American Pharoah owner Ahmed Zayat was fêted Thursday at kosher steakhouse Prime Grill.
At a dinner hosted by Wheels Up founder Kenny Dichter, Zayat, an Orthodox Jew, discussed why his family refuses to stay in luxury hotels, but rents a trailer so they can avoid getting in a car and walk to the track on a Saturday race day.
Zayat told WNBC’s Bruce Beck, “If I die now, do I honestly want to be remembered as the owner and breeder of the Triple Crown winner as much as a humble man? I would like to be remembered as a man who lived and died for his principles . . . We have tried to keep to our core beliefs and values.”
American Pharoah will run in Sunday’s Haskell Invitational in Monmouth, NJ.