Keen Ice upsets American Pharaoh in Travers Stakes

Saratoga, "The Graveyard of Champions" claimed its newest victim on Saturday, Aug. 29, in the 146th running of the $1.6 million Travers Stakes, as Keen Ice, with jockey Javier Castellano riding, caught overwhelming 1-to-5 race-favorite American Pharoah in mid-stretch and went on to a three-quarter length victory in the race. Finishing third was Frosted.

Keen Ice, with jockey Javier Castellano, overtook Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in mid-stretch and went on to win the 146th running of the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday, April 29. (Photo by Jessie Holmes / EquiSportPhotos.com)

 "I thought from the early fractions they might be going a little slow, but you can't really tell from the times always. It's how they're doing it," said winning trainer Dale Romans. "So watching my horse, they looked like they were really running and they were working, and I could see my horse was getting through on the inside, like we needed to be, and we got the tip-out at the right point. Then he switched to his right lead and had dead aim on them. And he just wore 'em down."

As to what his horse's win might mean to American Pharoah's legacy, Romans graciously said, "American Pharoah's legacy is not tarnished in any way. Secretariat got beat, Seattle Slew got beat, Affirmed got beat. They [the owners and Bob Baffert] are great sportsmen for keeping him running and taking a chance with him. He has run very hard all year and he ran a very good race today. He was pressed, [Frosted] took it to him, and we were fortunate to be running behind."

Ever gracious himself, even in defeat, Baffert said, "I want to congratulate the connections of Keen Ice for a great win."

He then went on to share his thoughts about his horse's run in "The Mid-Summer Classic"…

"I think Pharoah, down the backside, he was struggling a little bit," said Baffert. "I could tell by Victor's body language that he didn't have the power that he usually has. What we saw the last three-eights was just guts. After he finally shook Frosted off, I thought that maybe there's a chance. You could tell he was empty. He just fought back valiantly, but it wasn’t his day today. You really don't know. We gambled; we brought him up here. He showed us all the signs that he was ready to go. You really don't know until they actually run."

Keen Ice, who is by Curlin-Medomak, by Awesome Again, ran the 1-1/4 mile dirt race on a track rated Fast n 2:01.57.

In the race, American Pharoah, with jockey Victor Espinoza riding, broke cleanly from gate two and charged to the lead by the first turn. Right on his outside was Frosted, ridden by Javier Castellano, who planted himself in that spot and then pressured the Triple Crown champion with every stride they took.

Side-by-side, the two horses battled all the way around the track, and slowly, it appeared, Frosted's relentless pursuit began to have an effect on American Pharoah as they entered the final turn.

Some would say Frosted's connections planned to race this way in hopes that, if they pressured American Pharoah, after all of his travel and Triple Crown races, he would finally tire and then their horse could go on and get the win.

Others, however, might say that Frosted was sent out as a rabbit to tire American Pharoah so that some horse, any horse, would beat him in this day.

Either way, the plan worked, because, as the horses neared the end of the final turn, Frosted took a slight lead. But, American Pharoah, champion that he is, battled back fiercely and retook the lead in the upper stretch.

But, clearly, the battle between the two horses had taken its toll on American Pharoah.

Meanwhile, Keen Ice, who went off at 16-to-1, had broken cleanly, but then moved five-wide before heading into the first turn. He then slid over into the two-path about mid-pack for most of the race.

At the quarter pole, Keen Ice moved between horses near the half-mile pole, and then continued along between horses until the three-eighths pole.

Castellano shifted Keen Ice to the outside near the quarter pole, and then waited till his horse switched leads. Once he did that, Castellano used a right-handed whip near the eighth pole to really get his horse going.

At the sixteenth-pole, with American Pharoah tiring, but still ahead of Frosted, Keen Ice caught up to the champion, then passed him and, while American Pharoah tried to catch up, Keen Ice crossed the wire a three-quarter length winner.

Frosted was third in the 10-horse race for 3-year-olds by 2-1/4 lengths, followed by Upstart, Texas Red, Frammento, Smart Transition, Tale of Verve, Mid Ocean and King of New York.

