Belmont Diaries: Thursday Thrills

I got up at dawn’s early light today with one goal in mind: find American Pharoah and take as many photos of him as possible. (Goal achieved, by the way: from the time he began to circle the barn before his gallop to his post-bath stroll, I took over 700 photos of him. I may be a little overenthusiastic. But the good news is that I have plenty of pictures to share with you!) 
I met up with a colleague at about 6:30 this morning at Penn Station, and we hopped on an eastbound train to Floral Park in order to get to the track in plenty of time to see American Pharoah train. I was so glad that I did – he’s definitely the most popular horse in New York right now, and there was a huge amount of press staked outside of his barn waiting for him to emerge. I hunted down a good spot with a view of the shedrow (the dirt path outside of the stalls in a barn) and hunkered down to wait. Very soon, the big horse himself emerged and began circling the barn as he waited for his turn to head to the track.

I love this horse’s personality: he’s a total ham, and he knows exactly how to pose for the cameras. He stopped several times in front of the throngs of reporters and photographers and thoughtfully waited for us to catch his good side. Ariana Grande could take notes from American Pharoah when it comes to posing.

After a few laps around the barn, American Pharoah was joined by his regular exercise rider Georgie Alverez as well as his pony horse Smokey (basically an equine bodyguard: Smokey’s job is to accompany Pharoah to and from the racetrack, keeping him safe and calm) and headed to the main track.

The two of them set off together as they stepped onto the Belmont Park oval, then Pharoah broke away to begin his gallop.

As I waited for American Pharoah to make his way around the track, I marveled at the size of the stretch. This is what the eight Belmont Stakes contenders will be speeding around on Saturday:

Pretty impressive! After a few minutes, I spotted Georgie’s signature bright blue helmet approaching and got my camera ready: American Pharoah was on the move!

As he got closer and then galloped by me, I was so impressed by the way he looks: American Pharoah’s in fantastic condition and was pulling Georgie out of the saddle in an effort to go faster.

That’s a fit racehorse, folks! 
After his gallop, American Pharoah reunited with Smokey and the duo made their way back to the barn. 

Upon arrival, American Pharoah walked into the stable to be untacked (meaning he had his saddle and bridle removed) and then strolled around the shedrow a few times to cool off before his bath. While this was happening, media crowded around the wash area to prepare for the all-important bath photos. Seriously, there were a lot of us there:

Finally, American Pharoah emerged and got ready for a shower. He’s such a funny horse; as I mentioned before, he totally loves the cameras and deliberately strikes poses when he sees photographers. 

After that, it was tub time! First came the bubbles, then a rinse and a towel and presto! American Pharoah was squeaky clean and headed back in the barn for another stroll followed by breakfast. 

I headed back to the photo room after that to get some work done, and when I looked up, I realized that it was already 11 a.m. and that Belmont Stakes day runners would be schooling in the paddock. I grabbed my camera and hustled to the walking ring just in time to capture a few of my favorite horses arriving. 
Here’s my perpetual horse crush Honor Code, who will be running in the Metropolitan Handicap on Saturday:

Belmont Stakes contender Tale of Verve looked very good to my eye:

At that point, there was a perceivable shift in energy in the cluster of media in the paddock as American Pharoah arrived. His trainer Bob Baffert led the way; with his typical humor, he grinned at us and said, “You know which one he is, right? The bay one?” It got a lot of laughs; American Pharoah may not have a lot of white on him, but his glistening brown coat and black mane and tail are pretty familiar to most of the country by now! 

Moments later, American Pharoah made his way up the path toward the paddock, surrounded by an entourage of caretakers and security. (He’s the second horse in this photo, by the way.)

He calmly passed by all of the photographers gathered around, then made his way to one of the stalls to have a mock saddle put on him as a kind of dress rehearsal for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.

After that, he took a few laps around the paddock wearing his mock saddle to get used to the environment.

He was completely calm, despite the presence of quite a few other horses in the walking ring as well as the phalanx of media taking in his every move.
After a few minutes, his saddle was removed and he took another stroll.

This led to my favorite moment of the day; I decided to move up the path leading to the racetrack to try to get a photo of him with Belmont’s iconic Secretariat sculpture in the background. As he came around the curve of the walking path, he spied me and my fellow photographers, drew to a halt and made sure we got a fantastic photo.

After that, he moved on and finally exited the paddock for a cozy afternoon back at the barn. It was such a cool moment, and it made me fall a little more in love with American Pharoah.
Thank you for joining me today, and I’ll be back tomorrow with racing action out of Belmont Park!