GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) registered his last serious work before Saturday's GI Belmont S. under cloudy skies Monday at Churchill Downs. The bay covered five panels in 1:00.20 (video) with Martin Garcia in the irons shortly after the renovation break. Churchill clocker John Nichols recorded 1/8-mile fractions in :13, :25 (:12), :36.60 (11.60) and :48.60 (:12). He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13, seven-eighths in 1:26 and a mile in 1:39.60.
Baffert noted how pleased he was with the work later in the morning.
“Everything went really well today,” Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said outside Barn 33. “I was worried about the rain a little bit but the track was in perfect shape. He went around there really nice and it sort of let up a little bit when he worked so it went just as we thought. He just kept on clicking right along and so now we just play the waiting game. We'll ship out [Tuesday] morning and hope everything goes well when we go to the Big Apple.”
The rainy conditions made Baffert a bit anxious about the breeze.
“[I was] very nervous,” he explained. “This morning I saw the rain and the track was really dry this morning, so I think the rain [had] just enough moisture in it to make it have some bounce to it. But the track was in excellent condition. I slept pretty well last night. I didn't think it was going to rain today and then I woke up went, 'Whoa, where did that come from?' But had I known it was storming last night I probably would have had a hard time. I didn't want to work on a sealed track.”
American Pharoah, along with fellow Belmont competitor Keen Ice (Curlin), is scheduled to depart on a van to the Louisville International Airport at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday.
The charter will arrive at the Long Island MacArthur Airport at approximately 11:15 a.m. and is scheduled to arrive at Belmont Park at 12:45 p.m.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.