American Pharoah a happy horse

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah galloped a little more than 1 1/8 miles at Churchill Downs on a nice, cool Saturday. He was among the first horses allowed onto a freshly harrowed main track at 8:26 a.m.

This was the second morning that Jim Barnes, the assistant trainer for Bob Baffert, had exercise rider Jorge Alvarez backtrack the colt to the seven-furlong pole, turn him around, and get him right into a steady gallop.

Alvarez kept the colt well off the rail, went once around, then started letting him know to slow down once they had made it back around to the seven-furlong pole, finally pulling him up just beyond the five-furlong pole, where Barnes was waiting for them astride the pony.

Neck bowed and loving life, American Pharoah then pranced back to the five-and-a-half-furlong gap and was walked off the track after being attached to a shank by a handler. The entire routine took maybe six or seven minutes.

Barnes said that American Pharoah would ship to New York on Tuesday, June 2, a day earlier than previously announced. That will have the colt on the grounds in advance of the New York State Gaming Commission’s mandated time of noon Wednesday and will enable Bob Baffert to attend the Wednesday afternoon draw at Rockefeller Center.