Muth rolls past field to win American Pharoah Stakes
Muth, one of the top 2-year-olds in trainer Bob Baffert's barn, blew away his seven rivals in the $300,000 Grade I American Pharoah Stakes on Saturday and earned an all-expenses paid berth into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.
A Good Magic colt, Muth won at first asking by 83/4 lengths at Santa Anita on June 18 and then ran second behind perhaps Baffert's top 2-year-old, Prince of Monaco, in the Grade III Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 13.
Muth beat stablemate Wine Me Up by 33/4 lengths as the 2-5 favorite Saturday at Santa Anita under Juan Hernandez, running the 1 1/16 miles in a very good 1:42.45 in his first try around two turns. He's won his two starts at Santa Anita by a combined 121/2 lengths.
“I love the way Muth settled (fourth up the backside),” said Baffert, who won his record 12th American Pharoah and fifth in the past six runnings. “When I saw that I thought, well, we'll see how good he is and I think Juan just helped him a lot today. It is nice when you have two nice colts. (Wine Me Up) definitely earned his way into the Breeders' Cup. We still have Prince of Monaco, too. We just have to keep them healthy.”
Muth, a $2 million yearling purchase, earned $180,000 with Saturday's victory that padded his career bankroll to $256,600.
“He surprised me the way he relaxed today because he is normally a really aggressive horse,” Hernandez said. “Out of the gate he's fast. Bob and his team have been working with him trying to get him to relax. I saw him during morning workouts and they put him behind a horse and he relaxed really well.”
Hernandez then went on to lay some lavish praise on Muth.
“I think this is the best horse I've ever ridden so far,” he said. “I mean, Cave Rock was one of the best, but this one is pretty close. Hopefully, we can stay healthy and we can get him in the Breeders' Cup.”
Chandelier Stakes
Chatalas, the 3-1 third choice with Antonio Fresu aboard, went gate to wire and beat Scalable by 1 1/2 lengths in the $200,000 Grade II race to earn an allexpenses paid berth into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 3.
Final time for the Gun Runner filly was 1:44.28 for the 1 1/16 miles.
“We've always felt the further she went the better she would be,” winning trainer Mark Glatt said. “A little disappointed with the (Del Mar) Debutante performance (fourth place), but I look back on it and she was fairly close to 44 (seconds) fractions.
That's just not her.”
Rodeo Drive Stakes
Even-money favorite Didia, shipping in for the race, made short work of her rivals in the $300,000 Grade II turf race for fillies and mares. Trained by Ignacio Correas IV and ridden by Vincent Cheminaud, the 5-year-old Orpen mare guaranteed herself an all-expenses paid berth into the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Nov. 4.
Didia beat Anisette by 1 3/4 lengths while running the mile and a quarter in 1:59.79.
“The filly was training really good,” Correas said. “The filly will stay here for the Breeders' Cup. She is a really good filly, so I'm not worried.”