American Pharoah draws a crowd for Friday gallop

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Standing along the rail in the winner’s circle, trainer Bob Baffert looked up at the packed Saratoga grandstand and said, “Look at this, wow!”

The box-seat area was full, and the grandstand seats were occupied down to the sixteenth pole. Fans were lined along the rail for the entire length of the stretch. The New York Racing Association estimated there were 12,000 to 15,000 people on hand just to watch Triple Crown winner American Pharoah gallop 1 1/2 miles on a sun-splashed summer morning at the Spa. And that doesn’t include those who lined the rail on the backstretch.

“I thought there’d be about 5,000 or 6,000. I didn’t think it was going to be like this,” Baffert said. “When I see it, to me, now I know what the Secret Service [agents] protecting the president feel like. I’m guarding him. He’s a precious package. It can be a little bit nerve-wracking, but it’s fun. We’re really enjoying it.”

Watching American Pharoah motor around the Saratoga main track in his final gallop before Saturday’s $1.6 million Travers, Baffert certainly had no reason not to feel good about things. With exercise rider George Alvarez maintaining a tight hold of the reins, American Pharoah galloped 1 1/4 miles in 2:24, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Alvarez wasn’t able to pull American Pharoah up until the five-furlong pole. Alvarez turned him around, and American Pharoah was off the track eight minutes after he entered accompanied by his stable pony, Smokey.

“He likes the soft track. He loves that going; looked good to me,” Baffert said.

NYRA opened up the main track for a 15-minute period for Travers contenders. Five of the other Travers contenders came on during that time, but all eyes were on American Pharoah, who backed up to the wire and brought several rounds of applause during his quick tour of the track.

Looking at the crowd before American Pharoah came out to train, Baffert kidded, “Guess I can’t scratch him now.”

After the gallop, Baffert said, “He has to look good. If he would have come out and had his ears pinned and was choppy or something like that, I probably would have headed to the airport. I liked the way he looked. He looked great leaving California. We feel good about it.”

Baffert called American Pharoah “racing’s good news.”

“I can tell by the yearling market the way everybody is feeling so good about horse racing, even the people in horse racing,” Baffert said. “We’ve been getting a lot of negative. We were due for a little ray of sunshine.”

If successful in the Travers, American Pharoah would be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Baffert would have to decide whether to run once before. He wasn’t thinking about that Friday.

“I don’t know what I’m comfortable with until after the race,” Baffert said. “I don’t get ahead of myself. I’m like [New England Patriots coach] Bill Belichick: ‘On to Cincinnati.’ ”