Team American Pharoah Supports TCA

An audience of some 200 racing fans and insiders listened raptly as connections of champion American Pharoah came together to reminisce about their historic voyage through the Triple Crown during an event held Tuesday evening at Fasig-Tipton to benefit the Thoroughbred Charities of America. Owner Ahmed Zayat and racing manager Justin Zayat were joined on stage by trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Victor Espinoza as Horse Racing Radio Network's Mike Penna moderated “An Evening with Team American Pharoah.”

Ahmed Zayat, describing the experience of owning and breeding the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, said he felt “blessed, honored and humbled.”

Justin Zayat admitted American Pharoah's mystique has transcended the family. “There is a picture of Zayat Stables and then there is the whole racing industry,” he said. “He has meant so much to our family. And when we went to Saratoga for the Travers–all the people out in the street yelling “Pharoatoga” at us–what he did to the town was incredible.”

Baffert, who had come into the Belmont S. with three previous chances to win the Triple Crown only to come up agonizingly short, admitted he was prepared for a fourth disappointment.

“I knew he was going to run a big race, but there was still that little kernel of doubt that maybe someone is going to come and spoil this ride,” Baffert said. “And when I saw him turning for home, I thought, 'Well, it's really going to take a really awesome performance.' I was looking back there–who is coming, where is Frosted, where are the other horses. And when I saw Frosted coming there, I thought, 'Well this is where the story gets really ugly.' And I was waiting for it. I was prepared for Frosted to come and nail me on the wire and all of a sudden I saw Victor and he's sitting like a statue.

“And I know,” Baffert continued before interrupting himself to address Espinoza, who had a brief run on Dancing with the Stars, “–and Victor, by the way, you ride way better than you dance–but I know when a jockey is sitting on a horse like that, he must have a ton of horse. So that's when I really felt, it's going to happen. That's the first time that I didn't root for a horse, I just watched. When he hit the wire and it was so loud, it was crazy. ”

Baffert became visibly emotional several times in discussing American Pharoah before chuckling, “This horse is making the biggest crybaby out of me.”

Looking ahead to the final start of American Pharoah's career in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic, a passionate Ahmed Zayat said, “The Derby, we wanted because we felt we were very close to go to the Promise Land and we were teased three times, so we wanted to win for the Zayats. The Triple Crown, genuinely, my whole family, we all wanted that for the sport. On Saturday, we want it for American Pharoah. This is for American Pharoah–we want him to go out on a high note.”

The TCA provides grants to Thoroughbred-related non-profits, including retirement, rehabilitation and adoption organizations; backstretch and farm employee programs; therapeutic riding programs; and research organizations. Since 1990, TCA has granted over $21 million to more than 200 charities.