“I think that the thought of him leaving, that’s affecting most of us right now,” said trainer Bob Baffert. It was early October, and we were perched high up in the empty cavern of the Santa Anita grandstand on a balmy, bulging sunrise of a morning that tipped a paint-pot of colors over the leafy canopy of the surrounding city. The “him” in question was, of course, American Pharoah – the horse Baffert sent to Belmont Park earlier this year to capture the first Triple Crown in 37 years.
I had interrupted Baffert midway through the busy morning grind. With walkie-talkie in hand, he was sending orders to his battalion of exercise riders – each with an ear-piece tucked discreetly into their helmet – still executing their maneuvers around the racetrack. And time was in short supply.
“Let’s get this done,” Baffert had said as he hurried up the steps to find a quiet spot to talk, indicating that the interview would be conducted with similar haste. Only the longer Baffert lingered on the topic of American Pharoah, the further he seemed to slip into a state of reverie – to the point where I suspected a lump had risen to his throat.
“We see him every day, and we know he’ll be leaving,” he said, a definite edge to his voice. “It’s going to be tough. For me, him leaving, it’s going to be the toughest.”
That American Pharoah is able to reduce his trainer to tears (or close to, at the very least) is no new revelation. After many of the horse’s big-race appearances this year, the cameras have closed in on the familiar monochromatic Baffert portrait of snowy white hair and dark suit, and sunglasses that do little to hide the full emotional whack of each event: first the Kentucky Derby victory, then the Triple Crown success, then the Haskell Invitational victory, and then the stunning defeat last time out in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
Those moments each comprised an amalgam of reactions: elation, pride, relief and, in the case of the Travers, anti-climax. “I felt more pressure in the Haskell than any other time. It was very important for me that the horse didn’t get beat coming off the Triple Crown – I’ve seen a lot of horses beaten after winning that. So, it was really nice to see him win after the Triple Crown.”
Only now, as American Pharoah approaches his swansong in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, after which he assumes stallion duties at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky, Baffert’s thoughts are tinged with an added pinch of melancholy.
“Him going to another barn to have a terrific life, that’s a good thing,” Baffert said, as he paused to collect his thoughts. “But right now, we’re just enjoying him every day, watching him, being around him. He’s just such a sweet, kind horse. I don’t think about the Breeders’ Cup, I just think of him not being there when I get to work. The joy that he’s brought us, me and my family, the Zayat family [of owner Ahmed Zayat], I tell ya, it’s tough.”
When dealing with such a media-seasoned performer as Baffert, it’s tempting to think that behind his words lies an element of the circus ring-master playing to the audience. And he’s had much practice to hone is craft. In the 30 years he’s been training Thoroughbreds, Baffert has mopped up a laundry list of big races in North America, some multiple times (his Kentucky Derby record alone stands at four wins).
But as he expanded upon the sense of loss that will come when American Pharoah is ushered from his stall at Santa Anita one last time, gone were the pithy, headline-ready aphorisms plucked from the pages of the NRA handbook – “We’re not going to eat the son of a gun,” or “We’re going to the OK Corral with guns blazing” – replaced by something prosaic and sincere.
Still, I asked Baffert whether fear that he will never have in his barn another horse as good as American Pharoah is fueling part of this sense of foreboding.
“Every time I’ve ever had a really good horse, I think I’ll never have another like him again,” he replied. “We’re always looking to find another good one, but they’re hard to come by. It’s like Frankel. What’s the chance of getting another horse like that?”
Breeders’ Cup Classic: litmus test of his talent
Just how good American Pharoah is should be made much clearer in the Breeders’ Cup Classic this Saturday, in which he has drawn stall four. The race marks the first time that he has raced against older horses. And he faces a stellar field of runners in what is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated edition of the race in years.
There’s Gleneagles, the latest to emerge from trainer Aiden O’Brien’s conveyor-belt of superstars. There’s Keen Ice, American Pharoah’s conqueror in the Travers. As well as Tonalist and Honor Code, either of whom in any ordinary year would be considered among the favorites for the race.
Nevertheless, whatever happens in the Classic, American Pharoah has already proven himself a racehorse of rare ability and durability.
After his debut loss at two, American Pharoah wracked up a string of eight successive victories, seven at the top level. What’s more, his last six runs have been at six different tracks in five different states, with long flights west to east and vise versa punctuating many of those grueling racecourse appearances.
