Muth heads to Arkansas Derby

Muth, winner of the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita in January and one of the leading 2-year-olds of 2023, will start in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on March 30, trainer Bob Baffert wrote in a text message on Friday.

The $1.5 million Arkansas Derby will be Muth’s first start at 1 1/8 miles.

Owned by Amr Zedan, Muth has won 3 of 5 starts and earned $716,600. Muth won the San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs in his first start since he finished a well-beaten second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita last November.

On Friday at Santa Anita, Muth worked six furlongs in 1:12.40, the fastest of six works at the distance.

Baffert considered sending Muth to Oaklawn Park for the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes on Feb. 24, but was unsatisfied with the way the colt worked the preceding weekend. Muth has had a busy March. The work on Friday was his third six-furlong workout of the month.

By Good Magic, Muth was purchased for $2 million, the most expensive hip of the Ocala Breeders’ Sale of 2-year-olds in training in Florida in March 2023.

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