Baffert Continuing ‘Pharoah Tour’ at the Spa

American Pharoah in his final work for the Travers. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said he feels as though he is bringing the Beatles to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., as he prepares American Pharoah for the Travers Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. The comparison works well.
No one would dispute that American Pharoah, the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, is the rock star the sport sought for so long. And the 3-year-old sensation puts on a show to rival the Beatles at their rockin’ best.
With attendance capped at 50,000 spectators at the idyllic upstate New York track, the venue has been sold out since Aug. 14, well before it was clear that the son of Pioneerof the Nile had fully recovered from his 2 ¼-length score in the Haskell Invitational to make the Travers. His Haskell margin could have been far greater if jockey Victor Espinoza had not eased him under the wire.
Baffert, speaking with reporters on a national conference call on Tuesday, said of the excitement that surrounds American Pharoah’s every move, “Racing needed some good news and he is good news. Hopefully, he’ll continue it. It’s like the Pharoah tour.”
American Pharoah will look to make the Travers, which is celebrated as the “mid-summer Derby and will carry a ramped-up purse of $1.6-million,” his ninth consecutive victory. All but one of them came in Grade 1 events. His only misstep occurred when his inexperience showed in an unsuccessful debut on Aug. 9, 2014 at Del Mar.
Baffert said he viewed the Haskell, which was run on Aug. 2, and the Pennsylvania Derby, set for Sept. 19 at Parx in Bensalem, Pa., as races that would be “perfect” in their timing as preparation for the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. He took that path when he won his first Classic with Bayern last year.
But it has been clear since the Haskell that owner Ahmed Zayat and his son and racing manager, Justin, viewed the Travers as a prestigious race they did not want to miss in their effort to showcase what appears to be the horse of a lifetime. As Baffert portrayed it, the colt ultimately cast the deciding vote.
“The horse is really doing well,” Baffert said. “We just wanted to let the horse tip us off. We’re following the way he his feeling.”
American Pharoah showed his readiness for the mile-and-a-quarter Travers with the kind of eye-opening workout he is renowned for. He clocked 1:23 1/5 seconds for seven furlongs at Del Mar on Sunday. The fractions for workout rider Martin Garcia: 23 seconds flat, 47 1/5, 58 4/5, and 1:10 3/5.
BAFFERT WATCHING AMERICAN PHAROAH'S WORK

Not long after that, New York Racing Association track announcer thrilled fans at Saratoga Race Course by telling them, “Yes, he’s coming. He’ll be here at the Spa.”
No identification was necessary, of course.
Baffert, whose lone Travers victory in five tries came with Point Given in 2001, admitted the conventional path to the Travers would have been to use the Jim Dandy, on Aug. 1 at Saratoga, as a prep. “If he was a different kind of horse, I needed to do that,” he said. “With a horse like Pharoah, I think you can get away with it.”
Gary Stevens will ride Tale of Verve, a deep closer who was the distant Preakness runner-up, in the Travers. He believes American Pharoah’s latest workout suggests the challenge of overtaking him may be greater than ever.
“He’s a horse who may very well still be improving,” Stevens said.
To which the horse’s legion of fans respond, “Rock on, Pharoah! Rock on!”
Watch the Travers live at the track or tune in Saturday at 4 p.m. ET on NBC.

AMERICAN PHAROAH READY TO ROLL IN TRAVERS