By Mike Kane
With a police escort of New York State Troopers leading the way from Albany International Airport, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile)'s road show arrived at Saratoga Race Course Wednesday afternoon.
Assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes said the approximately 2,850-mile cross-country trip to run in the GI Travers S. on Saturday could not have gone more smoothly. The 12th Triple Crown winner left his stall at Del Mar a 1:30 a.m. PST and walked off the truck at Barn 25 just after 3 p.m. EST, a span of 10 1/2 hours.
American Pharoah vanned to Ontario International Airport for a flight to Lexington, Ky. Some horses got off and 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide was led on for the second leg of the flight to upstate New York. The final portion of the journey was a 29-mile van ride on Interstate 87, the Adirondack Northway, to the track. Funny Cide will be paraded in the paddock before Thursday's program.
“Traveling with Pharoah, they make it very convenient for us,” Barnes said. “We're like the last one to show up at the plane and the first one off. Everybody has been very cooperative with that.”
It was the 13th plane ride to compete this year for the Zayat Stables' homebred, who has accumulated lots of frequent flyer miles in his climb to the top of the racing world.
“He handles shipping very well. Absolutely,” Barnes said. “He's shipped so many times now that he's a pro.”
Barnes said the colt, who wears ear plugs while racing, has them in when he's traveling or whenever he leaves the barn. The veteran horseman, and longtime assistant to trainer Bob Baffert, said he's never seen a more resilient horse who can handle training, competing and traveling.
“I think he's an exceptional case as far as being able to handle all of the shipping, keeping his weight well, keep eating,” Barnes said. “When you need to go back and forth from the East Coast to the West Coast they could back off their feed and lighten up on you. He pretty much gained weight. It hasn't been an issue at all. It's been nice.”
Top-level racing has been part of culture in the Capital Region of New York since the Civil War, but the news that the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years would compete in the Travers has ratcheted up the interest in Saratoga's signature race. The Time Warner newschannel provided live coverage of the arrival of American Pharoah's flight to Albany–much as it would if the President was coming to town–and a few dozen members of the media were at trainer John Terranova's barn to report on the end of the journey.
“At the airport there was a large reception,” Barnes said. “Along the freeway people were pulled over. It was the same at Churchill [Downs] when we came back from the Belmont.”
Barnes had handled lots of Baffert standouts through the years, but has never seen as horse receive rock star-type treatment
“You just really have to enjoy it because he's only going to be around so long, and when this is all over I'm sure we're going to miss him,” Barnes said. “At times it gets a little hectic, but you've just got to sit back and just enjoy it. You're blessed to be here.”
Barnes said the colt will go to track Thursday morning for some light training. His morning workout between 8:45 and 9:00 a.m. Friday is open to the public. It's a pretty safe bet that it will draw a large crowd.
American Pharoah, the 1-5 favorite, will start from post two in the 10-horse Travers, scheduled for 5:46 p.m. and part of NBC's live coverage from 4:00 to 6 p.m.
After he got off the van from the airport, American Pharoah was walked around the ring under the ancient trees outside Terranova's barn, and given a bath. Forty-five minutes after Barnes led him down the ramp, showing no signs of being worn out by the trip, he was in his stall. All in a day's work for the American Pharoah road show.
“He adjusts,” Barnes said. “He's probably adjusted right now. You could lead him over and run him. I really think he adjusts very easily.
“We'd like to get him over the track. He likes a deeper-style track so this track should be fine. He likes the eastern tracks. All his racing has been on basically eastern tracks, other than a synthetic track (Del Mar) and Santa Anita. It's hard to believe. You think back to all his races, he has really only had two at home. The rest of the time he had to ship everywhere to run.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
