Zayats, Baffert Reflect on Triple Crown Glory

On the afternoon of June 9, Bob Baffert walked into the paddock at Belmont Park for the first time since saddling American Pharoah   before last year's Belmont Stakes (gr. I).

"I got goosebumps," he told a crowd of about 75 people at Belmont that evening, part of a question-and-answer session held by the New York Racing Association to celebrate American Pharoah's Triple Crown victory last year. "We made history the last time we came here."

Baffert was joined on stage by American Pharoah's owners, Ahmed and Justin Zayat. The conversation was hosted by NYRA race caller Larry Collmus.

For an hour, Baffert and the Zayats told stories and shared memories, reflecting on how their historic accomplishment affected them. But first they watched a replay of the 2015 Belmont Stakes, after which the audience burst into applause.

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"The last time I made that walk" from the paddock, Baffert said, "I was holding on to my son Bode, and I was telling him to not pay attention to the hecklers. 'They might say some not-nice things about your daddy,' I told him. It was the first time that I ran a horse here and there was not one heckler."

Baffert recalled watching his horse turn into the stretch, feeling confident but plagued by the memories of Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in 1998. Both horses had come to the Belmont after winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness (both grade I); both horses lost.

"I saw Victor sitting still on him, and I think, 'Wow, he's got a lot of horse,' " the trainer said. "The rest of the way I was thinking, 'Something still probably is going to go wrong because it always does.' Then I was frozen solid and I was like, 'My God, he's going to win.' I wasn't mentally prepared for it."

Whatever uncertainty Baffert might have felt wasn't apparent to the horse's owner.

"Bob was all confidence and smiles, and that's not his usual demeanor," Ahmed Zayat said. "It had a calming effect on me."

"We always said that American Pharoah needed to break clean," said Zayat's son and racing manager, Justin, "and then the first thing I hear is that he broke slowly. Then I saw him go out there and his ears go up on the first turn. I'll always remember watching him turn for home, watching Victor so possessed and in control."

Nearly a year later, Ahmed Zayat could even recall with affection the team's trip to Saratoga Race Course, where American Pharoah suffered his only loss as a 3-year-old in the Travers Stakes (gr. I).

"He was gallant in defeat, and we have zero regret about going," he said. "It's the mecca of racing, and we didn't duck anyone to keep our star racing."

He told of leaving the track after the race, in a state of shock and considering retiring the horse, and of being heartened by the response he and his family received walking to their car.

"Every single car," he said, "honked and thanked us for bringing him. We stopped a zillion times."

Neither Baffert nor the Zayats will be at Belmont Park this weekend. Though both the trainer and the owners have horses running on the undercard on Saturday, neither has a runner in this year's Belmont Stakes, and they don't seem too disappointed about that.

The thrills of last year are still buoying them, along with the excitement of the beginning of American Pharoah's stud career and the prospect of other sons of Pioneerof the Nile   fueling future Triple Crown dreams.

"Maybe we can try to make another one," Justin Zayat said.

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Even as he acknowledged that winning the Triple Crown has changed his life, Baffert also admitted a sense of unreality about the accomplishment.

"It's hard for me to absorb that I was part of that history-making moment," he said, noting that he still thinks of himself as just a horse trainer, not a Triple Crown-winning trainer.

And while Ahmed Zayat heaped praise upon the man who conditioned his horse into Thoroughbred racing's record books, Baffert kept the focus on the horse, lauding his temperament and intelligence, his unusually strong connection to humans, and his talent.

"To watch him go out and put on a show like he did at the Breeders' Cup, he kept bringing it," he said. "He's a true champion."