"That's horse racing," said a very happy Castellano. "Anything can happen in horse racing, that's what makes this a great game. American Pharoah is a great horse, taking nothing away from him. Turning for home, at the three-eighths pole, I saw those two horses head-to-head and I said, 'That's a good sign.' When I saw the quarter-pole, I was getting closer to him, and I didn't see him take off. I saw those two horses backing up to me really quick and that's when I thought I had it. When my horse kept getting closer and closer, I started getting more and more excited and thought, 'This is it. It's going to be my fifth Travers.' And here I am."

After the race, Espinoza talked a little about his ride aboard American Pharoah, who he said just didn't seem right on this day.

"He was not the same like when I've always been riding before," he said. "When he went to the gate, I noticed he was sweating a little bit and he never had even a tiny bit of sweat before. Today, he was a little bit sweaty.

"Once I broke, I put him right on the lead and the pace was not too fast; it was good," he continued. "I felt like from the five-eighths pole, his energy level was not the same as it was before. He was not as strong as I'm used to. He got around there but not quick enough.

"Turning for home, he was still trying so hard and I opened up two, three lengths, but I felt like it was not quick enough to get to the wire with the other horse coming on the outside."

Owned by Donegal Racing, Keen Ice came into the race with only one win. He now has two wins, one second, three thirds and $1,490,395 in 11 career starts.

As for American Pharoah's future, according to a Sunday, Aug. 30 article on BloodHorse.com, owner Ahmed Zayat might have stunned the racing-world when he said, "So my gut's saying, if the horse showed me that he tailed off, he's not the Pharoah I know, then there's no question in my mind that the right thing to do is to retire him."

In the same article, Baffert was also non-committal about his horse future, saying, "I don't know. I wanted to see how taxing this race was on him. This is something we have to sit and figure out. I'm not really used to being in the position with him, so it's sort of hard to digest right now."

The original plan was to have American Pharoah next run in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on Oct. 31, and then have him retire to stud at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky. Now, we'll all have to wait and see.

American Pharoah fell victim to "The Graveyard of Champions" – Saratoga – on Saturday, Aug. 29, when he lost to Keen Ice in the Travers Stakes. (Photo by Jessie Holmes / EquiSportPhotos.com)

 A bit of history to end this article…

Two other horses tried to pull off the Triple Crown-Travers sweep, but failed. In 1930, a 100-to-1 long shot, Jim Dandy, beat Gallant Fox, and in 1978, Affirmed won the race, but then was disqualified to second for interfering with his long-time rival, Alydar, who was moved up for the win.

One horse that did complete the sweep was Whrilaway, who did it in 1941.

As for horses that have lost at Saratoga, which helped give the track its legacy as "The Grave Yard of Champions" …

1919: The greatest Thoroughbred of all time, Man o'War lost to a horse named Upset as a 2-year-old in the Sanford Memorial Stakes. It was the only loss in Man O'War's career. (At the time, there was no starting gate. Only a webbed barrier where the horses waited for the start. When they gave the signal to start, Man O'War's back was to the field, and by the time he had turned to start running, the field had a nice head start. Still, he came back to finish second.)

1930: As previously mentioned, Jim Dandy defeated Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox in the Travers Stakes.

1973: Secretariat was upset in the Whitney Stakes that year by a horse named Onion.

In addition to the Travers Stakes, there were six other stakes races on the card on Saturday; five of them Grade 1s. Here are the winners of those races:

* Personal Ensign Stakes (G1): Sheer Drama

* Ballerina Stakes (G1): Unbridled Forever

* King's Bishop Stakes (G1): Runhappy

* Forego Stakes (G1); Private Zone

* Sword Dancer Invitational (G1): Flintshire (GB) (A very impressive win)

* Ballston Stake (G2): Dacita (Chi)

(Information gathered from EquiBase.com, BloodHorse.com, NYRA.com, PedigreeQuery.com. Also, Secretariat.com, for info on a few horses that lost at Saratoga.)