'Pharoah' Works in Preparation for BC Classic
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
American Pharoah
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah worked five furlongs in 1:00 at Santa Anita Park the morning of Sept. 27 as the Zayat Stables homebred continues to progress toward the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I).
"He looked great," Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said of the work in which the son of Pioneerof the Nile passed the half-mile mark in :47 2/5. The work under jockey Martin Garcia was the second for the colt since his upset loss to Keen Ice in the Travers Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course.
Zayat Stables tweeted that Baffert said: "He looked awesome as usual."
The Travers snapped an eight-race win streak for American Pharoah and was only his second loss in 10 career starts.
The 1 1/4-mile Classic at Keeneland is shaping up as a showdown between American Pharoah, who will enter stud at Ashford Stud at the end of his racing career, and the Spendthrift Farm-owned mare Beholder, an impressive winner of her third Zenyatta Stakes (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park Sept. 26.