American Pharoah in flawless shape for Sunday’s Haskell

Still, he didn’t rule anything out, saying American Pharoah would tell him when it was time to run.

Espinoza, who rode the bay colt to victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, said American Pharoah responded when asked to make his move.

Trainer Bob Baffert might well be expecting a call from the Bureau of Competition after the 48th running of the $1.75m Grade I Haskell Invitational Stakes at Monmouth Park, in which Triple Crown hero American Pharoah treated his opponents to a display of brilliant racing. Following a 57-day break after the Belmont, the 3-year-old colt looked better than ever in winning his eighth consecutive race.

The owners of those three females also win a breeding season to either Paynter (the 2012 Haskell winner), Fed Biz or Take Charge Indy, three championship caliber stallions standing at WinStar in Kentucky. I want this horse to run well. “It’s a lot of pressure”. There were some nice, tough horses in here. Competitive Edge jumped out to the early lead with decorated rider Mike Smith in the irons.

“That was nerve-racking”, trainer Bob Baffert said. It would have been more if jockey Victor Espinoza had not eased up on American Pharoah significantly. The time for three-quarters of a mile was 1:09.3, and it was at that point that American Pharoah flashed his brilliance once again, putting every horse in the field behind him and looking onward down the New Jersey stretch.

American Pharoah Receives Breeders’ Cup Spot in Haskell Invitational: The Triple Crown is over, so now the racing world is focusing on horses pointing towards the Breeders’ Cup, specifically the Classic.

“He ran like a champ”, said Espinoza. The Grade II Pennsylvania Derby purse is set at $1-million but offers both Baffert and Zayat a $200,000 appearance fee if their Triple Crown star starts in the race.

Many also pose questions of safety, but horses can get hurt just as easily in a paddock as they can on a racetrack. Fans of Saratoga Race Course are hoping that next start will be the $1.25 Travers Stakes. The final time was 1m47.95s; Upstart finished third.

But through the entire backstretch, the Triple Crown victor never fell much off the lead as it managed an effortless gallop. The Travers at Saratoga and the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx are the front runners.

His grand finale is expected to come in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, which is really the ultimate opportunity in America and should provide him with all the opposition and hierarchy he needs to bang out that one Golden Horn-beating performance. He said the horse “looked awesome out on the track”.

Another Triple champion who came back two weeks after the Belmont and won the Dwyer – by 4 1/2 lengths.

“I knew it would be hard for them to keep up with a horse this fast”, Espinoza said.

The Eddie Kenneally-trainee boosted his lifetime record to seven wins from 18 starts and has banked $627,732 for owner Joseph F. Sutton. “For me the key was just coming out of there running”. We had a lot of respect for the other horses in there, so we tightened the screws. As long as they each race at least twice more, we should build up a clear picture of which horse deserves the world title.