Disco Pharoah Fifth Stakes Winner of Year for Sire
It was a fifth stakes winner of the year for American Pharoah on Saturday when Disco Pharoah (4g American Pharoah x Somalia, by Mineshaft) won the Frank Y. Whiteley Stakes a month after breaking his maiden.
Trained by Raymond Handal for Perrine Time Thoroughbreds and Blue Lion Thoroughbreds, the lightly raced runner tracked Borracho throughout the seven furlong race before pouncing in the Laurel turn. The gelding had command by the time they entered the stretch and extended his lead from there.
In the end, Disco Pharoah was 3 ¼ lengths ahead of the field to become American Pharoah’s 26th worldwide stakes winner from his three crops aged three or older.
“I had a ton of horse [at the top of the stretch]," said jockey Jevian Toledo. "He’s a really nice horse. He just beat these horses; these are nice horses. Horses that win stakes. [War Tocsin] just finished second in a Grade 3. This horse has a bright future.”
A $300,000 weanling purchase by Andrew Williams Bloodstock from Bill Murphy, Disco Pharoah was bred by Ralph Kinder and Erv Woolsey.
The 4-year-old is the third stakes winner for Somalia after Lookin At Lucky’s Grade III winner Lookin For Eight and Uncle Mo’s Grade III winner Miss Mo Mentum.
American Pharoah’s 26 stakes winners include the group of dual Grade I winner Café Pharoah and Grade I winners As Time Goes By, Harvey’s Lil Goil, and Van Gogh among 14 graded stakes winners.