American Pharoah Flawless in Preparation
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Zayat Stables' Triple Crown contender American Pharoah continued his flawless preparations for the June 6 Belmont Stakes presented by DraftKings (gr. I) in his second day over the track at Belmont Park, powering through a stellar gallop and then schooling calmly in the paddock for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
The 3-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile headed to the New York oval accompanied by assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes on Smokey the pony shortly after the rennovation break around 8:30 a.m. ET, and jogged off the wrong way before galloping under exercise rider Jorge Alvarez.
"He seems to love this track," Alvarez said. "He was on a mission today. Everybody can see it. I was ready for him, the way he was going to do it today. I knew he was going to be fresh."
"I really couldn't see anything down the backside, but when he finally came down the stretch, he just was really moving so fluid, like he usually does, so it was a really positive gallop," Baffert said. "He was just moving along like he's always moved along. It was really comforting to see that. You can tell he still has his energy. It's another day at the track tomorrow and then that's it."
NOVAK: American Pharoah Gets First Look at Belmont
American Pharoah, who enters the 1 1/2-mile Belmont on a six-race win streak and who has taken those races by a combined 30 1/4 lengths, has handled every step of his path from the May 2 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) to the May 16 Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I) to the final jewel of the Triple Crown without issue.
"So far, what I've seen is very, very positive," Baffert said. "It looks like he's holding his form very well. He looks bright—his eyes, his ears. You can tell when we put the saddle on him and brought him out and gave him a couple rounds around the barn—you could tell he's happy and enjoying what he does.
"He's a very happy horse and you could tell he's enjoying himself out there this morning. That's the way he runs. When he's happy, he really enjoys running, so I think he was happy to get out there and take a spin around the track. It looked like he handled everything well and his exercise rider said he was pretty tough. He wanted to do a lot more, so those are very good signs."
American Pharoah will depart post 5 in the Belmont against seven other rivals.
BALAN: American Pharoah Draws Post 5 for Belmont
"Right now, I'm just focused on getting him up there, putting the saddle on him, listening to the song 'New York, New York,' and then he's on his own," Baffert said.