American Pharoah works strong five furlongs

ARCADIA, Calif. – American Pharoah, the Triple Crown winner, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds on Saturday at Santa Anita and now will remain there in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland rather than travel on Monday to Churchill Downs, a plan trainer Bob Baffert had been contemplating.

Basically, Baffert wants to leave well enough alone.

“I’ve finally got him the way I want,” Baffert said about two hours after American Pharoah’s workout. “I don’t want to put him on a plane. His coat’s good. His weight’s good. I’ve just got to keep him happy. He wasn’t sweaty today. That tells me he’s enjoying it.”

Baffert had thought about going early to Kentucky and training at Churchill Downs for three weeks, but recent wet weather in Kentucky, coupled with the progress American Pharoah has made, gave him pause.

“I don’t want to train him in the cold on a sealed track,” Baffert said. “This track here is really deep. He gets a lot out of it. If it was hard and fast, I’d probably ship.”

One reason Baffert gave strong consideration to going to Churchill Downs early to train for the Breeders’ Cup Classic was because he was thrilled with the way American Pharoah trained at Churchill for two months earlier this year. The horse was based there after the Arkansas Derby and through his sweep of the Triple Crown, with just quick in-and-out trips to Pimlico for the Preakness and Belmont Park for the Belmont Stakes.

But American Pharoah got fit at Santa Anita in the spring before winning the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby, so this track has served him well coming off a layoff.

There are flights leaving here for Kentucky on Oct. 19, 25, and 27, so Baffert has plenty of options on when to go to Kentucky. The longer he waits, the more likely he heads straight into Keeneland and bypasses Churchill Downs. Beholder, the outstanding mare also headed to the Classic, is scheduled to fly to Keeneland on Oct. 19 and work there once, trainer Richard Mandella said Saturday.

Baffert wanted to avoid any sort of setback with American Pharoah, which is why he decided not to fly the colt on Monday. He said American Pharoah needed extra time to recover from his second-place finish in the Travers Stakes, his most-recent start.

“He was stressed out after Saratoga,” Baffert said. “I don’t want him to tail off on me. I’ve got to go with my gut on the right way to approach this.”

Following the Travers, “I needed to get the weight back on him,” Baffert said as to why he went so easily with American Pharoah in his training during the first part of September. Once that issue was resolved, American Pharoah started his series of workouts. He has now worked three times in 12 days, the works coming six days apart.

American Pharoah originally was scheduled to work on Sunday, but with rain forecast for the area here on Sunday and Monday, Baffert decided to move the work up a day.

American Pharoah’s work on Saturday was his longest and strongest of three since returning to training. At 6:40 a.m. Pacific, shortly after a renovation break, he worked five furlongs solo under jockey Martin Garcia and galloped out with enthusiasm. Baffert had him going out six furlongs in 1:12.40 and seven furlongs in 1:25.80. Baffert wanted to put a good, strong work into American Pharoah.

“He went good. He needed it,” Garcia said.

“He went nice. He always does,” Baffert said. “I’ve never seen him work bad. I guess the day he does, that’s it. He looked good, happy, reaching.”

The Breeders’ Cup Classic is scheduled to be the final start of American Pharoah’s career. He will be coming into the race off a two-month layoff, not having raced since the Travers.

American Pharoah is scheduled to begin stud duty next spring at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, just down the road from Keeneland in Versailles, Ky.