’ve been saying that every time we go through this and we’re always hoping. Right now I feel pretty good about him, that he’s doing this well but he has to break clean. My son Bode, we were talking about the call and how [Larry Collmus] is going to call the race and Bode says ‘All I know is I hope he says ‘And they’re off in the Belmont and American Pharoah breaks beautifully!’ that’s good, we want to hear that. Bode summed it up,” Baffert said.
Baffert admits that since he’s been through campaigning Triple Crown hopefuls before, he is mellower this time and is enjoying the ride. He expects the nerves to flare up during American Pharoah’s work tomorrow as he waits to see signs that the horse is enjoying what he’s doing with the majority of his nervousness and excitement coming when New York, New York plays before the Belmont.
The fun in New York starts for Bob Baffert and American Pharoah on Tuesday when they travel to New York. American Pharoah is scheduled to leave around 10 a.m. and will share a plane with fellow Belmont contender Keen Ice and a group of other Churchill-based horses running on the action packed weekend card at Belmont Park.
Win or lose, American Pharoah will see Churchill Downs after the Belmont as he’ll return to the track for about two weeks on his way back to California after the final leg of the Triple Crown.
For those who want to see the two big events of American Pharoah’s week, they can either come to Churchill Downs tomorrow to watch his work or catch the live stream at http://www.kentuckyderby.com/workouts/live. The Belmont Stakes will be shown live on NBC from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. next Saturday.