One of the biggest upset at the Travers, who would know that Keen Ice was just beginning to come of age……and who would have guessed his son would go on to win Ghe Kentucky Derby?
Rich Strike’s team should watch this race. This is exactly the way he should run most of his future races. Find your way to the rail as soon as possible after the break. Do not lose touch as the pace won’t be as fast. Rally entering the stretch. The Classic probably can’t be won as Keeneland favors the front end. However the Travers, the Haskell, Ohio Derby or PA Derby could be.
Met one of Keen Ices owners the morning of the race. He was kind enough to give my husband and I two extra tickets he had. We wished him well and bet on his horse….BEST DAY EVER!
Keen Ice has been the one to watch ever since the Haskell race. The way he poured in on towards the end of that race to place 2nd, you knew he wanted it! AP is a great horse, but so are all the others, they each have their day, I'm glad today was Keen Ice's day to shine :)
I wish people would stop knocking KEEN ICE! Dale Romans is one of my favorite trainers and old school all the way! He never ducks anyone in big races! I was ecstatic when KEEN ICE ran down AMERICAN PHAROAH. I yelled so loud i am hoarse! I am very happy right now. i am not knocking AMERICAN PHAROAH. To defeat the triple crown winner is fantastic. Especially Saratoga's reputation as "Graveyard of Champions" once again reared it's head!
+John Kaufmann Keen Ice ran a great race and beat the Triple Crown winner. I was rooting for AP, but he lost to a very worthy horse in a very exciting race. Good for him, and for horse racing. KI hinted at great closing speed in the Belmont, showed even more at the Haskell, and ran down AP in the stretch at the Travers. I wish AP could have run the 2015 table, but there's no shame in finishing second to Keen Ice.
"And the triple crown winner moves on to the back stretch at Saratoga." As a resident of the Saratoga area and long time track-goer, and being there that day (you can't hear the announcing live due to crowd sound) that line still gives me chills. I may never hear/see that again.
GREAT JOB/ GREAT PLAN Keen Ice. You did it! Congrats. AND FROSTED. WOW......that run was a "sit on the edge of your seat" race. WOW. Frosted is the only horse that kept up with and stayed with and made American Pharoah work for that win...which he got taken away by ANOTHER amazing fast horse/ Keen Ice. I knew Ice had it in him. Just a matter of timing. GREAT play boys. Great job Frosted, Keen Ice and AP. Was a thrilling race and glad to see it posted here again as Keen Ice retires now to Calumet farms for stud duty.
rich strike the son of keen ice has the same type of racing style. love rich strike and the story behind him. here it is. rich strike is still loved even though he did not win the belmont stakes. he will have other chances. he has fantastic genes. the father of rich strike is keen ice. the mother of rich strike is gold strike. his grandfathers are curlin and smart strike. all 4 were very good race horses. still cannot believe calumet farm put him in a $30,000 claiming race (his second race) as a 2 year old after finishing last the race prior (his first race). i am sure reed was following him since he was a baby. good for dixon junior, leon, reed and dawson. reed is the mastermind behind rich strike. he is surrounded by many solid people. it is good to hear that reed cares more about the health of a horse versus profit. rich strike is such a beautiful powerful horse. america needs this fairy tale story to continue and it will.
I have been following KEEN ICE since the winter. I was hoping one of these races had his name on it! Big Congrats To Dale Romans with another huge upset and Donegal Racing/Jerry Crawford for not ducking anybody and having a top class operation with a top class Trainer! KEEN ICE! KEEN ICE! KEEN ICE! 😄
Can’t wait for the this race this August! Hoping all the big names are racing and I’ll just go ahead and say it, RS will be ready to avenge his disappointing Belmont run and win at the place his Dad won. 🙏🏻
It wasn't early that they wore each other out. The first half mile was slow. So much so that Keen Ice was only 4 lengths behind through the first half mile. The second half mile was fast, and that's when they wore each other out. The last quarter mile was very slow. Espinoza panicked when Frosted headed AP. He could've given AP a breather and hold off Keen Ice, but instead he opened up on Frosted and had nothing left when Keen Ice caught up to him in the last 16th.
Thank you, Frosted, for being the first horse to ever truly test American Pharoah. He's had everything his own way up until this point, and I'd been very keen to see how he'd do under pressure. Congratulations to Keen Ice for the win.
Strange Days It's long overdue that someone did. I hope more horses will in future. American Pharoah has had too many easy leads. His rivals should press him from the start and make him have to work in the Breeders Cup.
