J.B. McKathan, who helped develop American Pharoah, dies

J.B. McKathan, who played an important role in developing 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, died on Saturday, McKathan Brothers Training Center announced.

McKathan, along with brother Kevin, opened their 200-acre Marion County, Fla. operation in 1988. Zayat Stables, who bred and owned American Pharoah, noted on Twitter they have worked with McKathan Brother for more than a decade.

American Pharoah was broke at McKathan Brothers and received his initial training there, but J.B. McKathan knew when it was time for the colt to graduate to the racetrack.

Before the 2015 Belmont Stakes, The Courier-Journal’s Tim Sullivan detailed McKathan’s reaction when watching American Pharoah breeze as a 2-year-old on his property.

“I’m scared of this horse,” McKathan told owner Ahmed Zayat as American Phaorah clicked through speedy furlongs in :11 and 3, :23 and 1 and :36 and 3. “Figure out who you want to send him to. Get him out of here.”

The track at McKathan Brothers measures only five-eighths of a mile, and American Pharoah needed a larger track for the speed he displayed. Zayat Stables sent him to Hall of Famer Bob Baffert in Southern California, a trainer McKathan Brothers had previous success with, and the rest is history.

Baffert trained the respective 1997 and 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners Silver Cham and Real Quiet. Both horses also passed through McKathan Brothers’ care as they were prepped for the racetrack.

McKathan Brothers also started Charles Fipke's Grade 1-winning homebreds Forever Unbridled and Seeking the Soul. Forever Unbridled was named the 2017 Eclipse Champion Older Dirt Female after winning the Breeders' Cup Distaff. Seeking the Soul won the Clark Handicap that same year and finished second behind City of Light in both the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 3 and the Pegasus World Cup Jan. 26.