Zayat Stables's GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. hero American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) returned to the track Thursday for the first time since his Preakness victory May 16. The bay, who returned to Churchill Downs Monday where he will train up to the GI Belmont S. June 6, jogged once around the one-mile Louisville oval with regular exercise rider Jorge Alvarez aboard.
“He looked very good, I couldn't be happier,” said Jimmy Barnes, Bob Baffert's chief assistant. “His energy level is good.”
Barnes added, “We'll go to the track tomorrow and Bob [Baffert] will tell me what he wants to do. If he says jog him another day, we'll jog him another day. If he says gallop, then we'll gallop. Bottom line, he is in charge; I'm just the caretaker of the horse.”
American Pharoah is following the same post-Preakness regimen Baffert employed with his previous Triple Crown hopefuls Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998) and War Emblem (2002).
“We come back here with all of our Derby horses and we usually come back this way,” said Barnes. “I'd prefer to train here, we're set up here and our barn is here. I mean New York is all right. It's a big track and a sandy track. You get a lot of weather that you get here, but we're comfortable here.”
Barnes added, “We had some disappointing years. Point Given…I really thought we could have won the Triple Crown that year and we didn't win the first one. But [American Pharoah] fits right in with the best of them. He's a pleasure to train, he does everything with ease and he's a big mover. I think probably one of his best assets is how he moves. His action and everything is forward and big.”
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