+VialliForever thank you..I said the same thing and got bashed for it all over the place. Pharoah had the crown handed to him and to be honest, I think it was all rigged because it had been 37 years..
I still contend that if there was more distance to run and Keen Ice had come in to Pharoah's peripheral vision, he might have dug deep and held him off. To my mind, Pharoah just didn't see him until it was too late. Still, to me this race shows just how great Pharoah was - speed, endurance, and a will to win.
Another thing of importance...in his 8 straight wins not one horse ever challenged AMERICAN PHAROAH and looked him in the eye until today when FROSTED (I was surprised he was out there putting pressure on AP. Anyone else?) FROSTED engaged AP for a mile and AP for the first time was in a dogfight and had no resistance for KEEN ICE, Look...i am a very happy race fan right now! Javier Castellano a record 5 Travers! Wow!😄
Dale Romans and Eric Reed are good friends. Rich Strike is showing more speed in his recent workouts. Also of note is that Ain’t Life Grand is using Romans’ stalls at Saratoga and Dale and Kelly Hon Hemel, who trains Ain’t Life Grand are also close friends. Tammy Fox has been working ALG, including a ridiculously fast 45 and 4 half mile this past Saturday. Now consider that this horse is a closer with this kind of brilliance. 🤔 Epicenter will be overbet.
Mr. Zayat was euphoric about this horse not taking a break! Mr. Baffert gave earlier advice about shipping him to Saratoga for prestige-(50/50 chance to win). They rolled the dice & came up a little short. He has 7 good weeks for resting & training before taking on B.C. Classic.....
1941 Whirlaway achieves the Superfecta (the only horse to do so far). Galliant Fox [1930] Affirmed [1978] American Pharoah [2015] are the only other horses to attempt this (Duke of Magenta [1878] and Grenada [1880] both never ran in the Kentucky as it was a new race in 1875 so east coast owners didn't bother. Both of these early horses won the Preakness, Belmont and Travers Stakes 2015 American Pharoah achieves the Grand Slam (only horse to achieve this so far) 2018 Justify wins the Triple Crown (the only horse to achieve a triple crown undefeated so far 6: 6-0-0)
Fortunately the bad guy lost that day (not talking about the horse). Great job by Larry Colmus to spot Keen Ice when he did. And that's a great VOICE-CRACK!
Frosted really pressed him, and then American Pharoah was tiring out at the top of the stretch already as he was asked to go way too early. It seems like a miracle to me that he was able to hold on to his lead until the last furlong, really. I still think American Pharoah is a brilliant horse and he will hopefully show it in the Breeders' Cup, but his connections did what Secretariat's and many others' did, as well; Run the "superhorse" in all the rich races and never let it rest properly. Greedy. This sucks. Pharoah just wasn't ready for another race yet. But great race by Keen Ice, anyway! It was only a matter of time until he took home a big win.
+FoxyCatfish This. So much this. You can tell that it thrown the race for him. When I watched it live I couldn't help but drive my head into my desk because he was challenged so early by Frosted, and took the bait. Because he ran out AP so early, Keen Ice was able to catch him since he was exhausted and already dumped so much of his energy. If AP wasn't challenged and pushed before the stretch already, he would've been able to hold off Keen Ice. That's what I think and observed. He's still a very great horse, they have their off days and not every champion always reigns. Wishing him the best of luck in the BCC if they enter him.
From an Irish horse racing fan, I rarely watch American racing, but American Pharaoh really caught my attention with his US Triple Crown victory. The main thing that you can take from this race is that he didn't run close to his rating. A campaign this long is gruelling, asking a lot of a horse, especially the way in which AP tends to make the running. This is a great shame, and will forever tarnish his legacy, regrettably.
+Luke McCann I don't get this modern "tarnish" horses get for losing a race. Onion defeated Secretariat and nobody thinks Secretariat isn't the the best american horse ever just because he lost a couple of big races. It was a great race and its not like he crumbled and finish last, it was a game effort, just not enough on this particular day. No shame at all.
+Diego AH Frosted couldn't keep with an in-form AP, yet he was able to go toe to toe until the last couple of furlongs. He clearly under-performed, you have to ask why. He already raced this month, in the Haskell, so that Belmont point is utter mush. He had already raced 5 times from April. This was asking him to run 6 times, all running prominently, all over 8.5F... in a 3 year old campaign..!! That is madness/greed of the highest order. The irony is that AP's stud value would have in no way improved if he again dotted up last night, yet this defeat could certainly compromise it.
