Major work for American Pharoah; 7f in 1:23
By Jay Privman
AMERICAN PHAROAH dialed up the length and pace of his preparation for the Breeders' Cup Classic on Wednesday morning at Santa Anita with a seven-furlong drill, in company, that got an official time of 1:23.
Trainer Bob Baffert had gone fairly easy with American Pharoah since putting him back in training after the Travers but said last week that he'd get serious this week and he was good to his word. "I wanted to get a strong work into him," Baffert said. "It looked like he handled it really well."
Per usual, American Pharoah came out just after the 6:30 renovation break. With regular work rider Martin Garcia aboard, Pharoah broke off at the six-furlong pole about seven lengths behind a workmate, collared the filly he was chasing in upper stretch, hit the wire five in front in 1:11.20, and went out to the seven-furlong pole in 1:23.
Dane Nelson, Santa Anita's head clocker, had American Pharoah galloping out a mile in 1:35.40. Baffert had Pharoah in 1:24, out a mile in 1:37. Regardless, it was a major piece of work as American Pharoah gets set to face elders for the first time while going 1 1/4 miles in his first start in two months.
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