In the back of Bob Baffert’s mind is the fact that Onion beat the great Secretariat after the 1973 Triple Crown winner had glided through America’s great three-race series.
After the Belmont Stakes, Secretariat won the Arlington Invitational and was the overwhelming favourite in the Whitney Handicap that August day.
More than 30,000 race goers had come to see him in what was expected to be a procession.
The Whitney Handicap is an all-aged affair, though, which is one of the reasons why Baffert has restricted American Pharoah to his own age group in today’s Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.
Another is that Baffert has won the 1,800-metre Grade 1 on the deep dirt of the New Jersey racecourse seven times and knows what is required.
American Pharoah faces seven rivals, including Keen Ice and Upstart, horses who have already chased his famously short tail this season.
With his stable star in such fine fettle, the silver-haired trainer has been coolness personified this week and shrugged off any notions that he was feeling the heat.
“I think there was more pressure before the Kentucky Derby as we couldn’t let that race get away,” Baffert said.
“I don’t feel that pressure. We know how good he is, and he just needs racing luck. He’s ready.
“He’s holding his form. It is pretty incredible, really. He just does everything so effortlessly. He’s getting stronger and keeps maturing.”
Thousands of people turned up at a training run earlier this week to catch a glimpse of American Pharoah. The athletic son of Pioneerof The Nile recently was dolled up by Vogue magazine for a photo shoot.
He will once again be ridden by Victor Espinoza as the duo look to secure their sixth straight win of the season. With a flawless three-year-old record and the Triple Crown part of racing history, American Pharoah is running only to establish where he stands in the all-time thoroughbred pecking order.
Baffert is not keen to make any comparisons, though.
“The definition of great is not when you say it, but when everyone in the world says it,” Baffert said.
“He can sustain his form, that makes him a great horse. He hasn’t tailed off and he is getting stronger. I don’t like the term super horse because they can all get beat.
“I would never try to compare him with Secretariat or Seattle Slew. He’s just the best three-year-old of his group.”
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