+Luke McCann Secretariat famously lost to Onion. Seattle Slew finished out of the money in the only race he ran after the Belmont in 1977. Affirmed lost his last three races of the 1978 TC-winning season. I know this because I just looked it up, having had NO idea of the specifics, other than that they didn't win out because it wasn't noteworthy. Their careers are in no way tarnished, and AP's isn't either.
American Pharoah Gave Us the Thrill of Racing We all been waiting for!!! Just like Zenyatta and Big Red Roared!!! Other than those U.s Stallions all others are Irrelevant to an Extant!!!
I think he stinks . Ya wanna know why ? Because he blew the call in the Kentucky Derby when Rich Strike came down the inside , it was open like the Turnpike at 3:00 am . And he never saw him till it was too late , that’s why.
Keen Ice with the Jockey venezuelan Jose Javier Castellanos, wins The Travers Stake 2015 in Saratoga - New York. Keen Ice wins to triple crown 2015 American Pharoah. JJ Castellanos from Venezuela for the world.
As for American Pharoah... ran his heart out and was second best! Hey, it happens... he did very, very well to hold off the challenge of Frosted - who looked like the most likely winner at the top of the stretch.
I KNEW this was going to happen!!! Keen Ice looked REALLY nice in the Haskell. The jockey asked for more too late at that race. However, A.P would've still won. If Zayat and Baffert are smart about this, they would let A.P rest for the Breeders Cup and skip the Pa. Derby. Greed was blinding them for this race. I would've sat A.P out of the Haskell and let him run this instead. A.P has been traveling too much which wears him down and Saratoga is a long track. Frosted was pushing him the whole time and that played a major part as well. He just didn't look like himself today. Keen Ice is a speed horse and has no problem coming from behind. He got that from his father, Curlin. His resume isn't that impressive but he is a good horse. Congrats to Keen Ice.
+drumma4lyfe06 Not greed but a hunger for the long-standing traditions of horse racing. One goes to Saratoga for the summer, where one may rub elbows with JP Morgan or John Jacob Astor. The fractions were certainly manageable for a top-quality horse. This is a sad loss.
+drumma4lyfe06: Greed? Are you insane? He already made millions off of the breeding rights and hardly needed the purse money from this race. Had they retired him after the Belmont, which they would have been perfectly justified in doing, fans would have bitched. They instead chose to let him run, prove himself to be a true champion, and they have idiots calling them greedy. If you knew what was best for champion thoroughbreds, you'd be at the track and not commenting on youtube.
+Michael Angelo The majority of "fans" who watch the KY Derby for their once-a-year fix don't really understand how much money an owner must have to run a horse in even one Grade I race much less to run a multi-year campaign. And I would have retired him immediately after the Belmont.
+Michael Angelo For one, I don't appreciate your attempts at trying to claim I'm insane and I don't need to be at the race track when it's conventional wisdom that health is ALWAYS the major factor. Greed has always been a problem even during the days of Eclipse. For two, those "idiots" know good and well that a "true champion" isn't measured by how many races he won but rather what impact he had at the track throughout the course of their campaign. Native Dancer ran more races than Secretariat but the latter was still better. People will complain regardless but it's NOT their horse. You can't please everyone. Those Zayats were cocky and always have been and if think greed isn't a factor, look up Steve Asmussen.
+drumma4lyfe06 Yup, those horses should have been put in the race all along this season and they weren't. So, AP won and kept winning. Kind of makes me wonder but. Also, I don't know if it's just me or not, but AP looked thin. Bailey said he was 'elongated' but, I'm sorry..that was thin.
Pressure will bust a pipe. meaning Frosted made him run from 1/2 to one mile. Victor liked to let Pharaoh get a rest from those poles. Frosted made him use more so Keen Ice had less horse to catch that day.
Yep !! Lezcano put pressure on Pharoah and everyone was angry he should have allowed Pharoah to just saunt around and win funny Espinoza said he didn’t know who was riding frosted but it’s strange that Lezcano won the Big cap at Santa Anita Espinoza home track in 2012 on Ron the Greek and he finished second in that race behind Lezcano that’s when pressure shock the hell out of you trying to find an excuse!! That’s how races must be run if you’re supposed to be a super horse!! PROOF IT !!
absolutely loved this race...besides bob as the trainer i hated every connection to Pharoah. easy for me to root against the owner and jockey with that horse.Thank you Keen Ice!
When two horses duel for the lead they use up a lot of energy and will be vulnerable to a horse coming from off the pace. The horses were walking home (26.49 for the last quarter) and the least bad stayer won. I think that a top-class European staying colt like Jack Hobbs or New Bay would have won this quite easily.
i was there that day to see it in person frosted fouled A.P like 3 times and it was super hot and very humid he was gassed at the wire no excuses for a.p but frosted did all the dirty work so keenice could get up..A.p won the derby like 6 wide off the pace his races may look easy and thats cause the best horses make there own trips..
