Sweep Still Sweet on Sunday

The morning after ending the 37-year Triple Crown drought, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) was in fine form, according to trainer Bob Baffert. “Looking at the horse today, he looked pretty darn good for a horse that just ran a mile and a half,” Baffert said outside of Barn 1 in Elmont. “He's a tough horse. Today he looked like he could run back in three weeks.”

Baffert allowed members of the media to pet American Pharoah outside of the barn to demonstrate the colt's demeanor.

“I just wanted to share him with everybody to show how kind and how sweet he is,” Baffert said. “He's been so special to me because for some reason he connects with me. Horses of his caliber are not that nice. He's just sweet and he's so different from any other horse I've had.”

Baffert continued, “Sometimes I can't believe I have him in my barn. To see this horse finally do something like this…I was starting to believe that maybe it was never going to happen. I was starting to think that maybe it's the breed, but it's not the breed. We just have to wait until a superior horse comes around, and they don't come around that often. You have to have a superior horse, and he also has to be tough and be able to handle the grind.”

Owner/breeder Ahmed Zayat said he recognized the colt's potential early on.

“We were told from the time he was a young foal that he was special, and I told that to Bob from Day One,” Zayat said before watching American Pharoah's Triple Crown banner unfurled in the Belmont grandstand to hang with those of the previous 11 winners. “Then when he went to Bob's barn, it was the same. Bob never hypes a horse, but he did tell me 'He's the one, but let's keep that between ourselves because we don't want to jinx him.' Now the secret is out.”

American Pharoah, who left Belmont on a 7:30 a.m. flight Sunday headed for Kentucky, was given a hero's welcome back in the Blue Grass state. People lined up outside Barn 33 at Churchill Downs as American Pharoah arrived at 1:15 p.m.

“The feelings just go on and on; they just don't stop,” Baffert's assistant Jimmy Barnes, who accompanied American Pharoah from New York, said. “Just coming here with the police escort and there were fans on the street waving–it's a lot of roller-coaster emotions.”

American Pharoah will get a four-day break from training before connections decide what their game plan will be.

“After we freshen him up, we have options,” Baffert noted. “We'll have time to figure it all out, and right now we just want to love on him and enjoy him.”