Donegal Racing’s
Keen Ice (Curlin) came from midpack in late stretch to run down Triple Crown
champion American Pharoah in Saturday’s $1.6 million
Travers
S. (G1) at Saratoga.
The Dale Romans pupil had placed behind the popular 1-4 favorite in their
past pair of meetings, finishing second in the Haskell Invitational (G1) and
third in the Belmont S. (G1), but turned the tables under jockey Javier
Castellano to stop the clock in 2:01.57 for 1 1/4 miles on the fast main track.
In the post-race interview,
American Pharoah’s owner, Ahmed Zayat, said his “gut feeling right now is to
retire.”
Jerry Crawford of Donegal Racing was appreciative of American Pharoah’s
connections for bringing the champion to the Travers. “I’m grateful to them for
being true sportsmen.”
Romans insisted that American Pharoah’s “legacy is not tarnished in any way”
by the runner-up effort behind Keen Ice and
Castellano admitted that “you’ve got to be lucky.”
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