Owner says American Pharoah might be retired after Travers loss

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Upset. Jim Dandy. Onion. Prove Out.

Now add Keen Ice.

Trained by Louisville’s Dale Romans, Donegal Racing’s 16-1 shot Keen Ice – who had one victory in his prior 10 starts -- joined the pantheon of stunning upsets in New York racing, bulling ahead in the final strides to beat Triple Crown heartthrob American Pharoah by three-quarters of a length in Saturday’s $1.6 million Travers Stakes.

With Saratoga Race Course living up to its reputation as the “Graveyard of Champions,” Whirlaway, in 1941, remains the only horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont and Travers Stakes.

After the race, Ahmed Zayat, owner-breeder of American Pharoah, raised the specter that the first horse in 37 years to win the Triple Crown might have competed for the last time. American Pharoah captured Monmouth Park’s Haskell Invitational by 2¼ lengths over the late-running Keen Ice while geared down the last eighth-mile.

“I have a huge responsibility,” said Zayat, who along trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Victor Espinoza met with the media before the winning connections came into the interview area. “I haven’t spoken to my family, and Bob, but you start questioning yourself. Have I pushed the envelope too much? I swear to God, I really wanted it for the sport, and I shouldn’t be apologetic. ... I am a fan. I love this horse. He was happy and he’s special and he is the Triple Crown winner. Then you have to ask yourself, ‘Is the show over? Is it the time?’ ... My gut feeling right now ... is to retire him."

Zayat openly was saying that he preferred to run next in the Travers, rather than the Pennsylvania Derby three weeks later at Philadelphia’s Parx Racing, if all was well with the colt.

Baffert had appeared more reticent, in part because of the timing of the races heading into the Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland. He also had said that horses running in the Travers probably needed to run first in Saratoga’s Jim Dandy, but that American Pharoah was the kind of horse who could pull it off in spite of traveling to every race this year.

Asked about Zayat’s comments, Baffert said, “Right now he’s very emotional. He was doing it for racing, that’s why he brought him up here. We feel bad for the horse now. He’s been so good to us and running hard. It’s like watching your kid get beat in a game.

"... I think we have to do what we’ve done before: Let the horse tell us what he’s going to do. If he’s tailing off, we don’t know. ... But he still ran a pretty good race. It’s not like he just stopped."

Asked if American Pharoah might have another race before the Breeders’ Cup, if it goes that far, Baffert said, "Oh, I don’t know. I’m not even thinking about that right now."

Baffert, who had said he didn’t need to be talked into the Travers, said he did not second-guess himself.

"I thought he could win with his A or B game, I had that much confidence in him. He still ran a very gallant race,” he said, adding with a short laugh. “The last 50 yards, I was thinking ‘Parx.’ It was one of those things where we were rolling the dice, coming all the way back. He’s been so brilliant that sometimes you just feel like he can do it. He looked great in the paddock and everything else. And he was getting really pressured from a very good horse. He never left us alone. You can’t blame them. It was just an aggressive, competitive ride."

That would be Frosted, the Belmont Stakes runner-up who had been converted from a horse who raced close to the pace to a closer. But Frosted wound up having a late jockey change Saturday after Joel Rosario was unseated from his mount two races earlier and sent to Albany Medical Center for evaluation after complaining of back pain. Jose Lezcano had Frosted lapped onto American Pharoah early on, pushing the Kentucky Derby winner through a third quarter-mile in a testing 23.60 seconds, after going the first quarter in 24.28 and the second in 24.02.

Of course, American Pharoah won the Belmont by 5½ lengths, while being geared down late, by rattling off 24-second quarters. But Espinoza did not seem to have the same horse on the far turn, having to urge American Pharoah.

"He was not the same like I’ve always been riding him before,” Espinoza said. "... I feel like from the five-eighths pole, his energy level, it was not the same like before. ... I noticed the horse that was next to me, I was trying to open it up and not let them get close. And he just stayed in the same pace."

Meanwhile, Javier Castellano — picking up the mount that proved his fifth Travers victory after Kent Desormeaux opted to ride Jim Dandy winner Texas Red — at Romans’ instruction had Keen Ice closer to the pace than in his earlier races. He settled into mid-pack, in the back of the first flight of horses but within striking distance while wide on both turns, having only Frosted and American Pharoah ahead turning for home.

"Jerry and I talked this morning,” Romans said of owner Donegal Racing head Jerry Crawford. “We said there’s no riding for second. Let’s put him in the race, closer and try to win the race. He was closer than he’d ever been."

Rounding out of the far turn, Frosted was head-and-head with racing’s biggest star, with Espinoza going to the whip. He dispatched Frosted, who wound up 2¼ lengths back in third, but Keen Ice was in full flight under Javier Castellano, pulling even with American Pharoah with a sixteenth-mile to go.

“I could tell he wasn’t really on his A game today, but he tried hard,” Baffert said. “His tank wasn’t as full as we hoped it was going to be. I thought he was doing really well. He traveled and shipped well. You never know until you run them. I could tell by Victor’s body language that we were in trouble at the half-mile pole, and the only reason we ran second was because he’s such a great horse. The winner ran a really good race.”

Keen Ice finished the 1¼ miles in 2:01.57 to give what Romans called his biggest victory, topping even Breeders’ Cup wins and the Preakness. It was Romans’ first win in 11 starts at the Saratoga meet.

“For some reason, I felt very confident in this horse,” Romans said by phone, having gone back to the barn with Keen Ice rather than into the formal media interview. “Maybe Pharoah might back up, I don’t know. I knew we were going forward. Because the Haskell was a pretty good race, and he came out of it very good and happy. And happy is what he does. He’s been a different horse since then. I was very confident of him running a huge race."

Keen Ice, a $120,000 Keeneland September yearling and son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, had been eligible for entry-level allowance, though he’d made a lot of money grinding out checks, including third in the Belmont Stakes after being a troubled seventh in the Kentucky Derby. The $850,000 payday — bumped up by American Pharoah’s presence, as was the Haskell — more than doubled his earnings to $1,490,395.

“He’s made me a lot of money, Pharoah,” Romans said, adding of the horse he beat, “It doesn’t change his legacy. His legacy is etched in stone. It’s not tarnished at all by getting beat. And it shows what sportsmen the Zayats and Baffert are, to keep it going and not be afraid to get beat.”

Jennie Rees writes for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, a Gannett affiliate.