Baffert Looks Ahead after Travers Defeat

American Pharoah Sunday | Mike Kane

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In comments Sunday morning, trainer Bob Baffert talked as if Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile)'s racing career will continue beyond his loss in the Travers S.

While it is owner Ahmed Zayat's call on whether

American Pharaoh will be retired, something he speculated on following the race Saturday at Saratoga Race Course, Baffert offered a far more positive take 15 hours later. He acknowledged that the demands of traveling from California to the East Coast twice this summer probably caught up with American Pharoah in the 146th Travers. Baffert said he would likely train the colt up to the Breeders' Cup Classic and not put him on the road for another race in the interim.

Before a scheduled meeting with the media, Baffert inspected the bay, walked him a bit and let people gathered near Barn 25 pet him and feed him some baby carrots.

“He looks great today,” Baffert said. “According to the sheet guys, he was the play against. He was supposed to bounce, which he did. That's what they do. He could come back and freshen up and run. I don't think he tailed off, I think he just didn't bring his 'A' game. If you look at him, he still looks pretty healthy. He doesn't look like a tired horse.”

Shortly after Keen Ice (Curlin) collared American Pharoah in the stretch, Zayat said it was his gut feeling that it might be time to retire the colt. When the question of retirement came up Sunday, Baffert tempered Zayat's comments by putting them in perspective.

“Mr. Zayat is a very emotional man,” Baffert said. “We were all pretty disappointed. We were like in shock. We were surprised he got beat. We weren't really prepared for a losing speech. When we hit it, it was like, we've just got to get through this.”

American Pharoah is scheduled to fly back to California–it will be his 14th flight since March–on Monday morning and will return to his stall at Baffert's barn at Del Mar. Baffert said Zayat–who returned to California after the Travers–has not decided on whether to keep the colt in training for the $5 million Classic, the scheduled final start of his career.

“Basically, we'll let the horse tell us what he's doing,” Baffert said. “I really don't know what the thought is. I know he'll be going back and forth.”

Zayat has said throughout the year that he defers to Baffert on training and racing matters, but the Hall of Fame trainer described himself as more of an advisor.

“Ahmed Zayat, it's his horse,” Baffert said. “My job is if I see something, if he were to come up with something I didn't like, then I'd tell him. Nothing has shown up today. We're glad that he looked fine and he's healthy. I didn't see any problem there.”

Then Baffert joked about how he would deal with American Pharoah after he gets back to Del Mar.

“We'll just probably take him and throw him in the Pacific Ocean there,” he said. “Like the old days, get on bareback and ride him in the waves.”

After American Pharoah won the Haskell Invitational on Aug. 2 at Monmouth, Baffert gave him time to recover from the race and work twice before committing to the Travers. He said he doesn't regret the decision to come to Saratoga.

“He tried. If I had to do it again, I would have brought him here,” Baffert said. “I'm glad I brought him. I think racing needed something like this. We almost pulled it off.”

Baffert said Zayat deserves credit for running American Pharoah in the Travers.

“He brought him up here. You really have to thank him,” Baffert said. “He wanted to share him. He's a sportsman for bringing him up here and sharing him with Saratoga. He did it for racing, and it didn't work out. We rolled the dice and it didn't work out, but he almost pulled it off. He was just valiant in defeat and he was trying so hard. He was empty, empty, at the top of the stretch and he was still trying to win. I still thought there was a chance.”

American Pharoah prevailed in the duel with Frosted, who had pressed him through a testing second half mile in :46.78, but could not hold off late-running Keen Ice. As the crowd of 50,000 at the Graveyard of Favorites gasped, American Pharoah finished second by three-quarters of a length.

“It was disappointing,” Baffert said. “I really thought he was going to do it. I could tell down the backside he wasn't really as powerful as he usually looks. The trip, coming back here, took a little starch out of him.”

Still, Baffert was pleased that American Pharoah showed grit and did not pack it in, as stablemate Bayern has done at times, when things didn't go his way.

“It was one of those things where he didn't embarrass us,” Baffert said. “If he would have stopped and run fifth, sixth, seventh, you could have scraped me off the track. I would have been so mad at myself for bringing him. He ran a good race.

“It was exciting, the whole town, Pharoahtoga, everybody. Last night, I kept running into people and all they could say was thank you for bringing him. The horse has done so much for the excitement of racing, building it up. It was actually one of the most positive losses I've ever seen. We walked into a restaurant last night and everybody gave me a standing ovation for bringing him up. It was pretty cool.”

American Pharoah showed the effects of a demanding race, Baffert said, and was blowing hard when he return to be unsaddled. But Baffert said the colt recovered quickly and had cooled out in 10 to 15 minutes.

The Travers loss ended an eight-race winning streak that began last summer at Del Mar. This year, American Pharoah returned from an injury to win twice at Oaklawn Park, sweep the Triple Crown and after a short rest won the Haskell.

“He has been doing the impossible,” Baffert said. “Sometimes, you feel like he's invincible, but they all get beat. Sometimes it makes it feel like they're invincible. He looked great today. There's no horse that's ever done it like he's done it. I've never had a horse that could bring performance after performance after performance. I've had horses throw a big performance, but they can't keep it going. He almost did it.”

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