|
Zayat enjoying Preakness ride with American Pharoah
 |
| Derby winner American Pharoah
is the current star of Zayat Stables
(Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com) |
With his obligations as a student at New York University
completed, Justin Zayat, racing manager for Zayat Stables, spent Friday morning
at Pimlico checking up on his family's Kentucky Derby (G1) winner,
American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile).
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert sent American Pharoah and
his stablemate, Kaleem Shah's Dortmund (Big Brown), who was third in the Derby, for their
morning gallops at 7:15 a.m. (EDT) in preparation for Saturday's 140th running
of the Preakness S. (G1).
It has been a busy week for Zayat, son of prominent
breeder/owner Ahmed Zayat. While the rest of his family was in the Middle East
and Europe, he prepared for the last of his final exams at NYU, helped broker
the sale of Preakness entrant Mr. Z (Malibu Moon) to Calumet Farm and monitored reports from
Baffert on what was going on with American Pharoah.
Zayat headed to Baltimore on Thursday shortly after taking
his Economic Development final. He will receive his degree in Economics next
week. The day after American Pharoah won the Derby, Zayat returned to student
life, but he couldn't completely step away from racing.
"It's amazing. The last two weeks have just been so
surreal," he said. "It's been like a dream. Everything has been going by so
quickly. It's been hectic, but to be here with American Pharoah, I wouldn't
trade places with anyone."
The one-length Derby victory by the Zayat homebred ended
several years of frustration for the stable in its quest for one of the most
coveted prizes in American racing.
"Our stable, we've won a lot of big races, a lot of Grade
1s, but we were always missing that one huge race," he explained. "We haven't
won a Breeders' Cup. We've run second in the Derby three times. To get that big
win, it felt like a big sense of accomplishment, reaching that goal. It's very
gratifying."
|
Justin Zayat was involved with the sale of Mr. Z to Calumet
Farm Wednesday morning. The Zayats had no intention of running their 13th-place
Derby runner against American Pharoah, but Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas,
who handled Mr. Z, set the stage for another one of his clients, Calumet, to buy
the colt in time to enter him in the Preakness.
"It did happen quick," Zayat said. "The horse was doing
really well and 'Coach' (Lukas) did a really good job with him throughout the
year. He wanted to run and at the same time we had American Pharoah and we
didn't want to compromise our Derby winner.
"Coach really put hard work into the
horse and he said, 'I have a client who is interested in buying him, are you
interested in selling?' I'm a businessman; this is a business for us. Obviously,
I still love Mr. Z. I'll go kiss him if he won. He's named after my dad.
"They put a good offer in front of us, an offer we couldn't refuse. I don't
want to keep Coach from running in the race. It's not fair to him. He worked so
hard with this horse every single day. So we made the sale. Both parties are
happy."
Zayat has been active in stable operations during his years
as an undergraduate and picked up some more professional experience on deadline
negotiations.
"I woke up the day of the draw and didn't expect to sell Mr. Z. Within two
hours, he was sold. It went by really quickly," he shrugged.
Later Wednesday, his father's namesake, now a rival, drew
post No. 3, two stalls outside American Pharoah. Justin Zayat said Mr. Z must be
respected.
"He's a speed horse. I know how tough he is," Zayat said. "He can always hang
around, but I'm worried about all the competition. We've got Firing Line to the
outside and Dortmund right next to us."
Firing Line, the Derby runner-up, drew the outside post in
the field of eight runners. American Pharoah is on the rail.
"One is not the ideal post position to start from in this
scenario, but we've got to deal with the cards that were dealt to us. We can't
change it now," Zayat remarked. "For sure, I respect Mr. Z and I know Mr. Z is
not a horse who has got cheap speed. He really hangs and fights with you until
the end. He can definitely do it to Pharoah. For sure, that's definitely a
concern of mine."
Justin Zayat said he's ready to start dreaming about the
prospect of a Triple Crown should American Pharoah add the Preakness to his
roster from post No. 1.
"He's a horse that is brilliantly fast. He has the talent
to do it," Zayat said. "We just have to pray for a clean break and a clean trip.
He definitely can do it. He's still in this race to win it."
 |
| Dortmund is hoping to turn
the tables on his stablemate in the Preakness
(Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com) |
While the Derby winner always receives more attention at
the Preakness, Baffert said this week that Dortmund should not be overlooked.
The son of 2008 Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown set the pace in the Derby
and stood up to the challenge presented to his outside by Firing Line for better
than 1 1/8 miles.
"Dortmund came in undefeated and he still ran a very
gallant race to run third," Baffert stated. "I really thought when they turned
down the backside that he would win it, the way he was cruising along, like he
did in California. He got a little tired, but since then he's come back and he's
really trained well. I expect another big effort out of him.
"All of the horses that ran in the Derby that are here, they look like they
are training really well. It should be a very competitive race."
Crowds are part of the Triple Crown series, but
it turns out American Pharoah and Dortmund have sensitive ears. They wear ear
plugs, and Baffert says they'll be wearing them for the Preakness.
American Pharoah wears them every time he goes
to the track, whether for a race or a training session and he wears them
throughout every race. Dortmund, a big horse Baffert said would "walk over the
top of you" if he got too excited, wears them until he's in the starting gate
and then his jockey pulls a string to remove them.
"Having a lot of people, a crowd around makes
Pharoah nervous," Baffert admitted. "After his first race, in which he was
terrible, we determined he was sensitive to sound. He's a very gentle horse, but
his ears are so sensitive. We started putting cotton in them."
|
When Baffert felt the visible cotton looked less
than sophisticated, he decided to get a pair of earplugs for both his Preakness
contenders. Baffert referenced Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year who raced
with cotton in her ears, and other trainers who use hoods with blinkers to
accomplish the same purpose.
Since they don't make earplugs for
Thoroughbreds, Baffert bought plugs made for show horses.
"They cost about $6 a pair," he said.
See an interview with Baffert at the following link:
https://youtu.be/1NTLVAhraXo.
Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
Send this article to a friend
| 