I have been giving AP my respect begrudgingly. His victory in the Haskell was SO EASY.... looked much more like a workout than a race, I was becoming a believer. I don't necessarily agree that the Haskell didn't move him forward enough. He has been working well for Baffert. He's done a lot of shipping, that's for sure. The big thing is I believe AP earned only 109 Beyer for Haskell. Two other great colts since the 90's, Holy Bull and Ghostzapper, both earned 122 in Met Mile and GZ earned 128 in Iselin. These were also won easy, in hand. So i don't think AP is in with the likes of Secretariat, SSlew, Affirmed , and Spectacular Bid. He may yet redeem himself in BC Classic but its hard to envision AP getting to the lofty level of the greats before him.
+Bryan Trinh You are absolutely correct. He was under heavy wraps especially last 1/16. In fact, Keen Ice closing on him in Haskell meant nothing to me at the time as Espinoza had the breaks on very firmly.
Pharoah always had things his way on the lead ..until Frostad with a new and aggressive rider looked him in the eyes..if Rosario hadnt got injured earlier on the card.Pharoah would have won with his usual easy pace..as Rosario always stalked with Frostad..but Jose Lescano..was more aggresive and he took it to him early..setting it up for the deep closer Keen Ice..
It was like 2004 Belmont Stakes when Birdstone beated Smarty Jones with 100 feet to the Finish and I knew Keen Ice was gonna win and I had the trifecta box that time
Zayat is greedy and always has been. No horse tested Pharoah and so handed him the crown. I still say that Mr Z is still trying to finish the Preakness because that's the kind of field this is. If Pharoah was 'struggling' and they still couldn't catch him until late? I mean..come on. Thank you, Frosted, for showing up and truly testing AP for once. Now we know that if he's actually tested, it's not always going to work out. Should have been testing him from the beginning. Thank you, VialliForever for agreeing with me.
I will say, though, that he DID look thin to me. In the Paddock right before the face he was on camera. and then Jerry Bailey said he was 'elongated' and I thought 'that's not 'elongated'..that's thin' So..whether the past races were a joke or not, that's not good. that wasn't elongated, that was thin.
As much of an east coast racing fan I am. I’m proud of Zayat for putting American Pharoah in the travers. He wasn’t good enough for that deep ground though. Justify would gotten smoked by Catholic Boy and Mendelssohn this year
Pharaoh was challenged and forced to go faster earlier when he normally is the one to set the pace. Justify runs the same way, if Justify was pushed early into a race then he wouldn't win also.
I read somewhere that American Pharoah was turned over in this race. I watched it just now and it was an upset, bit like Golden Horn at York, being turned over by Arabian Queen.
Don't forget AP got his revenge on Keen Ice and Frosted in the Breeder's Cup classic his next and last race as he easily won the Grand Slam of racing in the final race of his career to retire a CHAMPION! And still the only horse to ever sweep the Triple Crown and capture the BCC!!
That was at a horrible speed favoring track. Keeneland’s track has been the worst for not being fair for a few years now. Get the lead and your horse is nearly guaranteed top 3.
Btw? Victor Espinoza is accusing Jose Lezcano of intentionally trying to injure AMERICAN PHAROAH. Lol, Please. U can say Lezcano was aggresive but give me a break. Were the other riders supposed to give AP an uncontested lead on the front end and have his own way? It sounded like Espinoza was a very sore loser.
Lescano is a Douche For Doing that because Pharoah was so small compared to him.. This is 1 of the all time Greats Because he was Right there Unlike Horses like Chrome and Bayern
The knocks against KEEN ICE continue today and i am extremely unhappy! I will tell it like it is! People act like that this is the first time in history that a horse has been upset in a famous race! These aren't fans. These are people who are johnny come lately to racing and mouth off with no knowledge in their brains about anything! Period!
Btw, did anybody noticed how NBC disparaged the winner? Not even the trophy presentation! Absolutely terrible! And Jerry Bailey? Omg! Please! Jerry looked so stunned u thought he got word his family died! Wtf? Right down to the rich blue bloods crying! Are u freaking kidding me! The overkill was wayyyyyyy too much! Somebody should tell NBC Dale Romans is a fantastic trainer and not talk to him like he is a fluke who got lucky! Shame on all of them!
