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American Pharoah 'a little tired...looks good' day after Preakness romp

Trainer Bob Baffert gave Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah a thorough inspection Sunday morning (Jerry Dzierwinski/Maryland Jockey Club) Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert covered many topics on Sunday, the morning after saddling Kentucky Derby (G1) champion American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) for a dominating seven-length victory in Saturday's 140th Preakness S. (G1) at Pimlico -- a triumph that moved him into position to bid for a sweep the Triple Crown. American Pharoah was Baffert's sixth Preakness winner and moved him even with D. Wayne Lukas in second-place for the most victories. Nineteenth-century trainer Robert Walden won the race seven times, including five straight from 1878-1882. Baffert said that Zayat Stables' homebred colt appeared to come out of the race in good shape. "He's a little quiet. He's a little tired, like he's supposed to be after a race. That's usually him," Baffert described Sunday. "Health-wise he looks good. No changes. No surprises. He was more tired after the Derby. In the Derby he was blowing pretty hard, he was pretty hot. It was taxing on him. But he hadn't had a hard race. He got a hard race and yesterday (jockey Victor Espinoza) let him run. "He's hard to gauge because he's so quiet. He's not going to come out here jumping around. He's very mellow. He's a very intelligent horse. If I take the ear plugs out he'll jump around.

"With this horse it's gone really smooth, luckily. Other than the Breeders' Cup, that was the only hiccup we had with him. We've got to keep our fingers crossed that we keep him healthy and keep him happy.

"I slept pretty well last night," the trainer added. "I was pretty excited. It took me a while to go to sleep. It was easy to get up. It was a long day."

Baffert described his view of the Preakness.

"I was watching that race and when he hit that backside I saw those ears come up and he was just stroking it, I thought 'Wow, he's in command of this race.' That's the American Pharoah we wanted to see the last time and didn't get to see. He's a different kind of horse. He's just so fast. You see the way he moves. He floats. He gets into that stride and does it effortlessly. He just doesn't give the other horses a chance at all to come to him.

"To be in this position with a horse like him, I don't know why it's happened. (Owner Ahmet) Zayat, he's been giving me these horses and he's had some pretty good horses. He's a smart guy. He was funny to watch. After the race, he was jumping up and down. They were like kids. It shows you the passion they have. That's what I love when you win for somebody who really appreciates it and has the passion for it because it's so hard to get here."

The trainer wasn't concerned about the slow time for the Preakness.

"Time didn't matter. That was survival to go through that stuff. That was something," Baffert stated. "That rain was incredible. For an instant, I thought they were going to delay it or bring them back in or call it off. I haven't seen rain like that since Prescott Downs. It rained so hard that the track would run off.

Conditions deteriorated rapidly right before Preakness 140 went off (Jon Kral/Maryland Jockey Club) "Unfortunately, that rain, I know the fans probably didn't enjoy it. I've never been involved in something (like that); it was crazy. I know our foam pad (under the saddle) was just so heavy. It was just drenched. All the water came out of the boots. And the weights, I was seeing where Gary Stevens (rider of Firing Line) said he weighed 135 pounds with all his stuff without his helmet on. Those horses were packing a lot of weight. We could have put steeplechase riders on them. They were all in the same boat." Baffert is already looking ahead to the 147th running of the $1.5 million Belmont S. (G1), the longest leg of the Triple Crown at 1 1/2 miles which will take place at Belmont Park on June 6. The conditioner is quite familiar with bringing a Triple Crown candidate into the third jewel, courtesy of Silver Charm (second in 1997 Belmont), Real Quiet (second in 1998) and War Emblem (eighth in 2002). "It's slowly starting to sink in. I can't believe that I've done this four times, that I've got a fourth time to do it," he marveled. "How lucky I've been with all the horses I've brought here. It usually takes a little while to sink in that we're on this journey. I'm enjoying it with (wife) Jill and (son) Bode because they have to deal with all my mood swings. "It's hard for me to imagine that I'm going through this again, with a horse like this that just makes my job a lot easier. All I can do is rely on my experience of going to the next one and what to do with him. I learn something about him every time I run him. He's still a really lightly raced horse. Things that he likes and what he doesn't like. He does have a good appetite. I'll just keep him eating and hopefully try to keep that weight maintained. "This horse here, he's something special. He's fast; he can get out of trouble; he can sit a little bit; he's not totally one-dimensional; he has the style to do it. Track surface is going to play a bit part of it.

"I told Victor (Espinoza), 'If the horse fires, you'll win it. He has to fire. If he doesn't fire you're not going to win.' That's the whole key. If he runs his race, he can do it. We just have to get him rejuvenated. If he runs that race again, he's going to be tough to beat.

