Being Justin Zayat: American Pharoah's Biggest Fan

Justin Zayat with Bob Baffert and Victor Espinoza at Belmont week festivities. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Justin Zayat said Monday that he wants to see American Pharoah race at Saratoga Race Course. Tuesday he called this "my American Pharoah time in my life." Today we make it an appropriately triple dose of 10 questions for the Zayat Stables racing and stable manager.
He continues to grant America's Best Racing exclusive access to his week leading up to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah's return to the track in Sunday's Haskell Invitational Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.
1. American Pharoah's every move has become a photo opportunity and a trending moment on Twitter. That included his flight east today from California to New Jersey. How different are you from racing fans in following Pharoah?
I saw people on Twitter posting “Pharoah's already in the air.” “Pharoah's coming.”  I follow him every second. I go on Twitter, and I look for the hashtag #AmericanPharoah. I'm as big a fan as I am an owner of the horse. I look to see if there are any new articles or videos - anything I can get on American Pharoah. Even though I get with the trainer [Bob Baffert] and I hear from everyone there, I still have my other inside information like that. But all the time I'm on social media looking for it, too. Twitter for some reason always breaks the news and brings it to me right away. I have fun. I like to see people's comments on the horse, what they think. I like seeing the debates. It's awesome to follow. It's great that people are so interested, that they're following, that they're fans. That's what the whole sport is about.
AMERICAN PHAROAH STEALS SHOW AT DOWNS AFTER DARK

2. Who do you see right now as American Pharoah’s top competition for the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic?
To me right now there's no one horse. In the next month with Saratoga and Del Mar, we're going to really know who the top older horses are. There's none that pop out at me as being the main competition. There's Honor Code. There's Tonalist. There's all these good horses that are going to be running in the Whitney [Stakes]and the Pacific Classic. There's Bayern still and there's Hoppertunity, so Bob [Baffert] has a good hand. Todd Pletcher, you can never count him out. So Pharoah has still got older horses to take on. Then he still has Frosted, who's still in training. We'll take on Competitive Edge [at the Haskell] and see how he stretches out. There's still a lot of good, quality horses out there. Pharoah is the king right now, but everyone is going to try to dethrone him.
3. One good dream deserves another. Do you have any 2-year-olds in your stable that we should keep an eye on for next year?
Ah, the inside information now. (laughs) We actually have Bill Mott training some horses for us again this year. We have some nice Pioneerof the Niles coming up. We have a pretty nice Smart Strike filly named Joannie. I really put my head on the line there. I pushed my dad to buy her. He really liked her, but I was really insistent. We actually have a pretty nice Zensational with Bob coming up that I'm excited about. Wayne Lukas has a pretty interesting horse he trains - Airman's Creed. It's actually named by Wayne's grandson Brady. He's in the military in Japan right now. It's a Distorted Humor, and the mare's name is Wild Poppy. The second dam is Flanders, and Lukas trained Flanders, so it's a really nice pedigree. We're looking forward to starting that horse. I think we have a pretty strong crop, so we're looking forward, but I can't tell you I see a horse like we have in American Pharoah. It's going to be hard to top this year having almost three Derby contenders. We have to be realistic.
4. Have any of your friends expressed interest in owning a race horse?
Right now none of them are actively involved in racing yet. They all want to come to the Whitney next week, so they're slowly getting the bug. They're just fresh out of college, so I don't know if they have the funds right away to start going to buy racehorses, but they're pretty interested. Maybe between them they'll want to start a partnership. That would be cool.
ZAYAT LAUGHS WITH DAD AHMED AND FRIENDS

5. What songs are currently on your playlist?
I use Spotify now, and I'm actually shuffling. I like all music, but really it depends on my mood. I listen to hip-hop. I listen to rap. Today I'm pumped for Pharoah flying to New Jersey, so I'm listening to some Jay-Z. Nothing specific right now - whatever comes on. He has the same initials as me, but that's beside the point. (laughs) I also have my old times with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan.
6. Do you listen to podcasts? If so, which are your favorites?
I honestly do not listen to podcasts. I watch more YouTube videos. I like watching documentaries and Netflix features more than just listening to podcasts. I need visuals, you know? I have fun watching old racing videos, and I'll watch random videos on horses that have nothing to do with Thoroughbred racing just to find out about the actual animal. I'll do some research on YouTube randomly. Whatever it comes to. I'll even watch basketball highlights or top-10 [sports] highlights. I'll just mess around on YouTube for a couple hours.
7. Any talks with Hollywood about an American Pharoah movie?
There's been a lot of interest expressed from a lot of people. A lot of independent companies and a lot of big companies all want to write books and make movies on Pharoah, but there's nothing concrete or done yet. There hopefully will be one day. Right now we're still trying to make the story happen. We need to make the fairy-tale ending. It's still early.
8. Who would play you in the movie?  Who would play your father?
Ha. That's a good question. Actually I had a funny conversation with Bob. If we had a movie my dad would be Jack Nicholson, Bob will be Will Ferrell, and I would be maybe Adam Sandler.
9. Assuming you have received a ton of fan mail, how much of it has come from far-away countries?
We get tons and tons of cards in the mail saying thank you for racing Pharoah, congratulations, “I love the horse.” We're talking Australia, Japan, South Africa, Iceland - I got a letter from Iceland. Very random, right? All over the world. I actually got a letter from a fan who traveled all the way from Sweden just for the Belmont with his girlfriend as a present for her. We came to the office one day and we had flowers on our door. I try to reply to as many as we possibly can. Some people don't even leave an address to respond to. People send pictures they want to get signed. I try to answer and do as many as possible. We all try to respond.
10. How many folks are you bringing to the Haskell?
Me, personally, I'm bringing close to 15 friends. They're all my close, best friends - kids I met at NYU and friends I've had my whole, entire life. My core best friends have been my core best friends for the last 10, 12 years. The same old boys who come with me. They're going to come with me to the Whitney, also. They came with me to the Preakness. They're my good, racing crew. We're going to get there early in the morning. We're going to go through all the races. We'll see how everything turns out after. If we win, we'll see what happens. We're hoping, but you never know. It's horse racing.

AMERICAN PHAROAH RETURNS IN THE HASKELL