Jerardi: Cherish brief time we have left with American Pharoah

After a friend called me Monday to explain that it had been 37 days since we had a Triple Crown winner and I finally stopped laughing, I did the only sensible thing. I called Bob Baffert.

Baffert, a realist in a dreamer’s game, explained that everything was race to race, even day to day with American Pharoah. It all had to go perfectly early this year just to get the horse to the Kentucky Derby. Everything did go perfectly during the Triple Crown. All has gone well since the Triple Crown.

But nothing is guaranteed, Baffert said. Plans are just that – plans. The horse went to Del Mar on Tuesday. The trainer has every intention of running American Pharoah in the Aug. 2 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. Nothing else will be decided until after that race.

The Travers is possible. The Pennsylvania Derby is possible. The Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland is the ultimate goal, the last race under any circumstance.

But any race, any day could be the last for American Pharoah, the most valuable racing animal on the planet. Baffert wasn’t saying that to be an alarmist. He just understands the reality of the game generally and the specific reality of American Pharoah.

There will be no chances taken, nor should there be.

If the horse is good to go, he runs. If not, he’s gone.

So far, American Pharoah is the exception to all the modern racing rules. The horse won the first Triple Crown in 37 years. Over the next 37 days, American Pharoah had three works and, according to Baffert, is as good now as he was going into the Belmont Stakes.

So, we all are in for a treat on the first Sunday of August at the Jersey Shore, the first race back by a Triple Crown winner since Aug. 8, 1978, when Affirmed overcame an early eight-length deficit to run down Sensitive Prince and win the Jim Dandy by a half-length. The third horse was 20 lengths back.

Baffert is as confident in his horse now as he was all spring. If he wasn’t, American Pharoah would not be training and would not be scheduled to run. Anything beyond that first race will just have to wait. This is no longer the Triple Crown. This is the horse who finally won the Triple Crown.

Not long after my conversation with Baffert, I got on DRF.com, and it really hit home why the man with so much experience explained that it was one race at a time. California Chrome, gone for the year and probably forever. Main Sequence, retired. Lady Eli, fighting for her life with the dreaded laminitis.

At least we had those 37 days to celebrate.

I am a huge California Chrome fan and an even bigger Art Sherman fan. The colt was a brilliant 3-year-old, certainly good enough to have won a Triple Crown himself. I was not opposed in theory to the English adventure and am in no position to say why the colt got that bruised cannon bone. I just know how much I enjoyed watching California Chrome run and wonder what might have happened had he come back from Dubai to Sherman’s barn and been pointed to American dirt stakes. Really, who did not want to see California Chrome vs. American Pharoah in the BC Classic?

You knew something was up with Main Sequence when he ran so poorly in the United Nations. Trainer Graham Motion said the horse could have come back from this tendon injury, but the horse had done more than enough and will get the nice retirement he is due.

After watching Lady Eli win the Belmont Oaks, I was telling friends I thought she had the ability to be effective in any grass race anywhere against horses of any age or sex. I was thinking an American filly in the Arc someday. I did not see any ceiling. Now we get this sad news.

I remember when 2015 began how excited I was that we were getting the great 3-year-olds of 2014 back. Shared Belief was really good early this year but then got hurt. California Chrome ran really well twice, but no more. Bayern has not seen the lead in his two races and has not been close at the finish.

Like everyone else, I was wondering if a Triple Crown was even possible when the year began. When the favorites won nearly all the prep races, I was thinking this was such an exceptional group that a Triple Crown would be even more difficult.

Then, we all got to revel in American Pharoah’s three-race tour de force. It was pure excellence, reminding us that we really never know what’s next and why we all keep coming back.