The champ is here … again.
In a truck adorned with the turquoise and yellow colors of his owners Zayat Stables and words trumpeting his triumphs, American Pharoah arrived at the Jersey Shore on Wednesday afternoon for his next conquest. The first Triple Crown winner in the past 37 years will return to the races for the first time since his historic triumph in the Belmont Stakes in Sunday’s $1,750,000 Haskell Invitational.
Since American Pharoah was last seen on the national stage June 6 at Belmont Park, the star of racing has stopped at Churchill Downs, Santa Anita Park and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, but Thursday, he arrived at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., for the first time.
American Pharoah left Del Mar in La Jolla, Calif., early Thursday morning, landed at Atlantic City airport around 2:15 p.m., and arrived at his temporary home at Barn 12 on the Monmouth backstretch at 4:03 p.m.
The champion received a police escort for his journey from the airport to the track. After taking a brief walk in front of the cameras led by assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes, American Pharoah took a brief bath before taking up residence in his home for rest of the week.
The Triple Crown winner is expected to face an underwhelming group of five other 3-year-olds Sunday, but just as it was at Belmont Park, the only name that matters is American Pharoah.
While the rest of the racing world won’t want any piece of Pharoah on Sunday, the public and Monmouth Park can’t get enough of the world’s most famous race horse.
After attempting to work on potential bonuses with other tracks to create a series, Monmouth decided to up the ante itself on Wednesday by increasing the Haskell’s purse from $1 million to $1,750,000, making it the richest race in the history of New Jersey. That means the winner’s share of the purse (60 percent) is now $1,050,000.
“Our discussions had been in the works,” said Dennis Drazin, the official management consultant to the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “We had tried to put a three-race series together with other race tracks to put up a bonus. The other race tracks didn’t really want to play ball and make the commitment.
“We felt that we would take the money we dedicated to that bonus series, and put it into the purse so this would be the highest purse in the history of New Jersey and a tribute to a champion. We’re proud of it.”
A weekend-long celebration of American Pharoah is planned at Monmouth, and for a struggling track in a struggling industry that could certainly use the boost.
“After this week, I don’t think anyone is not going to know about Monmouth Park,” said Bob Kulina, president of Darby Development LLC, the management company that operates Monmouth Park. “This is a huge deal. This is, in my mind, bigger than the Breeders’ Cup [in 2007], and that was pretty big.”
The big horse made a big and bold entrance to kick off what Monmouth Park and the horse-racing world expects to be a big weekend.
