Zayat Stables will send out a pair of sophomores Saturday in Oaklawn's GI Arkansas Derby in juvenile champ American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and Mr. Z (Malibu Moon).
American Pharoah, who took the GI Del Mar Futurity and GI FrontRunner S. in the fall before scratching out of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile due to a foot ailment. He's made just one start so far this year with a runaway win in the sloppy GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn.
“He's been doing extremely well,” Justin Zayat said of the champion. “His works have been as impressive as they could be, he's holding his flesh very well, he's coming into this race in as good shape as we can hope.”
The homebred has never been truly tested or pressed so far in competition, and Zayat acknowledged that could be an issue.
“That's a concern to anyone that your horse hasn't been battle-tested, but that's more a credit to the horse,” he explained. “He's a naturally brilliant horse. He does everything so effortlessly, and I think that's the reason why he's never been challenged.”
American Pharoah has been on the front end for all of his wins, but Zayat believes the colt has the ability to come from off the pace if needed.
“We've actually rated him in the morning behind horses,” Zayat offered. “If you watch him on the lead, he's not a headstrong horse that's trying to pull all the way. He's a relaxed horse, that's the way he runs he's very relaxed horse. He's not a cheap speed horse, he's a very rateable and controlled horse.”
The multiple graded stakes placed Mr. Z was most recently ninth in the GII Louisiana Derby Mar. 28 and Zayat believes there's room for improvement.
“The horse, to me, still has more to prove,” Zayat said. “If you look at [his third in] the [GI] Los Alamitos [Futurity], he was behind Dortmund and Firing Line who are very respected horses on the Derby trail. He's gone a little backwards since then, but he's been training forwardly, he's a healthy, sound horse. He's doing everything right and time will tell if he's a Derby horse.”
Zayat concluded, “I honestly don't think he can hold a candle to American Pharoah at this moment…I think American Pharoah is the horse of a lifetime.”
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