Coolmore’s Triple Crown hero American Pharoah (USA) was in the frame in the US on the weekend when lightly raced mare As Time Goes By claimed another feature race win when taking out the Group II Santa Maria Stakes (1 and 1/16th m) at Santa Anita.
A homebred for the Coolmore partners trained by Bob Baffert, As Time Goes By was a commanding nine length winner at her previous Black Type win, but was made to work a lot harder for this victory.
She was challenged hard over the concluding stages but dug deep for Mike Smith to score a nose win taking her overall record to four wins and three placings from seven starts with prizemoney topping $380,000.
“I told Mike, we’ve been going easy on her, not too hard for this race,” said Baffert.
“This is the first time she’s come back really blowing. That filly that ran second, ran a big race.”
One of 15 stakes-winners worldwide by American Pharoah, As Time Goes By comes with an impressive pedigree.
She is a half-sister to Champion US 3YO Colt Will Take Charge and Group I winner Take Charge Indy being the last recorded foal from 2013 US Broodmare of the Year Take Charge Lady, a triple Group I winner that is also the grand-dam of multiple Group I winners Take Charge Brandi and Omaha Beach.
American Pharoah also had a Group I place-getter in Ireland where his Group I winning colt from last year Van Gogh finished a good third in the Group I Irish 2,000 guineas.
American Pharoah returns to Coolmore Australia this spring at a fee of $49,500.
