Trainer Baffert plotting American Pharoah’s next race
It is easy to think that the only thing going on in horse racing is American Pharoah. That is what happens when you get your first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.
There is a lot of conjecture now as to where American Pharoah will run next. For now, he is taking some well-earned time off. (He’s making an appearance Saturday at Santa Anita, where he’ll be paraded between the seventh and eighth races.)
If he stays within the 3-year-old division, two logical stakes are the Haskell on Aug. 2 at Monmouth Park and the Jim Dandy on Aug. 1 at Saratoga.
If I were a betting man, I would think the Haskell is the big favorite of those two.
Trainer Bob Baffert has a great relationship with Monmouth Park, and Ahmed Zayat lives in North Jersey.
Baffert has won the Haskell seven times: Point Given (2001), War Emblem (2002), Roman Ruler (2005), Lookin at Lucky (2010), Coil (2011), Paynter (2012) and Bayern (2014).
Zayat owned Paynter, so there is even more history.
Now the possibility exists that American Pharoah will need more time. If that is the case, then the Travers on Aug. 29 at Saratoga could come into play.
But I have a suspicion that Baffert could wait as long as Sept. 19 for the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing.
People are creatures of habit. I think one only has to look at last year with the way Baffert trained Bayern.
Bayern’s second half of the season went like this: won the Haskell; ran 10th in the Travers; won the Pennsylvania Derby; won the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
A big blemish in the four races came at Saratoga in the Travers.
If Baffert ran American Pharoah in the other three races, the champ would have a lot of rest between starts. His final career race could be facing older horses for the first time in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
That would be an amazing way to put an exclamation point on a storybook career.
■ UNDRAFTED — Trainer Wesley Ward saddled Undrafted to win the group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes on Saturday, closing day, of the Royal Ascot meet in England. It was Ward’s sixth career win at the most prestigious race meet in the world.
Undrafted is owned by NFL wide receiver Wes Welker, who tweeted after the race “I can’t believe I didn’t make the trip over! Can’t believe we won!”
The name Undrafted came from the fact that Welker went undrafted despite a storied career at Texas Tech.
He was as much of a long shot to have an All-Pro NFL career as Undrafted was at 14-1 in the Diamond Jubilee.
■ DICK VAN PATTEN — Years ago, if you went to a Southern California racetrack it would be no big deal to bump into a Hollywood celebrity such as Don Adams, Jack Klugman or Dick Van Patten.
But like an aging fan base, Adams died in 2005, Klugman in 2012 and Van Patten this week.
Van Patten loved everything about horse racing and was a keen handicapper.
When I think of Van Patten, it reminded me of a conversation I once had with Cab Calloway.
I asked Calloway how he found time to play the horses when he was so busy doing concerts all over the country. He laughed and said, “I told my agent to book me in places that have a racetrack or an OTB.”
Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @richeng4propick
