Dubai: American Pharoah, the first American Triple Crown winner in 37 years, will have his next start in the $1 million (Dh3.67 million) Group 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in New Jersey on Sunday August 2.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who has won a record seven Haskells, American Pharoah was back in training at Santa Anita Park on June 26 where he breezed over three-furlong.
It was his first visit to the racetrack since his historic victory in last month’s Belmont Stakes, where he became America’s 12th Triple Crown winner, ending a drought since Affirmed in 1978.
Last year Baffert saddled Bayern to win the race en route to the horse winning the Group 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic, which is American Pharoah’s end-of-season target at Keeneland on October 31.
“We were all waiting to see how American Pharoah worked and for me to give the okay,” Baffert told espn.com. “I liked the way he’s training, the way he worked, and how he came out of it very well.”
The Haskell carries a bonus of $25,000 if a winner of any of the three Triple Crown races runs; because American Pharoah won all three legs, owner Ahmad Zayat and Baffert each get a personal bonus of $75,000.
Zayat said a run in the $1.25 million Group 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course is also any option for American Pharoah, who has won seven races in a row at six different tracks, six of them Grade I stakes.-
