SUPER HORSE AMERICAN Pharoah – who re-introduced the American public to the excitement of thoroughbred racing – has accepted Monmouth Park’s invitation to be the headliner in the August 2, Haskell Invitational Grade 1 stakes race.
The Haskell will be American Pharoah’s first outing since winning the Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown honors in June. Pharoah, the first Triple Crown winner since 1978, has been resting, gaining lost weight and training in California.
The colt’s owner Ahmed Zayat, a Teaneck resident, told ESPN on July 2 that he had decided to do this logical step and run the horse at Monmouth.
“I’m trying to create one of the best days racing has ever seen for its fans… I want it to be a great day for everyone that will celebrate racing,” he said.
A weekend of festivities is expected to be announced by Monmouth Park officials in the coming days, along with the remainder of the Haskell Field. Bob Kulina, Monmouth Park’s president, in responding to Zayat’s announcement said, “This will be the biggest day ever in the history of racing in New Jersey … this will be the first time we will have a Triple Crown champion here.” All reserved seats for the Haskell have been sold and a record crowd of 60,000 is expected to fill the track.
MP officials have not announced any plans, to date, regarding ticket purchases for the event. The remainder of the Haskell field, probably a small one, will sort itself out now, handicappers feel. Many of 2015’s top horses, all beaten by American Pharoah, are looking at their options and some may run at Saratoga that weekend in the Grade II Jim Dandy Stakes Aug. 1, rather than face American Pharoah again.
American Pharoah’s trainer Bob Baffert has had success with horses in the Haskell winning seven including four of the last five. Zayat – no stranger to the race – saddled Paytner in 2012, who won the event after finishing second in the Belmont Stakes that June.
If American Pharoah is successful in the Haskell and comes away healthy, there is a chance that trainer Baffert and Zayat may elect to run the horse in the August 29 Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga as a final tune-up before the Breeders’ Cup at Kneeland (KY) in October. No Triple Crown winner has ever competed at the Breeders’ Cup (held at Monmouth Park in 2007) as it was first held in the 1990s, years after Affirmed’s 1978 Triple Crown title.
– Story by Art Petrosemolo
– Photo of Victor Espinoza and American Pharoah, being led to the starting
gate in the June 6 Belmont Stakes by Bill Denver / EquiPhoto
