What’s Next for American Pharoah?

American Pharoah wins the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Now that you’ve seen the phenomenal run by American Pharoah to capture only the 12th Triple Crown in history, if you’re a new fan you may be wondering just what comes next. Great news! American Pharoah’s owner Ahmed Zayat and trainer Bob Baffert have said that the colt will continue to race for the rest of the year despite a hefty stud deal that was signed long before his Belmont Stakes win made history. So what’s the path that a 3-year-old colt might take next? Read on to find out.
Thoroughbred racing is generally divided into three age categories: 2-year-old races, 3-year-old races, and races for older horses. A 3-year-old colt will usually race exclusively against his fellow sophomores for most of the year, but toward the end of the season (around September) there are fewer races limited to 3-year-olds and oftentimes they’ll face their elders for the first time in their careers before proceeding to the year-end championships, the Breeders’ Cup (more on that later).
Top-level racehorses usually race no more often than once a month, which can help you understand the spacing of the races. Tracks with major races within a week of each other “compete” to get the best horses to enter their race. All of the races below are on the dirt and over a longer “route” of ground, traditionally the most popular surface and distance for American racing.
Key races remaining for 3-year-olds this year include the Haskell, Jim Dandy and Travers. The Haskell Invitational will be held on August 2 at Monmouth Park in New Jersey and carries a $1-million purse. The $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes is at historic Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York and will be held just a day earlier, on August 1. The Jim Dandy is the traditional prep race for the $1.25-million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on August 29. The Travers is nicknamed the Mid-Summer Derby and has been a Saratoga staple since 1864.
SARATOGA

Other than those, the best options for a 3-year-old in late summer are mostly against older horses, as the youngsters have usually developed throughout the year and are at or near the same level as their elders by that time. The $1-million Pacific Classic at seaside Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is one such race, this year on August 22. Last year 3-year-old Shared Belief defeated his elders in this race for his second career Grade 1 score.
DEL MAR

In late September we can look forward to both the $1-million Jockey Club Gold Cup that’s held at Belmont Park (just like the Belmont Stakes) and the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes held on the West Coast at Santa Anita Park. Like the Pacific Classic, both of these are for horses 3-years-old and older, and both of them were won by 3-year-olds last year (Tonalist in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Shared Belief in the Awesome Again).
After these preps are over it’s time for the big one: the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Breeders’ Cup is a series of races over two days that serve as year-end championship events, a la the NFL’s Super Bowl. This year the Breeders’ Cup will be held on Oct. 30-31 at iconic Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. for the first time but is expected to draw many international stars to race for total purses of $26 million. As the marquee race, the Breeders’ Cup Classic nearly always plays a role in deciding year-end awards such as Horse of the Year, and winners of other races are often named the champion of their divisions as well.
KEENELAND

As for American Pharoah explicitly, his connections haven’t yet announced a schedule for the Triple Crown winner but have thrown out a few ideas, all of which are among the races above. Baffert and/or Zayat have mentioned the Haskell, Jim Dandy, Travers or Pacific Classic as potential targets for his first race back, with an ultimate goal of the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
With a Triple Crown winner and a slew of top older horses competing, the rest of 2015 is sure to be an exciting one. For more answers to your horse racing questions, check out the blogs below.
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