“What he’s done, all the travelling, is amazing,” said Baffert, acknowledging how a rigorous campaign of long flights and hard races is beyond the measure of those made of less hardwearing equine flesh.
“I’ve never had another horse that can handle something like that. They can’t sustain it. I think he’s just a throwback to the old style of horse. He’s smart and kind, and a beautiful mover. He jumps a long way, and he just floats over the ground. Mentally and physically, he’s just got that formula of genetic freakishness. That’s what he is: a freak.”
Come the Travers at the end of August, though, the long flights and hard races had worn through that veneer of invincibility. “I could tell it was catching up with him. He got a little light on me – he was a tired horse. But you know what, I think he almost could have pulled it off.”
He probably would have won in the Travers, Baffert said, had Frosted, with jockey Jose Lezcano aboard, not harangued American Pharoah for the lead during the first half of the race.
“Frosted is a difficult horse to ride, and [Lezcano] was trying to win by pinning us on the rail. Most of the jocks who had ridden against [American Pharoah] paid him a lot of respect, but this guy went after him, and he thought he was doing the right thing at the time, but he cost his own horse, too [they finished third]. I think if Victor [Espinoza] would have ridden him differently,” Baffert started, before trailing off. And I asked Baffert whether he regrets running American Pharoah in the Travers.
“Running him in the Saratoga race messed my preparations for him a little bit,” he admitted. “After the Haskell, I was going to give him a little time to come back, then prep him and get ready. Right now, I feel pretty confident that I get him back to that level. It’s getting tight. As long as he keeps working, and doesn’t miss a beat, everything should be fine.”
American Pharoah: American hero
One facet of the Saratoga trip that brings better memories is the reception his horse was afforded by throngs of fans, the size and rabid fervor of which is typically reserved for sightings of Justin Bieber.
“When we went to Saratoga to gallop, that was pretty overwhelming,” he said, alluding to crowds 15,000-strong that turned out to watch American Pharoah simply exercise of a morning. “It was an incredible scene. I’ve never seen anything like that in America before,” he added, before shifting tack to the Triple Crown.
“In America, we’re all about sports history. The people who showed up at Belmont Park, they knew down deep, ‘this is the guy who’ gonna get it done.’ During those 37 years, we’ve seen some really useful horses fail. I had three of them. I was getting to the point, ‘maybe it can’t be done?’ But it can be done – you’ve just got to be way the best in your age group.
“You’ve got to be superior, and that’s what he’s proved,” Baffert added. “People, they tell me how good that win made him feel that day, and that’s with everything going on in people’s lives, everything going on in the world. He made people cry – made everybody cry. It was something unique and special that reminds us just how beautiful these animals are. Sometimes you take it for granted.”
Suspicion that the trainer had, indeed, taken his horses for granted dogged Baffert in light of the seven horses he trained that died of sudden death syndrome in the space of 16 months between 2012 and 2013. The heat was turned up to boiling point on Baffert during that investigation. And while the official outcome found no wrongdoing, the shadow from that episode persisted long after the case was closed.
For Baffert, the Triple Crown was an opportunity for his horses to once again “do all the talking,” and a chance to finally put right a wrong that had lingered over his career. For the Triple Crown had three times narrowly and famously slipped through his fingers: in 1997 with Silver Charm, in 1998 with Real Quiet, and in 2002 with War Emblem.
“The Triple Crown was the only thing that was missing. People used to ask me, ‘is it important to you?’ I’d reply, ‘it’s nice, but it’s not the whole deal.’ But it was bugging me. Losing the Triple Crown by a nose with Real Quiet, that was tough. I just couldn’t believe we were going through it again. But having had those other horses, it made it much easier this time.
“I didn’t do anything differently this time though,” Baffert added. “I mean, those horses ran well, they just weren’t the best. They were stars, but not the real one. Pharoah, he’s way the best, and you’ve got to be way the best to overcome what he has. I feel fortunate. I keep saying he’s a gift from god. It was meant to be.”
I asked: “So, where does he stand in comparison to all of the horses you’ve trained?”
“He ranks number one,” Baffert replied, barely drawing breath. “Point Given, he was a really good horse, he was tough. But not only the fact that American Pharoah is fast and brilliant, but he’s sustained all the shipping and the running and still come out of it so well. Effortlessly so.”
