Baffert sweeps Los Al weekend stakes with Bayakoa win
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert completed a weekend sweep of the graded stakes at Los Alamitos, taking the Grade 3, $100,500 Bayakoa Stakes on Sunday with favored As Time Goes By.
About 24 hours after seeing Eda give him his fifth consecutive victory in the Grade I Starlet, Baffert watched As Time Goes By repel a stiff late challenge by 8-1 shot Warren’s Showtime to win the Grade III by 1 1/4 lengths.
Owned by Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith, the 4-year-old American Pharoah filly out of the Dehere mare Take Charge Lady won for the fifth time in 12 starts and pushed her earnings to $535,600.
Part of a quick early pace – 22.02 and 45.54 seconds for the opening quarter- and half-mile – in tandem with 7-1 shot Harvest Moon, As Time Goes By disposed of that rival, a mild bid from Stellar Sound, then had to dig deep to prevail over the California bred runner-up who finished five lengths clear of the rest of the field.
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Ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat, As Time Goes By completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.97 and paid $4.20, $3 and $2.10 as the 11-10 choice in a field reduced to six after the scratch of outsider Lisette.
Warren’s Showtime, who has been 1-2-3 in 22 of 24 lifetime starts for owner-breeders Benjamin and Sally Warren and trainer Craig Lewis, returned $4.40 and $2.80. The show price on Moonlight d’Oro, the 5-2 second choice, was $2.40. Stellar Sound, Harvest Moon and Bye Bye Bertie completed the order of finish.
“I love this filly,’’ said Baffert, who also won the 2014 Bayakoa with Tiz Midnight, the first time it was run at Los Alamitos. “I love (wife) Jill No. 1 and this filly No. 2. My two favorite girls.
“They went so fast early I was afraid of Warren’s Showtime, who is a very good horse, and I was hoping (As Time Goes By) would have something left. I’ve always been high on her.
“I’m hoping she runs as a 5-year-old because I’d really like to win a Grade 1 with her and I know she can. The owners said if she’s doing well they will keep her in training.’’
Jockey Abel Cedillo, the leading rider at the Los Angeles County Fair meet in September, tripled Sunday, taking the first with Sauls Call, the fifth – in a dead heat – with Suzie Qzz Brother and the sixth with Augusta Melody.