American Pharoah Retires to Ashford

Triple Crown winner American Pharoah arrived at Coolmore's Ashford Stud on a cool autumn morning Nov. 2, ready to begin the next chapter of his historic career.

Accompanied by a police escort, the unflappable 3-year-old walked calmly off a Brook Ledge horse van shortly after 8:30 a.m. ET and easily strode past an assembled media throng to the Ashford stallion barn where he will take up residence in the old stall of the late grade I winner and grade I producer Grand Slam.

The name of the stall's former resident is a fitting one; in winning the Triple Crown and then going out a 6 1/2-length victor in the 1 1/4-mile Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) Oct. 31 at Keeneland in a track-record time of 2:00.07, American Pharoah became the first horse to complete what Breeders' Cup marketers termed the "Grand Slam."

NOVAK: American Pharoah Romps in BC Classic

American Pharoah was accompanied by Hall of Fame horseman Bob Baffert and his wife Jill Baffert, along with son Bode, assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes, exercise rider George Alvarez, and groom Eduardo Luna. Baffert brought along a bag of baby carrots—the champ's favorite treat—and gave several to American Pharoah throughout the morning before leaving to catch a plane back to his Southern California base.

As he is let down from his racing campaign and adjusts to his new life, Ashford stallion manager Richard Barry said American Pharoah will be turned out in a paddock next to pensioned champion Thunder Gulch.

"Things are very quiet and very relaxed around here at the moment," Barry explained. "We'll turn him out in the next couple of days, and we'll put a baby-sitter beside him—and what I mean by a babysitter is Thunder Gulch. He's 23 years old now.

"Young horses, when they get out, tend to run around a lot, and if they have company it just encourages them to run around. But if you put a 23-year-old boy beside them, he'll kind of look at him and go, 'Son, you can run on your own.' He'll spend an hour looking at Thunder Gulch eating grass, and try to get him to run, and he won't run anywhere, and then he'll figure out that he should eat some grass himself. 

"After that, it's pretty easy. He'll get into a routine, he'll get turned out first thing in the morning. We're in here at 6:30 a.m. He'll get turned out as soon as it's daylight, brought in before lunch, groomed... he'll have to go through his shots and vaccinations, then we have to test-breed him just to show him what's what, and we'll wait then for the season to start. He'll be in that basic routine until the season starts. When the season starts, we breed at 7:30 in the morning, 1:30 in the afternoon, 6:00 p.m. in the evening if necessary, and that'll be the routine for the breeding season."

BLOOD-HORSE STAFF: Pioneerof the Nile's Fee More Than Doubles

"There's a lot of interest in him, which there should be," Coolmore's M.V. Magnier said of American Pharoah. "It's a massive thing for everybody to get a chance to breed to this horse now. He's an exceptional looker and he's an exceptional racehorse, to do what he did."

Bred in Kentucky by Zayat Stables out of the Yankee Gentleman mare Littleprincessemma and trained throughout his career by Baffert, American Pharoah retires with a final record of nine wins and a second from 11 starts for earnings of $8,650,300. The Classic triumph put him fourth all-time in purse earnings among all North American-trained horses, behind only Curlin  , Cigar, and Skip Away.

"It's a huge relief and we're extremely lucky to have the horse," Magnier said, watching American Pharoah arrive safe and sound from Keeneland's Rice Road barns to the stallion complex near Versailles, Ky. "In fairness to Bob, from the outset, a long time ago, he was telling us how good this horse was and that we should try and get him. And thankfully we got a deal done with the Zayats; they're very good people and we're just very lucky that it worked out."

After foaling at Tom VanMeter's Stockplace Farm and being weaned at Vinery Farm, American Pharoah was consigned to the 2013 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga select yearling sale by Taylor Made Sales Agency. But buyers were wary due to a slight blemish where he'd bumped an ankle about a month prior, and Zayat told bloodstock agent David Ingordo to buy the colt back for $300,000.

The 12th Triple Crown winner in racing history recorded only one off-the-board finish in his life; fifth at first asking upon growing anxious in the post parade when wearing blinkers in a Del Mar maiden special weight last August, after which Baffert took off the blinkers and outfitted him in the cotton earplugs he raced with for each of his following outings.

Named 2-year-old champion of 2014 upon the merits of back-to-back victories in the Del Mar Futurity (gr. I)  and FrontRunner Stakes (gr. I), American Pharoah missed the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park last year with an issue in his left front foot, and when he returned to campaigning as a 3-year-old he would race in a special shoe with a protective metal plate designed by blacksmith Wes Champagne.

NOVAK: American Pharoah Out of BC Juvenile

"The Coolmore team, they zero in on hot prospect, they're in constant communication, they have their finger on the pulse, believe me," Baffert said. "He caught their eye. Everybody knew, coming into the Breeders' Cup (Juvenile last year) he was the horse, the way he came in there. And then coming back, he was on the trail back, they rolled the dice. He was a horse coming off an injury and they took a chance, and they knew that. It worked out beautifully, and here we are."

Baffert got a late start with American Pharoah's sophomore season, but shipped the colt into his old raiding base of Oaklawn Park for the March 14 Rebel Stakes (gr. II). Despite stumbling at the start and springing a shoe on his right front, American Pharoah aired by 6 1/4 lengths.

NOVAK: American Pharoah Romps in Rebel

American Pharoah shipped back to Baffert's California headquarters, and returned to Arkansas a few weeks later to capture the April 11 Arkansas Derby (gr. I) by eight lengths. From there it was on to Churchill Downs and the spotlight as the favorite for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).

The brilliant bay won the Derby by a length over Firing Line May 2, took the May 16 Xpressbet.com Preakness (gr. I) by seven lengths in a driving rainstorm from longshot Tale of Verve, and galloped by 5 1/2 lengths over Frosted in the June 6 Belmont Stakes Presented by DraftKings (gr. I) to end a 37-year drought as America's latest Triple Crown winner.   

BALAN: American Pharoah Claims Triple Crown Triumph

Although some expected American Pharoah to retire directly after the Belmont, his connections made good on their promise to run him again when sending him to the Aug. 2 William Hill Haskell Invitational (gr. I) at Monmouth Park, a race he won by 2 1/4 geared-down lengths over Keen Ice. He suffered his only defeat of 2015 in his following start, the Aug. 29 Travers Stakes (gr. I), when Keen Ice ran by him to stage a 16-1 upset. Winning the Breeders' Cup Classic gate-to-wire as the 3-5 favorite against seven others, he found redemption and made history as the first Triple Crown winner to ever run in the World Championships, bringing down the curtain on a remarkable career.  

Throughout his campagin, Baffert and Zayat provided remarkable access to American Pharoah, allowing fans to touch and surround the Triple Crown winner closely as he posed for countless photographs. This was made possible by the unique nature of the mild-mannered colt, who was as gentle and kind around the barn as he was a fierce competitor on the racetrack.

"This horse, he was so special," Baffert said. "I don't have to tell you how good he was... his mechanics, the way he travels, the way he moves, his speed, his temperament, soundness... he's a throwback, the old hickory, and that's half the battle.

"He's run on every kind of track surface imaginable. Poly(track), mud, rain, deep, whatever, he's never had an off day. He took his track with him, it didn't matter, we didn't have to make an excuse for him, he just showed up and he was way the best. It was just very rare. To me, that's why I'll remember him—he made my job so much easier. When you have a gifted athlete like this and you keep him running all year long like he did, it's just exceptional... he's just a magical horse for me. He's the one horse that trainers dream of having one day in their lives."