Santa Anita: Muth powers home to win American Pharoah

Muth overtook stablemate Wine Me Up in midstretch and powered home to win Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes to cement home-field advantage in next month's Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

The Bob Baffert-trained Muth, the 2-5 favorite in the field of eight, stalked stablemate and front-runner Wine Me Up from the inside in fourth through fractions of 23.30 and 46.49 seconds and 1:10.22 in the 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds, as El Magnifico and Raging Torrent applied mild pressure from the outside.

Wine Me Up kicked clear of those two pursuers rounding the far turn, but Juan Hernandez guided Muth to the outside and joined his Baffert barnmate at the 1/8th pole before drawing clear late to win by about four lengths in 1:42.45.

Wine Me Up held on for second, well clear of the Todd Pletcher-trained Be You.

The winner, who earned a start in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Nov. 3 in the win-and-you're-in race, returned $2.80 on a $2 win ticket.

Muth, a son of Good Magic out of the Uncle Mo mare Hoppa, improved his record to 3: 2-1-1 and pushed his earnings past $200,000 for owner Zedan Racing Stables.

This story will be updated.