Pharoah 'Did it All on His Own'

The buzz on the backstretch at Santa Anita Sunday morning was all about American Pharoah, and it ranged from spectacular to speechless.

For those who might have missed it, American Pharoah emphatically enhanced his position as favorite for the 141st Kentucky Derby on May 2 with a jaw-dropping eight length win in Saturday’s Grade I, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

Even Neil Drysdale was impressed. Said Jerry Hollendorfer: “Words can’t describe it.”

Pharoah’s victory, the first in which he did not lead virtually from start to finish, as he did in his previous three triumphs, by a combined margin of 14 ¼ lengths, showed a new dimension, as if he needed one—stalking.

Bridget’s Big Luvy, at 38-1, led until the three-quarter marker in the mile and an eighth race, then Victor Espinoza “moved at will to collar the leader in the second turn” . . . and the bay son of Pioneerof the Nile owned and bred by Ahmed Zayat “drew out as he pleased through the stretch without being asked for his best,” according to the Equibase chart.

Espinoza never moved on the horse through the lane.

“Moved?” observed one insider, eyebrows raised. “Hell, he never even said ‘giddy up.’”

Bob Baffert watched the race on TV from his base at Santa Anita, leaving the maneuvers of execution to assistant Jim Barnes.

“I was ecstatic,” Baffert said Sunday morning of American Pharoah’s performance. “I liked the way he shut it down. We thought he might be able to do that, but you don’t know until you actually do it in a race, because the adrenalin’s going through and everything else.

“He got bumped leaving there a bit, and sometimes that gets them all charged up. But he was just so professional. I couldn’t have been happier the way it turned out. He got some things his own way, but it was good he showed he was not one dimensional; that’s a big plus.”

Undefeated Dortmund, the gargantuan Santa Anita Derby winner and the other half of Baffert’s one-two Derby punch--call them The Dazzler and The Diesel--will leave Santa Anita for Kentucky April 26, Baffert said. American Pharoah leaves Arkansas tomorrow for Louisville, while Santa Anita Derby runner-up One Lucky Dane will ship to Louisville on an as-yet-to-be determined date.

As American Pharoah and Dortmund continued to trump each other en route to the Derby, the fact remains that the playoffs are now over, and a full field of 20 could enter the starting gate for the mile and a quarter classic.

Or not. Perhaps the 2015 Run for the Roses is a fait accompli.

“If there ever was a year there shouldn’t be 20 horses in the Kentucky Derby,” said trainer Jim Cassidy, “it’s this year.”

CONFIDENT ESPINOZA ‘SLOWED DOWN’ PHAROAH
Victor Espinoza, back at Santa Anita bright and early Sunday morning after steering American Pharoah to a geared-down victory in the Arkansas Derby, was not a victim of jet lag flying in from Arkansas.

He flew in on a private jet owned by the Hronis brothers.

“I was very confident in American Pharoah,” Espinoza said in a classic understatement, since the colt was favored at 10 cents on the dollar. “This was the first time I rode him that he was behind another horse, but I just went by him like he was standing still.

“Into the stretch, it didn’t feel like I was going that fast, and I was excited. I wanted to let him run a little, but I looked back and I was so far in front, I slowed him down a little bit. He did it all on his own, basically.

“Bob Baffert didn’t want me to win by that many lengths, but sometimes you can’t help it. I know it’s only three weeks until the Kentucky Derby and you want to save as much as you can for that race.

“But with a horse like him, he does things so easy, it was all I could do.”

MANNY YCAZA, WINNER OF 1964 WOOLF AWARD ON HAND TODAY
Known as “The Fiery Panamanian” throughout his legendary career, Manuel Ycaza, a winner of the 1964 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, will be on hand for today’s Woolf Ceremony honoring Mike Luzzi.

“This is the first time I’ve been to Santa Anita in about 25 years,” said Ycaza, 77, who retired with a lifetime win percentage of 22.4. “I first came here when I was 16, in 1954 and I lived in a dormitory. Everything looks about the same and I’m finding my way around pretty good.”

Known as a tremendous finisher who due to his intensity “led the league” in riding suspensions, Ycaza noted that he was indeed a pioneer. “I was the first Panamanian and the first Latin jockey to come here,” he said Sunday morning.

“Milo Valenzuela was riding here and doing well, but he was born in Texas. I’m very proud that some great Panamanians followed me. Guys like Laffit (Pincay), Braulio (Baeza) and Jacinto Vasquez.”

Although Ycaza is commonly associated with several stakes horses trained by James Maloney in the late 1960s such as Gamely, who won the 1968 Santa Margarita Stakes with Ycaza, his first added-money success came much earlier.

“I had been leading rider at Golden Gate and my agent, George O’Bryan, got me on a nice filly here named Born Rich. She won the 1958 Santa Margarita and that was my first stakes win here at Santa Anita.”

Ycaza, who retired due to injury in 1971, was inducted into Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1977, and made a brief return to the saddle in 1983. When asked to name the best horse he ever rode, he said, “I rode a lot of great horses, Dr. Fager, Lamb Chop, Ridan, Gamely, Dark Mirage, Damascus, Quadrangle, but the best horse I ever rode I think was Bald Eagle. He won the (Washington) D.C. International in 1959 and we came back and won it again in 1960. That was a really big race back then, at a mile and a half on the grass.”

Great memories, great riders—What else would you expect when the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award trophy is on display?