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

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

Preakness romp

"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.

"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.

"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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