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“I think it’s a combination of what he’s accomplished, who he is and also his personality that attracts people to him,” said Justin Zayat, the son of owner Ahmed Zayat, of the “Pharoah-effect” that has shadowed his horse this summer.
A recent NYU graduate, Zayat manages his father’s racing stable – they have horses scattered all over the country with a handful of trainers. Young and personable with a bright zeal for racing, Zayat’s has been a ubiquitous face throughout the Triple Crown trail. And he’s the first port of call as news of American Pharoah trickles in from the trainer.
“I just got a text from Baffert that the champ worked awesome just now,” Zayat said (after American Pharoah had clocked a lightening work at Santa Anita on October 20). “I wake up every morning and the first thing I think about is American Pharoah. Then Bob will text me videos of this horse coming off the track, stuff like, ‘Wow, look at this beast!’”
The Zayats have had horses with Baffert for 10 years, including 2009 Kentucky Derby runner-up Pioneer of the Nile, American Pharoah’s sire. None have left their mark on the family in the manner of the Triple Crown winner though.
“He’s like another sibling at this point, you know,” he said. “This horse brought the whole family together, created such amazing moments and memories that we’ll never forget in our entire life.” Which is why the Breeders’ Cup Classic will bring with it conflicting emotions.
“It’s gonna be pretty bittersweet,” he said. “I love having him in training, going to see him at the track. But at the same time, I feel very happy for him to go to a new career. I know he’s going to be great at what he does. I hope he retires very happy, healthy and sound, and that’s all we want. This horse owns us nothing.”
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“Right now, my only concern is to get him to where he’s 100% for the race,” said Baffert, when asked about the Classic, before he ticked off a list of other concerns that proved how American Pharoah’s condition is only one of a number of headaches.
On such is Keeneland’s track conditions, with the threat of rain likely in Kentucky in late October. Though Baffert is less concerned about the prospect of a deluge before the race than he is of the typical rough-and-tumble of the Classic.
“Keeneland, it’s a different kind of track. But he’s handled everything we’ve thrown at him so far,” he said, pointing to American Pharoah’s victories in the slop first at Oaklawn in the Grade II Rebel Stakes in March, and then in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.
“It’s just that I’ve seen so many horses in the Classic, I don’t care how good your horse is, if you don’t get a good trip you won’t win.” And Baffert singled out as an example Shared Belief, who went into the last year’s Classic as favorite but who, after being side-swiped at the beginning of the race last year, was never a fact thereafter.
“[Shared Belief] got crowded behind horses and he’d never been in that position before – it was tough for him. If you don’t break well, stay in the clear, get locked up in between horses, you’re just out of it immediately.”
Whatever the result on Saturday, win or lose, one certainty is that the cameras that pan to Baffert post-race will capture a trainer flanked as he has been all year by family – wife Jill, and five children. Missing from the equation will be his mother and father who passed away in 2011 and 2012 respectively, but who he credits for grounding the roots of his nascent training career all those years ago.
“I’m just so sorry that my parents who were my biggest fans, that they weren’t around to witness [the Triple Crown],” he said. “That’s why I got emotional this run. My parents, they went through it with the other ones. My mother always told me, ‘you’re going to win the Triple Crown.’”
“Did you think they were still there somehow watching it all unfold?” I asked.
“I felt like they’re with me. I felt like they were protecting [American Pharoah] in some ways. It’s one of those things that no one ever knows, but it sure feels good just thinking about it. That’s the way I look at it.”
The tractors having finished renovating the track and the surface once again Nutella-smooth, an infantry of horses poised with engines running spilled back onto the track. This was the cue for Baffert to return to the grind. He made his goodbyes and threaded down the steps back to his perch beside the track, where he watched a wave of workers wing by.
Some were two-year-olds with their careers still ahead of them. Chances are they won’t come anywhere near replicating the success of their illustrious stable mate. But the quest for the next headline-maker is as ceaseless as the tides. Win or lose Saturday, for Baffert, that quest has already assumed another wrinkle, and one that already appears to be dogging his thoughts: just exactly how do you follow a horse like American Pharoah?
- This article was updated on Friday October 30 to reflect the news that Beholder has been scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
