TDN Q&A With Ahmed Zayat

[Wandering Eyes]

A new chapter in the career of American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) will begin July 10 in Lexington, Kentucky when his first crop of yearlings sells at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale. This is not just another first-crop sire, but a sire who became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years and took owner Ahmed Zayat and his family on the ride of their lives.

Zayat was a recent guest on the TDN’s podcast, presented by Taylor Made. Excerpts from the podcast appear below.

TDN: You are obviously not objective, but we have to ask you anyway, who’s the better horse, American Pharoah or Justify (Scat Daddy)?

AZ: Everyone thinks their kids are the best. I think they are very different horses. American Pharoah, arguably, had the most incredible, super, dynamic mechanics. He had size, sheer power and an ability to move and float. Eighty or 90% of his race he actually spent in the air. He also had a demeanor that people will be talking about for years. He was so kind. He was pet-like. That distinguished him from a lot of regular horses, let alone Triple Crown horses. Add to that he was incredibly fast and he was dominant in his wins, winning by five, six lengths. He defined what a special, great horse is. Where does he fit among the 13 Triple Crown winners? Who cares? Is he better than Justify or is Justify better than him? I can’t answer that. They’re both special. I’m happy for Justify. I’m happy for any horse that wins the Triple Crown.

TDN: Three years after Justify, we had another Triple Crown winner and both were trained by Bob Baffert. That can’t be a coincidence. How is Baffert able to get so much out of these horses and, frankly, accomplish things with them that even the greatest trainers in the sport can’t?

AZ: Bob literally speaks to his horses. I watch Bob every morning at Del Mar when he works his horses and I see him calling audibles. He is so in tune with every little thing about the horse, their demeanor, their weight, how they are moving. He has such focus that he knows exactly what to do with the horse, exactly how they should be trained. What do I need to do today? What can I get out of them? He has it down to an art. I think Pharoah helped him with Justify as he had a dry run. He followed exactly exact the same script. When I went to visit him the day after Justify won the Triple Crown and I asked him, ‘Is it the horse or is it the trainer?’ He looked at me and just smiled and I said, ‘Bob, I think you just gave me your answer.’ He said, ‘No, no, no, it’s the horse.’ You really have to have the right trainer to get the most out of special, talented horses.

TDN: As yearling sale season approaches, what are you hearing about American Pharoah’s babies?

AZ: I believe that American Pharoah has all the qualities to make it as stallion. If he doesn’t, I don’t know who does. Intellectually, only 11% of all stallions become real successful stallions, meaning their progeny are runners and can produce a Grade I win. You look at the weanlings and the yearlings and you look at what American Pharoah has been throwing and they are all athletic, they have the same demeanor like the father, they are beautiful looking. The sign of a good stallion to me is his ability to move up their mares and that was the biggest thing I saw in Pioneerof the Nile. He wasn’t bred at first to the best broodmares and all the babies looked and acted the part and were fast. American Pharoah babies look unreal, they look athletic, they look correct. I myself have 12 of them and they all look the part. He was bred to as good a book of mares as you can imagine. Coolmore bred 40 mares of their own. All signs point to him being a very good stallion.

TDN: So what can we expect at the yearling sales? The weanlings sold phenomenally well. Are we going to see plenty of American Pharoahs sell for seven figures?

AZ: Oftentimes, price has nothing to do with getting a good or bad horse. Price is based on two bidders who both badly want a horse and bid against one another. I have bought horses for $80,000 who became Grade I winners and I have bought horses for $1 million who end up being $5,000 claimers. You hope you know what you are doing, you hope you are paying up for what everybody sees. But it is a guessing game when they are yearlings. You are looking at conformation, you are looking at pedigree, but it doesn’t mean that when you put the saddle on them and break them that they will be runners. But everybody tries to develop their own system to be able to maximize the probability of having a runner. When you look at the probabilities, and consider all the factors that made Pharoah so special, the chance that he throws runners is very high and we are certainly hoping that will be the case.

 

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