American Pharoah getting faster as Haskell Invitational approaches

He galloped out seven furlongs in 1:24 and a mile in 1:38.40 under jockey Martin Garcia.

“I think he’s getting faster”, trainer Bob Baffert said. “He’s going to give me a heart attack”.

Maybe that’s why only five horses are scheduled to oppose American Pharoah in the Haskell.

American Pharoah’s Triple Crown performance ranks right next to, arguably more impressive, with Oscar Robertson’s season in which he averaged a triple double, or even alongside Joe Dimaggio’s major league baseball record of 56 consecutive games with a hit in 1941.

Here is where and when American Pharoah fans will have the chance to see him at Monmouth Park prior to the Haskell. “I’m letting the horse dictate where we’ll run”.

The parade of riders outside the iconic restaurant has been removed from the Midtown mainstay for restoration for the first time in 20 years. Most likely he won’t get to the track until 3:30pm at the earliest. Clear blue skies, warm morning air, nearly-too-green Kentucky grass at the center of the oval of roughed-up dirt: a gorgeous backdrop to a gorgeous stallion as he works out, moving like no other horse, his extraordinarily wide heart girth (chest, to non-horse people) affording him his distinctive gracefulness, his streamlined mechanics. “He needed that one The track is demanding, but he doesn’t make it look demanding”. There were three mile workouts at Del Mar Thursday, with the fastest coming from Yahoo Tahoe at 1:39 4/5.

The San Diego Handicap serves as the major steppingstone to the $1 million Pacific Classic on August. 22, Del Mar’s signature race of its 40-day summer meet.

Then, back in the stables, Pharoah stands in his stall, his jet-black mane racing down a coat nearly luminous with good health, his thighs quivering with strength, his shoulders muscle-mapped.