Have to say that people talk about Zayat and his greed on here? might be merit to this. He talks about racing AP for the fans? Please. He claims no but i forgot the actual article that back in january before AP raced at 3 he forked over $ in rights and to get his $ back AP had to keep running 1st and 2nd and keep racing. i believe it to be true. He denies it. To me? Nobody does nothing for the fans.
Btw....so sick and damn tired of hearing what a great trainer Todd Pletcher is! Really? Cannot wait for MADEFROMCRAPPY run in the grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx against the 3rd and 4th rate 3yo like MR. JORDAN, SUPER COLASSAL, WAR STORY etc! Maybe Mr Triple Crown thinks MADEFROMLOUSY deserves an award for beating up on donkeys earning easy money? lol
Know this: The ONLY reason Keen Ice eked out the 2015 Travers was because Baffert allowed American Pharoah to run a foolishly fast 1-1/4 mile public workout THE DAY BEFORE THE TRAVERS.
Michael Angelo).. what do you call it? Misfortune? He wasnt on his Game? He is the Triple crown winner for christ sakes.. let me ask you this.Its 9 PM on a friday You just worked out for 3 hours after a 40 hour hectic work week,running errands,driving the kids to 7 different places..your bea from the human race and the toll it put on you.I come into your life,bang cymbols at 3 AM,drag you out of bed and force you to run 3 miles,no breskfast,no prep,no warmups..You wont make it will you.Nope,just like AP..gets flown in 2 days,hardly a workout or sauna bath and then bang out of the gate after he just ran a few weeks ago and a few months ago after busting his ass to do something no horse has done in ages and you say no GREED! AP.doesn't know what greed is but his owners sure do.What was that comment Mr Baffert( We will.aplogize to AP) I hope he kicks you both in the Ass!!!.He was mistreated here and if you cannot see that your blinders are still on bud!
And the connections of Beholder are now sitting at home salivating at the prospect of facing American Pharoah in this year's Breeders Cup Classic, provided he's not retired to stud before the race ever happens? They don't call Saratoga the "graveyard of champions" for nothing folks.
+GBeret83 Something wasn't right with him.. You could see his mouth open down the stretch, like something was bothering him, if nothing else but exhaustion.. He should have cooked these with a few lengths in hand, but, like with Golden Horn, strange things happen in this game..
Lee SOG , Trust me mate, this colt has just been through the grind of the Triple Crown, and not just ran well once and for exercise in the other two, but he ran his tale off and won the Triple Crown. And if that wasn't exhausting enough he also just ran in the Haskell at Monmouth prior to going to Saratoga to run in the Travers. I personally believe there was no popped tires in today's run, he was just simply out of gas.
GBeret83 Damn, I hope not.. It'll be interesting what they decide over the coming weeks.. and you're right about Beholder, she's now breathing down his neck for favouritism in the big one, which I never saw coming.. I hope they just give him a rest and prepare him for the biggest test of his career, and just hope the others aren't improving past him, kinda like what happened with Chrome last year..
AP was washed out. Too much theatrics that week. Victor F'd around with him early with that 48.2. Should have gunned a 47 and change and never let Frosted nose him.
rich strike the son of keen ice has the same type of racing style. love rich strike and the story behind him. here it is. rich strike is still loved even though he did not win the belmont stakes. he will have other chances. he has fantastic genes. the father of rich strike is keen ice. the mother of rich strike is gold strike. his grandfathers are curlin and smart strike. all 4 were very good race horses. still cannot believe calumet farm put him in a $30,000 claiming race (his second race) as a 2 year old after finishing last the race prior (his first race). i am sure reed was following him since he was a baby. good for dixon junior, leon, reed and dawson. reed is the mastermind behind rich strike. he is surrounded by many solid people. it is good to hear that reed cares more about the health of a horse versus profit. rich strike is such a beautiful powerful horse. america needs this fairy tale story to continue and it will.
rich strike the son of keen ice has the same type of racing style. love rich strike and the story behind him. here it is. rich strike is still loved even though he did not win the belmont stakes. he will have other chances. he has fantastic genes. the father of rich strike is keen ice. the mother of rich strike is gold strike. his grandfathers are curlin and smart strike. all 4 were very good race horses. still cannot believe calumet farm put him in a $30,000 claiming race (his second race) as a 2 year old after finishing last the race prior (his first race). i am sure reed was following him since he was a baby. good for dixon junior, leon, reed and dawson. reed is the mastermind behind rich strike. he is surrounded by many solid people. it is good to hear that reed cares more about the health of a horse versus profit. rich strike is such a beautiful powerful horse. america needs this fairy tale story to continue and it will.
