Baffert: American Pharoah’s ‘a baby and a beast’

American Pharoah has been getting bigger, better and stronger (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert flew in from California on Thursday night with his wife, Jill, and son Bode to oversee American Pharoah’s (Pioneerof the Nile) training at Churchill Downs, and liked what he saw from racing’s newest Triple Crown winner. “It’s amazing what he’s been through and it looks like he’s starting to get even better now,” Baffert said. “I can tell that during the past 60 days he’s grown and is starting to fill out. I’m just happy to see that he’s still happy an enjoying what he’s doing. He’s just an incredible animal. I guess you have to be incredible to do what he has accomplished. “I still can’t believe the sign on this wall,” he said in reference to the new ‘American Pharoah 2015 Triple Crown Winner’ sign posted outside his Barn 33 at Churchill Downs. “It’s just been really special. He did it with authority and everyone that I’ve talked to, I think people felt different about this horse. I felt that it was time. “(Assistant trainer) Jimmy Barnes and I felt that if we’re ever going to do it, it would be with this horse. We had never gone to the Belmont really feeling it; we were nervous but it was a good nervous. The way he traveled to Belmont and the way he was breezing here, he doesn’t have to take his racetrack with him. He can overcome any obstacle you throw at him.” Baffert relived the moment that American Pharoah made history in last Saturday’s Belmont S. (G1).

“When he turned for home, the best feeling was probably
watching Victor (Espinoza) sitting on him with so much. He’s got a
mile and a quarter and he’s just breezing. I’m thinking ‘Wow, look at this
horse,’ and then I see Frosted (Tapit) coming at him and then Victor just still hasn’t
asked him.

“It was like Frank Mirahmadi’s call at Oaklawn where he said, ‘Victor
hasn’t asked him, but we all know the answer.’ He just turned them loose and I
sat back and took in the crowd noise.

“He’s a baby and a beast at the same time. You have a horse that is this sweet
and kind, but then when he gets to the track he wants to dominate. For the
horse, I was so happy for him and when they hit the wire he was still just so
full of horse. I told Victor before the race, ‘I think he’s really, really
good.’ Once Victor got on his back he looked at me like he could feel it.”

Baffert went on to discuss the future of American Pharoah and named some
potential spots where the Triple Crown winner could make his next start.

“My goal is to bring him back to Kentucky and I’m sure you all
want to see him run in the Breeders’ Cup (Classic [G1] at Keeneland October
31),” Baffert said. “I just want to
keep him on that level. There are some obvious spots.

“You got the Haskell (G1), the
Jim Dandy (G2), Saratoga, Del Mar. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I’ve
talked to (racing manager) Justin Zayat; they have their ideas and I have my
ideas so we’re basically just going to sit down and I have to see how this horse
responds. Sometimes it takes as much as two weeks to see what kind of affect a
race has on him. If you see him show up, then he’s really going to perform in a
big way.

“To me, I feel more pressure training him now. I feel like wrapping him in
bubble wrap.

“What I want to do is just want to share him with everyone. When we
go back to California they’ll probably have something for him there and then
when we go to Del Mar, they’ll have something for him there.

“I wish I was
around Secretariat. As a kid, I would have loved to pet him and touch him and
get close to him. I got to go up to him and touch him and I’ll always remember
greatness like that.

“I’m his trainer but at the same time I’m like a little kid. I
knew he was great but he really had to show it.”

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