American Pharoah Gets First Look At Belmont Park
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Triple Crown hopeful American Pharoah has gotten his first look at Belmont Park, jogging the mile and a half around the huge oval with ease.
With exercise rider Jorge Alvarez aboard, American Pharoah jogged counterclockwise around the track before being walked off and taken back to his stable for a public sponge bath just outside his barn.
PHOTOS: American Pharoah's 1st Look At Belmont Park
Trainer Bob Baffert was on hand for the exercise Wednesday morning and happy to get it over with.
"I want to win it for the horse," Baffert said. "Because the horse is deserving of it."
American Pharoah Gets First Look At Belmont Park
Baffert says that "all I can do is get the horse ready the best I can.''
American Pharoah, who opened as a 3-to-5 favorite at the Belmont, is strong, happy and looking good, according to Baffert.
"He was pretty strong, and we let him jog all the way around,'' said Baffert, adding he had planned on a shorter jog but called an audible when he saw how good his horse looked on the track. "It was better that way. Otherwise, he would have wanted to gallop. He would have been too tough down the stretch. He looked happy out there. That's the key, to keep him happy.
"When he's marching along like that, that's a good sign.''
The pressure is on as American Pharoah will attempt to become the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.
"The pressure is just probably more on everybody else. It'll be on the jockey, the owners and us; I'm sure he senses it from the jockey," said Baffert, who himself will take a shot at a Triple Crown for the fourth time. He finished second twice in the Belmont, with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in 1998 and eighth with War Emblem in 2002. Affirmed was the last Triple Crown winner in 1978.
Baffert said the 3-year-old colt has maintained his weight, still has a hearty appetite, and "the way he feels and the way he's trained, everything has gone really smooth. I like what I see.''
Owner Ahmed Zayat, who hails from Teaneck, New Jersey, said he also likes what he's seen.
"He actually gained weight. His ears are perked in the morning. He's a happy horse," Zayat said. "To be able to own him and bred him, it's an unbelievable privilege. It's humbling."
He compares American Pharoah to another great athlete, Michael Jordan.
"He's a once-in-a-lifetime horse," Zayat said.
"What makes him special, in my opinion, is the way he moves," Zayat said. "He's the best moving horse I've ever seen and he does everything so easy."
"He is the sweetest, nicest horse you've ever been around," Baffert said. "For a horse as great as he is, he is just so sweet."
American Pharoah arrived at Belmont on Tuesday after flying in from Louisville, Kentucky, on a plane Zayat dubbed "Air Horse One."
American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby on May 2 and the Preakness two weeks later, and will be running in his fifth race since March 15.
The horse drew the No. 5 post position for Saturday's race.
A position closer to the rail is considered a better draw but Daily Racing Form correspondent David Grening says this isn't necessarily the case for American Pharoah, who will be racing with 8 other horses.
"With his racing style, he's going to loop around and be in front by the first turn," Grening said.
"I am very happy with the draw," said jockey Victor Espinoza, who is running for the Triple Crown for the second year in a row. Last year, he and California Chrome came up short.
Experts say regardless of post position, weather and track conditions, American Pharoah is an intelligent horse that has never looked better, CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reports. But this is horse racing and anything can happen.
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