American Pharoah Records First Del Mar Breeze
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An unusual flash thunderstorm at Del Mar caused no delay of American Pharoah's first workout in San Diego County July 18, as the Triple Crown champion recorded a six-furlong breeze in 1:11 2/5 over the seaside oval's dirt track.
With jockey Martin Garcia aboard, equipped with a GoPro camera on his helmet, the Pioneerof the Nile colt owned by Zayat Stables ran fractions of :35 3/5, :47 1/5, and :59 3/5 through five furlongs, with a gallop out to a mile in 1:38 1/5, all according to trainer Bob Baffert's stopwatch.
The six-furlong time was the fastest of 12 at the distance Saturday morning, including fellow Baffert workers Hoppertunity (1:12 3/5) and Sky Kingdom (1:14 2/5).
"He went good," Baffert said. "It was a good work for him. He needed it."
The storms and frequent lightning strikes forced Del Mar to suspend training for more than 30 minutes. A lightning strike also hit a palm tree on the border of the Del Mar barn area, causing a small fire that needed to be extinguished by local firefighters.
"I think the bit of rain we got this morning might have been good for the track," Baffert said. "Tightened it up a bit."
American Pharoah is currently training toward the $1 million William Hill Haskell Invitational (gr. I) Aug. 2 at Monmouth Park, but Baffert would not indicate future plans for his star trainee.
"No plans beyond today," the trainer said. "We just go step by step with this horse. I'm not sure when his next work will be. We'll see. Every work, every race—we just go day to day."