Baffert Performs Travers ‘Recon’

With an eye towards shipping Triple Crown and recent GI Haskell Invitational S. hero American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) in for the GI Travers S. Aug. 29, trainer Bob Baffert spent time on the Saratoga backstretch Monday morning while in town for the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale.

“I’m just here doing a little recon if he were to come here, where he’s going to go, what stall, what barn, the layout with the track and everything,” Baffert said after visiting the barn of John Terranova, who stables the Hall of Famer’s horses when they come to the Empire State. “We’re trying to make it, but he’s going to have to really convince me. I have to be all in and feel really confident, because if he comes here I know he’s going to have to run hard. It’s a tough, demanding racetrack, but he’s handled everything thrown at him so far.”

Baffert has had five previous Travers starters. He took the 2001 renewal with Point Given (Thunder Gulch) and finished third with Roman Ruler (Fusaichi Pegasus) in 2005, but was off the board with Haskell winner Coil (Point Given) in 2011, Liaison (Indian Charlie) in 2012 and Haskell winner Bayern (Offlee Wild) 12 months ago.

“He’s been such a special horse and he has this following now. I want to make sure I do the right thing,” Baffert explained. “I know there’s always that pressure that we want to run. I’ve been pressured into bringing other horses here and they didn’t do so well, but this horse is different. Point Given was the only one that I brought in for the Travers that had a chance to win; the other ones, I was just trying to make something happen.”

The Zayat Stables colorbearer is currently at Del Mar after his geared-down 2 1/4-length score in the Aug. 2 Haskell at Monmouth.

“We’ll just work him maybe next Sunday. I’ll breeze him and see how he breezes over that track,” Baffert noted. “When he came back the next day [after the Haskell], it was normal that he was tired. You could tell, he was pretty quiet and all. For two days there he just laid around and we left him alone. It took him about four days to snap out of it, and he filled back up a little bit. He looks great. After he galloped, [assistant trainer] Jimmy [Barnes] said he looked like his normal self.”

Owner Ahmed Zayat has publically voiced his desire to run in the “Midsummer Derby,” but Baffert said that the horse will make the final decision.

“I’m in a situation with him where if he would have gone to the Haskell and I didn’t like the way he trained there, I would have scratched him,” said Baffert. “If he were to come here and train and I didn’t like something, we would scratch him. Fortunately, I haven’t had to do that. If he comes, that means that he’s doing really, really well.”

American Pharoah went for $300,000 at the Saratoga Sale in 2013. “I had to come over and see if maybe there’s another American Pharoah in here that everybody missed last time,” Baffert quipped. “He was right there and everybody looked at him and walked away from him. All the geniuses missed him.”