The eyes of the horse racing world usually are squarely focused on Saratoga Race Course this time of year, and for good reason. The best trainers, the best jockeys and, most importantly, the best horses in the country always converge on the quaint town of Saratoga Springs for the six-week racing meet.
But this year, at least for the first week of August, things will be a little different.
American Pharoah’s first stop since becoming the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 will not be at the Spa — that will come at the Jersey Shore for Monmouth Park’s Haskell Invitational on Aug. 2. But he could race at Saratoga in the Travers Stakes later that month.
Though the star of racing will be elsewhere — for the time being — Saratoga will offer the most competitive racing of the 3-year-old summer season.
Headlined by Belmont Stakes runner-up and Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Frosted, the Jim Dandy Stakes on Aug. 1 will provide a glimpse at who could step up to at least challenge for American Pharoah’s throne.
American Pharoah’s connections have said they would like to race their champion in the Travers on Aug. 28 at Saratoga, but for the time being, Frosted’s trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is not letting the possibility of another race against Pharoah alter his plans.
“We’re looking for a big effort in the Jim Dandy and hopefully we get to run back in the Travers,” McLaughlin said. “I’m not looking forward to running against American Pharoah if he comes, but we can’t plan that far ahead. We’ve just got to get our horse right.”
Along with Frosted, the Jim Dandy likely will include a list of other 3-year-olds trying to emerge from the shadow of American Pharoah — including Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red and Florida Derby runner-up Upstart.
Of course, all these combatants could be overshadowed again by American Pharoah later in the meet. The Triple Crown winner likely will race two or three more times before ending his career in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keenland in Lexington, Ky.
“As time goes by, there are always different things happening,” McLaughlin said. “Hopefully, he will bounce back well, but we’ll talk about [the Travers] when the time comes.”
The Saratoga racing schedule involves much more than the Travers. The Whitney Handicap on Aug. 8 will feature the country’s best older horses that potentially could be pitted against American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup.
Perhaps the biggest and most imposing presence scheduled for the Whitney is last year’s Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist, who spoiled California Chrome’s Triple Crown bid. Tonalist, trained by noted turf specialist Christophe Clement, is coming off two consecutive second-place finishes at Belmont Park. The first came on Belmont day in the Metropolitan Handicap to Honor Code and the second at the hands of unheralded Effinex.
Honor Code sprinted past the field with a tremendous closing run to take the Metropolitan Handicap, and vaulted his name to the top of the older horse division, but he will have to contend with last year’s Whitney winner, Moreno, who took the early lead and never looked back last year.
But all these names, which read like a who’s who of the top stars in the racing world, pale in comparison to the one name that would top the rest. An American Pharoah appearance at Saratoga remains a distinct possibility, but even without the star of racing, there’s more than enough star power to go around at the country’s oldest sporting venue.