Pharoah's Next Start Still Up in the Air

A day after American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) returned home to California, his trainer Bob Baffert said that the colt's next start was still undecided.

“I haven't talked to Mr. Zayat about it,” said Baffert, negating speculation caused after owner Ahmed Zayat appeared on Steve Byk's radio show Tuesday morning. “We're just waiting to see how the horse is. Of course the Travers is an option if he's doing great. My job is to get the horse ready and to know when he tells me he's ready. We'd love to run at Del Mar, in the Travers, everywhere, but we won't know for another two weeks. We're waiting on Pharoah. He wouldn't have gone to the Haskell if I hadn't liked his last work.”

Zayat noted that his clear preference would be Saratoga's GI Travers S. Aug. 29, but that he would let the horse and Baffert decide on the next start.

“Bob and I are totally on the same page,” Zayat said when contacted by phone Tuesday afternoon. “We are a happy camp here. What I said [on Steve Byk's radio show Tuesday] was, 'If the horse had an easy race and comes out of the race perfectly, my preference would be to run in the Travers. Bob loves his horses and he listens to his horses. He's with them every day and he is going to let the horse tell him what is the right thing to do.”