"I look forward to the Belmont," Baffert added. "I know how difficult it is. For me, New York, I've already been through all that. The way I look at it is: it wasn't meant to happen (before). We'll just see. He's the horse. He's the best horse so far. He just has to dig it out one more time. I've never had a horse win the Preakness like that. My other horses that won were battling pretty good.

"I know what to expect going in there. I know it's a little hectic. I don't want to take him up there unless he's really doing well. I can tell. If I put him on that plane, that means he's doing really, really well.

"I'm saying he's got to be training really well. If he hadn't been training well here I wouldn't have run him in the Preakness. I'm just saying he's got to be training well."

Baffert is aware he'll be facing some well-rested horses in the Belmont Stakes, including the Todd Pletcher-trained duo of Materiality (Afleet Alex) and Carpe Diem (Giant's Causeway) who skipped the Preakness. Other challengers expected for the race are Frammento (Midshipman), Derby fourth-placer Frosted (Tapit), Keen Ice (Curlin), recent Peter Pan S. (G2) hero Madefromlucky (Lookin at Lucky), Mubtaahij (Dubawi) and Preakness runner-up Tale of Verve (Tale of Ekati).

"I understand," Baffert shrugged. "They figure if they can't win this, why put them through this. It just shows the respect they have for American Pharoah. They'll wait and catch him when maybe he'll be a bit more vulnerable. It's something that you can't control.

Jockey Victor Espinoza looks for any challengers as American Pharoah coasts to an easy Preakness win (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club) "You have to earn it," he added of sweeping the Triple Crown. "Pharoah, if he's going to do it, you have to earn it. Just like he had to earn it in that weather. If he's a great horse he's got to do it. All the greats that won the Triple Crown they would have done the same thing. But I've seen a lot of great horses go down. We've seen Smarty Jones, Big Brown, Silver Charm, Real Quiet. I'll Have Another -- he went over there and he looked like he was going to do it -- running against the same bunch. "You just don't know. That's why it's so tough. We always think, 'Well maybe, this is it.' I think there's more pressure to me is those New York fans. They've been waiting. The kids that used to go watch have kids. So they're waiting to see it." Baffert indicated he'll send American Pharoah back to Churchill Downs to ready for the Belmont. The bay colt will fly to Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday and probably will go to New York on June 3. He's expected to arrive at Churchill's Barn 33 around 2 p.m. (EDT). "We'll take him back there and give him a light week, just let him get his feet under him a little bit and let him relax," the horseman explained. "It's like going to the spa for a week. Let him lie down all day and relax, eat and try to get his weight back on him.

"He's a pretty fit horse. He doesn't need a lot. As long as he keeps moving like he does on the track. When he got here you could tell. He was wanting to do something, ready to do something. I liked the way he acted. He was really quiet and relaxed in the paddock. He didn't use himself up. In Kentucky he had a meltdown. They got him stirred up. The Belmont is not that. The paddock scene won't be like that.

"He's a really good horse. My job is to keep his energy up. I don't want to go up there with a tired horse. I can tell he's tired right now. He should be tired. He went through a lot with that rain, doing what he did. He was carrying a lot of weight. What a special horse he is. That's the Pharoah that everybody wanted to see yesterday. After the Derby I was little bit concerned the way he ran in the Derby. That wasn't him, but he looked great coming out of it.

"I think a lot had to do with his little meltdown. He wasn't getting a hold of the track because he had lost a lot of energy. He gutted it out because he's a good horse. Victor had to be really aggressive to get him there. He didn't bring his A-game that day. He brought it yesterday."

Baffert went ahead and put in his request for the Belmont Day forecast.

"I'm just hoping for a fast track," he stated. "It could be weird up there. I want the same track that Secretariat had, that fast track. Give me the same track that Secretariat had."

The Hall of Fame trainer added that his other Preakness starter, Dortmund (Big Brown), who was third in the Derby but a tiring fourth in the Preakness, could be getting a break. The chestnut suffered his only two career losses to date in the classic contests.

"I'm going to get him back," Baffert said. "I think he could maybe use a break. He's getting a little light. I knew he was going to have trouble in the mud. He's had a pretty tough campaign."

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More Triple Crown News & Notes:

Espinoza's schedule remains packed; McAnally reminisces on past TC winners

American Pharaoh back at Churchill, to parade Stephen Foster night

Zayat, Baffert hail Triple Crown champion American Pharoah

Baffert: American Pharoah is 'my best hope for the Triple Crown'

Zito looking to spoil another Triple Crown bid

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