American Pharoah will train at Churchill for Belmont Stakes

BALTIMORE – American Pharoah is off to New York to try for the Triple Crown – but first, a return to Louisville.

As he prepares for the Belmont Stakes on June 6, American Pharoah, who won the Preakness Stakes here at Pimlico on Saturday, will do the bulk of his training at Churchill Downs, where he won the Kentucky Derby on May 2 and has been based since shortly after his win in the Arkansas Derby on April 11. He arrived here the Wednesday prior to the Preakness and will have the same itinerary heading into the Belmont, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday morning at Pimlico.

“I’m going to take him back there, give him a light week this week. It’ll be like going to a spa for a week – relax, eat, get the weight back on him,” said Baffert, who added American Pharoah would have his final work for the Belmont at Churchill Downs before heading to New York the Wednesday of Belmont week.

Baffert said American Pharoah was “quiet, a little tired, like he’s supposed to be after a race.” But after examining American Pharoah’s legs, Baffert said there were “no changes, no surprises.”

“He was more tired after the Derby,” Baffert said. “But he hadn’t had a hard race before the Derby. He’s hard to gauge because he’s so quiet, mellow. He’s a very intelligent horse.”

American Pharoah was assigned a Beyer Speed Figure of 102 for the Preakness.

The Preakness was run over a track that had turned to slop, owing to a torrential downpour in the 20 minutes prior to the race. Baffert said the foam pad jockey Victor Espinoza had under his saddle “was drenched” and said jockey Gary Stevens told him the scale read 135 pounds when he got on it with his tack after the race. The horses are assigned 126 pounds, so that would mean Stevens – who rode Firing Line – picked up nine pounds of water weight on his clothes and tack during the race.

“Those horses packed a lot of weight,” Baffert said. “They could have put steeplechase riders on them.”

American Pharoah will try to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and the first since Affirmed in 1978. In the 37 years since Affirmed, American Pharoah is the 14th horse to win the Derby and Preakness. Of the prior 13, 12 ran in the Belmont, the exception being I’ll Have Another, who was scratched and retired the day before the race.

“If the horse fires, he will win it,” Baffert said. “I have to get him rejuvenated. If he runs that race again, he’ll be hard to beat.”

American Pharoah will be the only horse among this year’s crop of 3-year-olds to run in all three legs of the Triple Crown. The only horse exiting the Preakness expected to challenge him in the Belmont is Tale of Verve, who finished second after not scratching into the Derby.

Dortmund, also trained by Baffert, will get a breather after finishing third in the Derby and fourth in the Preakness.

“He’s getting a little light,” Baffert said.

Other Belmont challengers for American Pharoah are several horses who ran in the Derby and skipped the Preakness, including Frosted, Materiality, Keen Ice, Mubtaahij, Carpe Diem, and Frammento. Madefromlucky, the Peter Pan winner, also is expected.