It’s not enough that Bob Baffert trained American Pharoah, he also can’t seem to lose the race that was named after his Triple Crown winner.
Baffert picked up his fourth win in five years in the Grade 1 $300,000 American Pharoah on Saturday when Muth, a $2-million purchase by Amr Zedan, won the 1 1/16-mile race by an easy 3 ¾ lengths. Baffert also had the second-place finisher in Wine Me Up. It was the 12th time he has won this race, including when the race carried different names.
The win in the American Pharoah earned Muth an all-expenses paid trip to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, which will be held at Santa Anita on Nov. 3. Baffert also plans to enter Wine Me Up in the race along with the undefeated Prince of Monaco, who is the only horse to have beaten Muth.
“I knew they would run well,” Baffert said. “I thought Wine Me Up would be laying off of Muth. But [jockey Ramon] Vazquez just said he left there running. [Jockey] Juan [Hernandez] just took Muth back a little bit and stayed there. It looked like he handled it well and relaxed. When you get a young horse to do that, and is that good, it’s pretty impressive.”
Muth was the favorite and paid $2.80 to win.
The race kicked off the West Coast start of earning Kentucky Derby qualifying points but because Baffert is currently suspended by Churchill Downs for the Medina Spirit medication positive in 2021 the 10 points for first and five for second will be vacated.
In the filly version of the American Pharoah, named the Chandelier for one of Santa Anita’s restaurants, Chatalas broke on top and held the lead all the way around the 1 1/16 miles to qualify for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. It was also worth 10 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks. She won by 1½ lengths.
Chatalas held a slight advantage over Dua, a $400,000 purchase for Baffert, and the two drew even at the top of the stretch. But the Mark Glatt-trained Chatalas had too much left and jockey Antonio Fresu held off a charging Scalable. Dua was third. The favorite, Laurent, was last in the eight-horse race.
“On to the Breeders’ Cup,” said part-owner and breeder Dan Agnew. “We hope she comes out of it and we are looking forward to it.”
It was Chatalas’ second win in three starts, with the first two races at Del Mar.
There was one more Breeders’ Cup qualifying race on Saturday. Didia won the Grade 2 $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes, a 1¼-mile turf race for fillies and mares who can compete in the Filly and Mare Turf race. She won by 1¾ lengths and paid $4.20 for trainer Ignacio Correas IV and jockey Vincent Cheminaud.
Around $30 million in purses will be distributed at the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 3-4.
