American Pharoah mingles with his fans
The heroic horse, his ears pricked, surveyed the circle of admirers while on an overcast morning on Keeneland's muddy backstretch. The day after American Pharoah climaxed a glorious career that has a 6 1/2-length triumph within the Breeders' Cup Classic, about 200 Pharoahites located say goodbye.
A middle-aged woman fed the 3-year-old colt his favorite treat, a bite-size carrot, as trainer Bob Baffert held his shank. Dozens snapped photos as Baffert walked Pharoah around for just one last in close proximity and personal moment with adoring fans. Some reached seem to pet his head and some closed in from behind, and that is asking for serious trouble from most thoroughbreds.
But rather than lashing out that has a hind leg, Pharoah calmly handled the crush.
"He's gentle, he likes people and the man loves the many attention," Baffert said. "I couldn't do this with any horse. If it ended up being War Emblem, people would have been visiting the hospital with broken ribs."
Baffert was referencing the 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner who had been his third colt to fall short from the Belmont Stakes. American Pharoah not just became the first to comb the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978, actually is well liked dominated Saturday's $5-million Classic on an unprecedented Grand Slam.
Seven minutes after emerging from Barn 62, the four-legged idol was led back inside. A metal partition closed sideways, and Pharoah was gone permanently. A few women sobbed almost like distraught on the death of an relative. Other fans stared into cellphones to look at their last shots of the horse who became a mainstream obsession. A man said: "Thank you a great deal, Mr. Baffert. This means the entire world to everyone."
And so ended the historic Pharoah tour, a 7 1/2-month odyssey through seven racetracks in six states through which America's Horse logged a lot more than 21,000 air miles. He performed brilliantly in all of the eight of his races, during his one defeat, a second-place finish by three-quarters of an length Aug. 29 inside the Travers Stakes at Saratoga.
"You'll never visit a horse travel prefer that to numerous tracks and win whatsoever but one," Baffert said, still finding it challenging to comprehend his horse of your lifetime's relentless excellence. "I've had some horses who had been as fast as him, nevertheless they just couldn't sustain it."
American Pharoah retires with nine wins, all in graded stakes, in 11 starts, and earnings of in excess of $8.65 million for owner-breeder Ahmed Zayat. Monday morning, he can take a 15-minute van ride to his home, Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, where he's going to begin his stallion career the coming year.
"I don't think that I'm leaving him," Baffert said. "I'll be coming over to see him. I think it will likely be toughest when I return home to Santa Anita and discover that empty stall.
