Baffert, McCarthy square off in Santa Maria Stakes

Bob Baffert's As Time Goes By and Michael McCarthy's Ce Ce will square off Saturday in the Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita.

As Time Goes By made an easy lead as the 3-5 favorite in the Santa Margarita Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita on April 24 and exploded through the lane to win off by 9 1/4 lengths under Mike Smith, who rides back on Saturday.

Owned by Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith, As Time Goes By was second, beaten 2 3/4 lengths by Eclipse Champion Swiss Skydiver two starts back in the Beholder Mile (G1) March 13. She is 6: 3-2-1 overall with earnings of $260,600.

Baffert has had eight winless starters since he announced Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone after the Kentucky Derby. Five favorites were among those starters, who went 8: 0-2-2. His last wins were in a pair of allowance races at Churchill Downs on May 8.

A two-time Grade 1 stakes winner at age 4 and fresh off a sensational classified allowance win, Ce Ce and lights-out Grade 2 winner As Time Goes By headline Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita. For fillies and mares three and up, the Santa Maria has attracted a field of five at 1 1/16 miles.

Trained by recent Preakness Stakes-winning conditioner Michael McCarthy, Ce Ce slingshotted off the turn for home en route to an emphatic 3 1/4-length score in a seven-furlong classified allowance here on April 17. The Bo Hirsch homebred will be ridden back by Victor Espinoza.

A 3 1/4-length winner of last year's Beholder Mile (G1) here in her sixth career start, Ce Ce then took Oaklawn Park’s Grade Apple Blossom by a head at the same distance on April 18, 2020, but was a disappointing third as the 3-5 favorite in last year’s Santa Maria and was on a four-race losing streak before winning her comeback race on April 17.

Ridden to all five of her victories by Victor Espinoza, Ce Ce is a 5-year-old mare by Elusive Quality out of Hirsh’s Grade 1-winning Miss Houdini, who is by Belong to Me. The leading money earner in the field with $904,100, Ce Ce has a win and two thirds from three tries at the Santa Maria distance.